“The Shadow Strays,” a tear jerking Indonesian action thriller that brings Timo Tjahjanto back together with now-regular Muhammad Irfan, exudes zero originality or creativity whatsoever. Rather, an extremely high level of originality is required in this film and even Irfan in association with Trisna Irawan is required to boost action choreography. Action buffs are acquainted with the names, especially now that “The Night Comes for Us” has displaced “The Raid” and its sequel as the most recent instance of Indonesian genre filmmaking’s breakthroughs.
As most other reviews of the movie have pointed out, it has propelled the careers of its producers, Tjahjanto and Irfan, for its breath-taking splattering of blood and an unrestrained use of shock tactics in what can only be described as the sort of awe-inspiring and mind boggling extreme violence they showcased in “The Night Comes For Us”.
Tjahjanto and Irfan’s fans, who are not fascinated by the film’s dynamic camera, furious fighting and blood splattering may take notice of the thin, clichéd plot and melodramatic characterization. This is yet another action film of a hired murderer who doesn’t require discrimination where she just sits around doing nothing. She chooses to throw everything away for a stranger who isn’t worth saving.
And what is or what should be the most surprising thing in “The Shadow Strays”? You should not disregard everything that is not directly related to fighting or even larger fight events because they are also important as they extend the scope of the story.
Thirteen Aurora Ribero a 17-year-old compulsive killer by preserve takes to war with a powerful Jakarta gangster syndicate because the gang threatened her little friend Monji Ali Fikry. Monji’s mom, a single parent was a prostitute to a powerful psychopath Haga Agra Piliang, a member of thugs who work for Jason an underworld club owner who is in cahoots with his politician father Soemitro Arswendy Bening Swara. After Haga executes his mom, she develops an affection for Monji and a stronger urge to hunt down Haga and Ariel and their thugs. After a period of violent and bloody bouts both starts losing their allies.
There is no need to explain how, as one could expect just by her name Ribero’s impressive nuance, gives her little to no background. The firm that she represented does not even disclose its history and structure, it’s done purposely to secure their operational strategies. Feelings are not only troublesome offensive to Thirteen, they are also eradicated by powerful drugs. Another factor in Thirteen’s violent demeanor is her inability to control her rage, she experiences interference from visual and audio effects while engaging in conflict.
As much as Ariel would like to dismiss Thirteen as simply the leader of a small band of outlaws in the Indonesian political scene, his backstory tells a different story. His group is distinguished from Thirteen’s in that one relies on power and blatant nepotism while the other operates on loyalty and subservience as primary values.
The earliest stages of the film introduces Thirteen’s guys to ninja and samurai comparisons as Ariel brags on the promise from his father that he would get elected to be the governor of Jakarta. Anyone who has been following the Indonesian president in 2021 know where this plot point draws concern from being a notorious figure for working with the supreme court to assist one of his sons in running for the governorship of Jakarta.
In as much as Kimo Stamboel has always been Tjahjanto’s long time co-director, the new self-directed era commenced in 2016, the same year Tjahjanto began directing movies without his partner Stamboel, whom he had co-directed for years. Since directing his first feature film ‘Headshot’, many new skills from Irfan came in, along with the development of Tjahjanto in action choreography. In the end, no two Tjahjanto and Irfan’s collaborations are alike, which also applies to the film ‘The Night Comes for Us’, and yet neither film had characters who could be considered more interesting than their performers.
In both films, what is most important is the action where one doesn’t need to open his eyes during the fight scenes, the rhythm and direction of the fight scenes encompassed all that is in the movie and so they are most important.
In “The Shadows Stray” in the beginning already, the transitions from one impact point to another are quick and abrupt and are able to cut to the next sequence of more editing and camera movements in anticipation of the film. In this sense, Tjahjanto’s enthusiasm for the idea and his imposing character of an accomplished creative head of stunt teams is being met by Irfan’s disciplined stylization in the created action.
The film contains a sequence of masterfully directed and grotesquely humorous action scenes culminating in a jaw dropping climax in a warehouse shootout reminiscent of John Woo’s “Hard Boiled”.
As several other reviewers have pointed out, not only do Woo and Tjahjanto have a love for violence that is charmingly naive but there are also some commonalities in the kind of work which influences them. Truly, Tjahjanto has much to offer in this case, being helped it seems by Irawan, Irfan and clearly a strong cast.
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