Director Joe Carnahan opts for an action thriller that seeks to find its own path, which ends up being a much more serious film than it should be and becomes a very uncharismatic film, despite the good attempts of the cast to float everything.
The survival of this family of mercenaries has some good moments that largely keep the film afloat. However, we're left with a rather glaring lack of action, replaced by drama that's far more overused than the story really needed. Leading duo Kerry Washington and Omar Sy do a great job at this point, giving their all to their characters, and we as viewers can feel for them.
Then we have a group of supporting characters who have their moments, but don't really stand out. The same goes for the villain of the film, who, while he has his moments, doesn't feel as rounded as one would like.
The reality is that we're faced with a film that doesn't offer much new, and with that, we don't find anything that makes it stand out from other similar films. It has a cast that's engaged, but it's completely wasted. It has a story that didn't need to be so serious when it came to presenting us with the emotional depths of its protagonists, and in the end, we're left with a film that works as a momentary diversion. For those who enjoy this style of film, for those looking for something much more revolutionary, the truth is that Shadow Force falls far short of all that.
