The Shadow Strays - An Ultra Violent Martial Arts Movie from Indonesia's Experienced Action Filmmaker

When I saw this movie in the coming soon section on Netflix, I was immediately intrigued especially since it was directed by one of the Indonesian prominent film maker. So I have put a reminder to watch it as soon as it's available, which was yesterday. All right, let's get on to the movie now, shall we?

Brief Story Line

A group of assassins known as Shadows of Death existed in the crime world and could be hired for the right price. One of the newest recruit with code name 13 (Aurora Ribero - Susah Sinyal, Like & Share etc) who had been personally trained by senior instructor Umbra (Hana Malasan - Ben & Jody, Kereta Berdarah etc), was told to lay low and wait for next assignment in Jakarta by their Handler (Chew Kin Wah - Cek Toko Sebelah 2, My Stupid Boss 2 etc).

During her wait, 13 got quite close with her young neighbor Monji (Ali Fikry - Satria Dewa: Gatot Kaca etc). When Monji got mixed up with a crime syndicate supported by corrupt police and politicians, 13 decided to save him against her better judgment. With the help from a low level thug named Jeki (Kristo Immanuel - Sleep Call etc), 13 fought against the swarm of bad guys which made things complicated as her superiors had to clean up the mess.

So what would happen to 13 and how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

OK this movie really entertained me in term of action with its almost nonstop violent & gore fight scenes using nice camera angles to capture the cool moments. The wonderful thing about the action was it's the old fashioned fist fight, gun fight and even sword fight which was truly enjoyable to see using practical effects rather than using CGI. Although there were some computer generated scenes, they were mostly put to good effect like the slow motion explosion, but not the ones with snowing cause they were a little too obvious. 

The opening scenes of the movie already showed what would be in store for us, especially when the killing was done so brutally and very graphic which might be too violent for some audience. However, subsequently the pace a bit slowed down, and to be frank, the story was not really something that I personally appreciate. Nevertheless, I would not want to dwell into it so much cause the action was definitely worth the while. And the finale fight scenes in the warehouse was truly awesome. I really admired the performance of Aurora Ribero and Hana Malasan here, cause even if they used stunt double, I am sure there were plenty of scenes where they had to do some of those fight choreographies themselves.

Aside from the names I mentioned above, there were support cast of Andri Mashadi (13 Bom di Jakarta etc) as the main villain Ariel, Taskya Namya (Ivanna etc) as his partner Soriah, Adipati Dolken (Posesif etc) as the police Prasetyo, Arswendy Beningswara (Ngeri Ngeri Sedap etc) as the politican Soemitro and several others. There was also cameo of well known actor that would be recognized for his various roles in action movies. The film was written and directed by Timo Tjahjanto whose name was synonymous to action and horror genre. It should not come as a surprise to see his capabilities here like he previously did in The Night Comes for Us or Headshot which he did together with his partner Kimo Stamboel (known as the Mo brothers). Timo was so highly regarded that he was already appointed as director for the upcoming Hollywood movies like Nobody 2 and The Last Train to New York. Looking at his portfolio, I think the action part would be in safe hands.

The movie had duration of 2 hours 24 minutes which I thought was a little bit too long and frankly a bit tiring cause it was dark and gloomy without anything to lighten the mood. Plus the plot was rather thin and the characters were too stereotypical. Even Chew Kin Wah who usually played in comedic roles was very serious here. Btw, there was quite a long scene after Timo's name appeared towards the end, which I believe to tease for future films if it's considered successful enough to warrant for a sequel. 

Overall this was another one Indonesian movie heavy on the violent and gore fight scenes which should please fans of such genre. Though the story was not the best attribute but got to admire Timo Tjahjanto for his excellent film making in the action category. With the support of sufficient budget to keep on making those movies, I am sure his future will be even brighter. So if you are looking for such kind of film, this latest one would be satisfying for you. But if you are not a fan of really graphic violence, then better to avoid this. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars