“The Shadow Strays” Netflix Poster
Director: Timo Tjahjanto
Cast: Auroro Ribero, Hana Malasan, Ali Fikri, Adipati Dolken, Kristo Immanuel, Andri Mashadi, Chew Kin Wah, Arswendy Bening Swara, Tanta Ginting
Running Time: 145 min.
By Paul Bramhall
When the Indonesian directing duo the Mo Brothers decided to apply their horror genre leanings to the action genre in 2016, the result was Headshot, a movie which immediately grabbed the attention of martial arts cinema fans. While it was far from the first time the 2 genres had been brought together, it arguably was the first for the horror aspect to be so heavily incorporated into the action itself. Taking a cue from Gareth Evans’ The Raid and its sequel, the inherent violence of fighting, and the physical damage that comes from it, were placed firmly at the fore. It was one half of the duo, Timo Tjahjanto, who took the concept and ran with it, unleashing The Night Comes for Us in 2018, a production that fully committed to a slice of martial arts mayhem, presented through the lens of a filmmaker who loves to pile on the gore. The result was a pure shot of adrenaline, and one that many felt would be impossible to replicate.
After rather awkwardly attempting to incorporate the same type of martial arts driven hyper violence into a comedy setting with 2022’s The Big 4, in 2024 Tjahjanto returned to the same kind of gritty backdrop as The Night Comes for Us with The Shadow Strays. While Tjahjanto had been rumoured to be working on a spin-off to his earlier production for a number of years, one which was intended to focus on the female assassin played by Julie Estelle, it’s easy to speculate Continue reading
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