The most astonishing action movie of 2024 just premiered on Netflix and no one knows about it

There is thing admirable and thrilling astir a movie that has nan assurance to show you precisely what it is wrong its first fewer minutes. That’s a bigger bet than you mightiness deliberation — a movie base its psyche to you truthful early that you tin determine whether it’s your velocity earlier its crippled has moreover gotten underway. There are a batch of filmmakers who are excessively acrophobic to do this. The Night Comes For Us head Timo Tjahjanto is not 1 of them.

The Indonesian filmmaker wastes perfectly nary clip telling you what you should expect from his latest film, The Shadow Strays. The caller neo-noir action movie, which is yet streaming connected Netflix arsenic of past weekend, is simply a thriller that knows really to do conscionable astir everything isolated from clasp back. Its opening minutes, successful which a brace of ninja assassins known arsenic “shadows” shape an onslaught connected a criminal clan’s secluded fortress, unfurl pinch a ferocity and bloodlust that’ll make you beryllium up and sound nan upwind retired of you.

This series features, among different things, 2 one-on-one samurai duels, an explosive grenade that peppers each of its adjacent victims pinch nails, and a gag successful which a dormant man’s astir severed caput hangs connected by a fewer threads of insubstantial and tegument earlier wholly falling off. Some group mightiness not spot this opening and deliberation to telephone The Shadow Strays a “good time,” astatine slightest not successful nan accepted consciousness of nan phrase. But those who do should strap themselves successful for what is arguably nan astir technically astonishing action movie of nan twelvemonth truthful far.

A convulsive quest for redemption

Netflix

The Shadow Strays follows 13 (Aurora Ribero), a 17-year-old personnel of a group of for-hire assassins who are trained to adhere to a strict, connections-free lifestyle. When she originates to mobility nan organization’s methods to her coach and chap “shadow,” Umbra (Hanna Malasan), she is put connected an indefinite suspension and forced to walk her days sticking to an ominous medicine regiment and waiting connected an update successful Jakarta. Whilst there, she crosses paths pinch Monji (Ali Fikri), a 13-year-old boy whose life is ruined erstwhile his mother is killed by her bosses, nan members of a sadistic crime syndicate pinch links to nan very apical of Jakarta’s governmental hierarchy.

When Monji subsequently goes missing, 13 decides to way down his mother’s killers and prevention him from a perchance tragic fate. In bid to do so, she must embark connected a ruthless, merciless quest that forces her to effort to past immoderate of nan astir violent, bone-crunching showdowns that you’ll spot successful immoderate movie this year. Along nan way, 13’s seemingly omnipresent employers and overseers go progressive successful her ngo arsenic good — an escalation that only gives The Shadow Strays nan chance to ratchet up its violence, gore, and chaos to moreover greater levels. At first, that mightiness not look possible, fixed really The Shadow Strays begins, but Tjahjanto erstwhile again proves really tin he is of consistently one-upping himself.

A madcap riff connected acquainted tropes

Netflix

The film’s crippled is, by nary means, original. It is, successful fact, an amalgamation of a twelve different noir and action movie tropes — from nan assassin who decides to alteration their ways for a young, guiltless kid to nan shadowy organizations that move retired to beryllium moreover much corrupt than immoderate of their already disillusioned members believe. The movie does not awkward distant from these clichés, but alternatively leans into them — coating its characters pinch only nan benignant of over-the-top, wide strokes that could explicate nan ultraviolence they beryllium themselves consenting to commit. In this sense, The Shadow Strays has conscionable arsenic overmuch successful communal pinch nan melodramatic, operatic John Woo action movies of nan 1980s and ’90s (think The Killer aliases A Better Tomorrow) arsenic it does its hyper-violent sister films, Gareth Evans’ The Raid and The Raid 2.

The Shadow Strays‘ communicative useful little because of nan spot of its characterization and plotting and much because of really good it synthesizes together each of its genre influences. The film’s world is 1 of neon lights, smog-covered skies, and thick, impenetrable shadows that look to bleed into each situation and scene. It is simply a scenery befitting of a movie that is truthful unabashed successful its emotion of trashy, pulpy crime fiction. Some whitethorn quibble pinch nan film’s undeniably self-indulgent 144-minute runtime, but devotees of nan action and revenge genres will apt invited nan magnitude of clip it gives them to get mislaid successful its world of hitmen-with-soft-hearts, innocent, easy wounded children, and drug-dealing pimps practically begging for a comeuppance of immoderate kind. The Shadow Strays gives it to them — and past some.

Action astatine its astir convulsive — and beautiful

Netflix

The film’s action sequences are thing short of breathtaking. Muhammad Irfan’s stunt and conflict choreography involves a benignant of fluid, balletic speech of blows betwixt combatants and a afloat usage of each of The Shadow Strays‘ conflict arenas that is ne'er thing but wholly thrilling to witness. Visually, Tjahjanto composes each group portion and conflict retired of wide shots and medium-length takes, each nan while moving his camera pinch nan aforesaid strength and elegant grace arsenic his actors’ bodies. Their movements dictate each cookware and displacement that his camera makes, and each edit is seemingly motivated by a punch, gunshot, slash, aliases stab that only makes each trim consciousness for illustration a reflector of its respective fight’s progression.

As a director, Tjahjanto remains uniquely adept astatine highlighting some nan steaming beauty of his worlds and nan grimy brutality of them. Simple images of 13’s bruised, calloused manus gliding crossed a handrail reenforce nan costs and nan devastating beingness effects unit has connected nan quality assemblage and nan world astatine ample conscionable arsenic overmuch arsenic nan director’s lingering shots of heads rolling connected nan crushed and swords piercing chests. The Shadow Strays is simply a shockingly sadistic movie — 1 made by a filmmaker whose emotion of violent, B-movie cinema continues to beryllium elevated by his own, unrivaled method accomplishment and artistry. His latest is simply a full-throated roar of an action movie that demands to beryllium witnessed for yourself.

The Shadow Strays is streaming now connected Netflix.