Shadow Force Parent Guide

The chickens are finally coming home to roost for Jack Cinder (Mark Strong). Recently appointed as General Secretary of the G7 and formerly head of the CIA, Cinder is being investigated by the federal Office of the Inspector General, so it’s essential that he clean up his messy past.

Amongst his other crimes, Cinder once formed a group known as the Shadow Force, designed to do the dirty work forbidden to the CIA – black ops, assassinations, etcetera. The top agents were Kyrah (Kerry Washington) and Issac (Omar Sy), who broke the non-fraternization rule, fell in love, and left the Shadow Force. Unfortunately for them, there’s a no-quitting rule for Shadows. And, unfortunately for Cinder, Kyrah knows all his dirty laundry. Desperate to save his skin, Cinder recalls the surviving Shadows and puts a $100 million bounty on Kyrah and Issac’s heads.

There’s just one thing Cinder hasn’t counted on: Kyrah and Issac have a son. And there’s nothing they won’t do to keep Ky (Jahleel Kamara) safe.

This film has one message and one message only: family is the most important thing in the world and it’s worth killing for. And boy, oh boy, is there lots of fighting and killing in this flick. There are almost endless scenes of physical combat along with firefights and explosions, often with lethal effect. People are punched, kicked, thrown around, stabbed, shot, and blown up throughout the show’s runtime. There are brief moments of downtime, some verbal exposition, and a few scenery shots, but this is a shoot-‘em-up, punch-‘em-up kind of film.

Despite the non-stop lethal action, Shadow Force is strangely boring, probably because there are no surprises and little plot tension. Honestly, this movie feels like a Netflix production, the kind of “second screen” movie the studio produces for people to stream in the background while they scroll Instagram or play games on their phones. I have no idea why this film has a theatrical release. The cast are good, given what they have to work with, and young Jahleel Kamara is so adorable he could be a Disney character. But even the cast can’t inject this movie with the tension and excitement it needs to light up the box office. I predict it will meet its destiny and fade into the world of streaming movies in short order. And that’s no great loss.