Spoilers ahead for “The Shadow Strays.”
When it comes to versatile action filmmaking, 2024 has yet to pull any punches. From blockbusters like “Monkey Man” and “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” to niche titles like “The Beekeeper” and “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In,” there is no shortage of broken bones and smoking guns.
What is more is that this year provided a whole host of excellent action movies led by women, including the post-apocalyptic epic “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and the upcoming slacker threequel “Baby Assassins: Nice Days.”
But among them all, there is one that accentuates itself with glorious gore and excessive brutality. “The Shadow Strays” is the latest feature by Indonesian action visionary Timo Tjahjanto and responds to the feral fights of his filmography with just as much bloodshed executed with far more precision.
The film stars actress Aurora Ribero as Agent 13, a teenage assassin tasked with laying low after nearly compromising her identity. However, when a young boy goes missing, she breaks her obligations as a “shadow” to pursue his kidnappers into the depths of Jakarta’s underworld.
It calls back to one of Tjahjanto’s previous works, “The Night Comes for Us,” where an enforcer gets a target placed on his back after killing multiple members of his triad to save the life of a young girl. “The Shadow Strays” contrasts this story with one that is more active, as 13 worms her way into the clutches of Ariel (Andri Mashadi), the sadistic son of a politician who moonlights in criminal dealings.
From its opening minutes, “The Shadow Strays” immediately makes a statement about what kind of film it seeks to be. It features 13 and her mentor Umbra (Hana Malasan) launching an assault on a yakuza clan wearing what Tjahjanto describes as “Striker Armor.” Armed with a pair of swords, night vision goggles and garb resembling that of a modern shinobi, the pair spray blood across the shoji sliding doors as they leave not one member alive. Heads roll, men get burned and an innocent woman gets caught in the crossfire.
“Our mission is never easy. But also never complex. We are assassins. Not rescuers or negotiators. We’re killers,” says Umbra while chastising 13 for hesitating after accidentally killing the bystander. It serves as the central thesis of the film as both women grapple with reconciling their humanity with the job.
For 13, she is quick to charge ahead into the lion’s den with nothing but a hoodie and her bare fists, all for the sake of saving a life. Meanwhile, Umbra’s secondary story hints at a greater conspiracy within her organization, as seeds of doubt begin to be sown and she starts to waver in her conviction for her cause.
Ribero and Malasan are the heart of this film, embodying both the pent-up rage and sensibility towards the vulnerable. This is Ribero’s first time ever working in the action space, and as Tjahjanto stated in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, that “innocence in her eyes” is one of the things that sells 13′s character. While she can kill a room of men with ease, she is still rough around the edges, being both inexperienced and too empathetic. It is the latter trait that leads her to drop all secrecy when she furiously battles her way through a cast of society’s most depraved.
There is, of course, the aforementioned Ariel, whose strength comes from wearing a gimp mask and hiding behind his father’s power. Alongside him are his cronies including the corrupt policeman Prasetyo (Adipati Dolken) and the sadistic twins Haga (Agra Piliang) and Soriah (Taskya Namya).
As Ribero faces off against these villains in spectacular fashion, she embodies a more masculine physicality in the heat of combat. In classic Tjahjanto style, the film wears its ultra-violence on its sleeve. Men get impaled in the face, brains are blown out, ears get ripped off, and yet there is still a rhythm to its bloodshed. The tactical nature of many of these kills contrasts the animalistic tendencies shown in works like “The Night Comes for Us,” and ultimately comments on the desensitization of such violence in the world of these assassins.
In numbing themselves to the horrific carnage, their job becomes easier. The moment they think of their marks as living, breathing human beings is the moment that they fail. But Tjahjanto does not want the viewers to follow suit. As he explained in an interview with Polygon, he believes that there needs to be a certain “respect to violence” and that he seeks to show how “traumatizing violence can be” to in light of an increasingly horrific reality.
Even so, there are times where the brutality looks breathtakingly beautiful, due to the combined work of fight choreographer Muhammad Irfan and cinematographer Batara Goempar.
Flare-lit night sequences and blood on the snow are striking images that cement themselves in the minds of viewers. These settings combined with sparking swords and the movement of bodies as they collide come together to create a visual symphony conveying the emotions of two individuals finding themselves beyond the violent reality they have been placed in.
Even within 145 minutes, there is an initial concern that the film might be biting off more than it can chew, featuring two largely unrelated “plots” simultaneously: one resolved within its runtime and another that leaves the door open for the future. But it works to its favor, as these narratives exist first and foremost to serve their respective protagonists, with 13 and Umbra walking a mutual path of self-discovery whose trajectories only lead back to each other.
While the orphaned assassin and her cold-hearted mentor seem to be at opposite sides of the tracks from the start, we find that their hearts are far more alike than they realize. Umbra is just better at repressing her love. In the end, we learn that it was a moment of so-called “weakness” that created their bond to begin with. Beneath its vicious exterior, this is a story defined by compassion.
“The Shadow Strays” is a triumph. Although it is only available to stream on Netflix, it is deserving of the biggest screen possible. While Tjahjanto cites the works of John Woo, Takashi Miike, Luc Besson and Abel Ferrara as influences, the director finds a way to create something wholly original, entertaining, and emotionally resonant.
“The Shadow Strays” released on Netflix on October 17 and is currently available to stream. Timo Tjahjanto’s next project will be “Nobody 2″ starring Bob Odenkirk.