There remains hope that Joe Carnahan will someday recapture the artistic clarity and emotional depth of 2011’s The Grey, a film that stood as a striking genre piece—existential, visceral, and carried by a career-high Liam Neeson performance. Unfortunately, Shadow Force is yet another reminder that Carnahan’s recent projects, while occasionally fueled by interesting premises or fleeting moments of energy, fall short of that earlier standard.
The story shares some DNA with this year’s Back to Action, though here only one half of the couple has retired while the other remains active. Once the retired partner’s cover is blown, the pair reunite to protect their son and confront their former team. What follows is an uneven blend of family drama and action thriller, with diminishing returns as the film progresses.
The film benefits greatly from its committed cast. Omar Sy and especially Kerry Washington do more than the script asks of them, bringing real emotion and nuance to a setup that could’ve easily felt routine. Their chemistry—and their warm, charming scenes with their child, including a sweet family rendition of a Lionel Richie tune—provides the humanity the film otherwise struggles to sustain. Da’Vine Joy Randolph, fresh off her Oscar win for The Holdovers, is characteristically engaging, though the material mostly keeps her in her comfort zone. Mark Strong, meanwhile, delivers a few memorable moments as the antagonist—particularly during an early monologue opposite two henchmen—but is ultimately undercut by a screenplay that treats his menace with an inconsistent tone, veering into self-parody.
And therein lies the film’s core problem. After a promising first act that establishes character and stakes, Shadow Force never makes us worry for these people. The titular group, supposedly composed of elite operatives, is not given the weight or screen presence to be taken seriously. Their pursuit of the protagonists feels repetitive and ineffectual. Several sequences are constructed to suggest suspense—a quiet scramble for weapons, a looming standoff—but the payoff is either rushed or absent.
The second half is where things really stall. Action sequences pile up—shootouts, boat chases, more shootouts—but none of it carries much weight. Without a real sense of danger or consequence, it all starts to blur. Carnahan directs with technical skill, but not urgency. The pacing dips, and the film loses the emotional thread that had initially anchored it.
Shadow Force isn’t without merit, but like many of Carnahan’s recent efforts, it lacks the force and danger its premise promises.