Story: Umbra (Hana Prinantina) leads a unit of a secret assassin group. However, her student 13 (Aurora Ribero) makes a mistake during an assignment, which is why she is supposed to wait for now and is not allowed to join the next assignment. Sitting idly in her apartment almost drives 13 insane, until one of her neighbors dies of an overdose. Little Monji (Ali Fikry) is now without his mother, even though he was the one who always took care of her. 13 befriends the boy and gives him some sort of comfort. Above all else, she wants to stop him from making a stupid mistake and take revenge, though. Because the overdose was in fact caused by a gang leader who wanted to cover his tracks. Jeki (Kristo Immanuel) is sent to the dead woman's apartment to secure any further clues or evidence against the gang leader. Since 13 can't find Monji anymore, she confronts Jeki and forces him to take her to his boss. Jeki makes it clear that she is getting involved in far greater matters than she thinks, as the top candidate for governor is involved in the whole thing too. And the police in Jakarta are corrupt anyway. But 13 doesn't care, she just wants to save Monji. In the process, she causes a lot of chaos, which the assassin's guild doesn't like at all ...
Review: When it comes to Indonesian cinema, you can't get around Timo Tjahjanto. His last movie "The Big Four" had a bit too much slapstick for my taste, although it still had its moments of brutal action. "The Shadow Stray" is a lot darker and therefore reminds you more of "The Night Comes for Us". Although the star power of Joe Taslim and Iko Uwais is missing, we get female action heroes this time who don't just try to look like it but who can actually offer some decent action. Strictly speaking, though, Timo Tjahjanto's movies are never really "decent", but rather dirty and merciless. Every confrontation is a fight for sheer survival, and you can feel that. At the same time, however, the action also includes some outstanding choreography and sometimes even innovative and dynamic camera work. But that doesn't mean that everything is unnecessarily shacky here. The director simply knows how to capture action and creates scenes that will delight action fans. So, obviously, the action is not where the movie's weaknesses lie.
Instead, it's the story, for one. We get the archetype of a contract killer who slowly starts to think about a purpose in life and whether there shouldn't be something more to it than killing. This time, though, it's a woman who goes on a journey of self-discovery. In addition, there is a boy, who represents somebody to feel sorry for, which therefore confirms that she is still human. Considering some kind of role reversal this certainly will remind you of "Leon - The Professional". Unfortunately, the movie doesn't give the relationship between 13 and Monji much time to actually grow. Nevertheless, it doesn't seem unrealistic that 13 ends up taking on a whole gang of gangsters because of the boy. She needs a new ray of hope in her life, as she no longer wants to be the monster who is sent from one carnage to the next. She wants to decide for herself what she lives for - and for what she kills. Then there's her relationship with Umbra, who is her training instructor, and maybe even more, something like a mother who never showed her love.
Another interesting character is Jeki, who keeps switching sides, but doesn't generally seem to be a bad guy. It makes you wonder whether the other "bad" guys who get slaughtered in the course of the movie might have more than just malice in their hearts too. But just so that you wouldn't think about that too much, there are enough villains who are simply disgusting, cruel and despicable. Even though the movie clearly makes use of a lot of clichés, most adversaries are still memorable. In addition, they make the world a bit darker. Moreover, there are also some sets that work well and give the action a great framework. Here you can clearly see how much Timo Tjahjanto has grown as a director and that he also has more self-confidence in drawing on other movies that have inspired him in his career. There is the introduction, which is reminiscent of "Lady Snowblood", or the gunfight during the showdown, which pays homage to John Woo's "Hard Boiled". And there are lots of other examples like that.
Nevertheless, "The Shadow Strays" has its own identity. Between the various action scenes, the movie also proves that it is quite capable of making the viewer warm up to its protagonist. Additionally, all the actors perform at a higher level than you would expect. Generally, you feel like watching a classic B-movie of bygone days repeatedly working its way up to A-quality. This means that, despite its lack of originality, you can simply have a lot of fun with the movie without having to feel too bad about it afterwards. Also a nice bonus: Aurora Ribero is simply a convincing action hero who just so happens to be a woman - so there is no "message" here. Just like in the 90s and 2000s when you were merely judged by the performance you put on screen. Physically, Ribero truly puts her all in the role, and the action is sometimes so violent that it simply has to be taken ironically. Otherwise, it would probably be too hard to bear. 13 is often like an animal that is taken off the leash, and with her level of brutality she is making it absolutely believable that she is able to hold her own against men who are twice as heavy as her.
Halfway through the movie we also get an insertion about Umbra, so that we realize that she will play a major part later on and that we can perhaps hope for a duel between her and 13 too. At least this much can be revealed: After the gunfight at the end, there is another showdown until it comes to the actual finale. All of this is immensely satisfying and actually doesn't get boring, because the director manages to bring variety into the whole thing through sets, atmosphere and above all else pacing. Each confrontation has a different rhythm, brings in a new weapon, or involves a different fighting style, with which the director shows an extremely good understanding of what represents good action. You might criticize the movie for being a bit too long with its 145 minutes, but it still remains surprisingly entertaining. However, it might be too much to bear for some viewers that the level of brutality is often carried to extremes. As already mentioned, the story won't earn any points for innovation, but the action is always extremely creative. So, for action fans there is no doubt: "The Shadow Strays" represents excellent genre cinema.