#TIFF24 Review: The Shadow Strays (Midnight Madness)

By John Corrado

The 2024 Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 5th to 15th, more information can be found right here.

The latest film from Indonesian action filmmaker Timo Tjahjanto (Headshot, The Night Comes for Us), The Shadow Strays is a totally insane and highly stylized action flick. Right from the opening sequence laying waste to the Yakuza in Japan, Tjahjanto’s film delivers on the comparisons to The Raid and John Wick, only with even more bloody dismemberments.

At the centre of it is a young assassin, codenamed 13 (Aurora Ribero), who is part of a secretive group called The Shadow, who are highly trained to “neutralize” their targets. The messy Japanese mission prompts her mentor Agent Umbra (Hana Malasan) to relocate 13 to the streets of Jakarta. It’s here that she meets Monji (Ali Fikry), a young boy who lost his mother. She takes him under her wing, determined to rescue him from the powerful crime ring that runs the city.

It’s the technical skill that Tjahjanto brings to The Shadow Strays that is truly impressive, constantly showing off with the colours, camerawork, and stunts. This film looks cool. The cinematography by Batara Goempar smoothly captures each one of these incredibly well choreographed martial arts action sequences, the camera tilting and moving with the actors. The film feels propulsive, all set to a pounding score by Fajar Yuskemal.

The corruption plot gets a little stretched out and convoluted in the middle, and the film runs long at nearly two-and-a-half-hours. But Tjahjanto keeps going back to the action, which is when his film pretty much fires on all cylinders, as characters fight with hands, guns, swords, and other sharp opbjects. The young lead Ribero is compelling as the film’s kick-ass action heroine, including showcasing her skill in multiple showdowns.

It’s a persuasive calling card for an action filmmaker who is about to blow up (Tjahjanto is already working on his first Hollywood movie, a sequel to Nobody). This thing deserves to find an audience when it hits Netflix, but it’s also a shame that more people won’t get to experience The Shadow Strays on the big screen with a hyped up crowd. It was a raucous end to this year’s Midnight Madness.

Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)