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Since the release of Gareth Evans’s The Raid in 2011, Indonesia has found itself within the spotlight for genre cinema – a game that’s only been made all the more exciting thanks to filmmakers like Joko Anwar, Kimo Stamboel, and Timo Tjahjanto. In this film directed by the latter, one can only expect that after The Night Comes for Us and The Big 4 that they would be in store for some of the most violent action scenes that they’ll see in a very long time, and he doesn’t ever let down. With The Shadow Strays, he only shows himself to be one among the best contemporary action filmmakers – one belonging to a class with Chad Stahelski, John Woo, or the Wachowskis.

When The Shadow Strays starts, we’re seeing a mission taking place in Japan – in which a young assassin codenamed 13 (Aurora Ribero) takes down a gang of yakuza members until everything goes wrong. Thus her mentor Umbra (Hana Malasan) takes initiative after it all went awry, eventually leaving her to lay low in the slums of Jakarta soon after. But 13 soon has a chance encounter which may very well revitalize her own need to be on the move, a move which defies her mentor and organization’s orders, so as to stand for what she believes is right. Timo Tjahjanto lifts from many espionage thrillers with this premise in mind, but what comes forth in The Shadow Strays after its incredibly violent opening never lets down on the bloodshed.

It becomes clear from the way that The Shadow Strays starts that this film’s own worldbuilding has been immensely plotted out. From the nature of these missions to the people running things behind the scenes, Timo Tjahjanto’s own ambitions take this action ride to great heights. Tjahjanto doesn’t waste time on shallow exposition, instead opting to get it all out of the way as quickly as he can, but it also gives us a better understanding of our own heroes, who she works with, and a very personal struggle that she deals with inside.

That’s also where we get the perfect introduction to 13 – as a “Shadow,” we understand that she’s supposed to be a perfect and “unseen” assassin, one who only takes orders from higher up. Yet even after rigorous training, she’s still prone to many mistakes, which her own mentor Umbra must clean up after. Because we’re not seeing a perfectly slick action hero by way of characters like John Wick or Sarah Connor, we find ourselves more grounded with the world that 13 inhabits and ultimately, how someone like her is left to fend for herself and what exactly she stands for. It also helps that Aurora Ribero brings an energy to her role almost comparable to that of Linda Hamilton or Uma Thurman a la Terminator or Kill Bill at that.

As we witness what’s at stake in The Shadow Strays, we find ourselves in store for something much bigger than what we imagined. Everything seems so cruel around 13, but she finds something to stand by after befriending a young boy whose mother was killed at the hands of an Indonesian crime syndicate, after forming a connection with him. It builds itself from Timo Tjahjanto’s understanding of what makes a memorable action hero: for even the ones who stand out in our memories are not slick killing machines, they’re still human beings with their own agenda. Part of me thought back to films like La Femme Nikita by Luc Besson in how they understand the formations of great female action heroes; in that they always have a human side to them beyond the image that they’re expected to push forward.

Noting the fact that The Shadow Strays starts with a very extravagant action set piece in Japan, it only gets more exciting as we realize this is just a warmup. Blood and guts spill from the first action scene all the way into the last, but Tjahjanto ensures that we will only want more of that, and so he gives. Yet the environments where they’re set within even finds a way to play a factor into making this all look so great, whether it be a scene set in a nightclub or in a warehouse. There’s always something in the background for 13 to utilize to her advantage, and even her clumsiness leaves us rooting for her as many bad guys are taken out one by one.

But even in knowing how such characters are often expected to work on behalf of one organization, 13 makes it clear that she’s not someone who exists by way of a code, unlike her mentor Umbra. Which only leads to some very emotionally charged moments between the two of them, but it’s also felt within their own action scenes: they’re at conflict with each other over how they’ve been left to live their lives because of what’s expected of them. Like any other great action movie character, whether they be a hero or villain, Tjahjanto knows that there’s always a human element to them, ensuring that they make a lasting impression once the film ends. It also makes that last fight scene between Aurora Ribero and Hana Malasan a very wholly memorable one too.

Compared to The Night Comes for Us or The Big 4, it feels like Timo Tjahjanto has created one whole world that’s waiting to be explored in The Shadow Strays. If it comes to that point where he chooses to make a sequel (even the film’s ending teases that), I’ll be there. It maintains such a kinetic energy through its entire duration, through brilliantly choreographed action down to maintaining a very human core to its leads beneath the image we have of our idealized action heroes within such a setting. But considering the ambitious heights that Tjahjanto is showing off in The Shadow Strays, we can only find ourselves craving more of this world.

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Watch the trailer right here.

All images via Netflix.

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Directed by Timo Tjahjanto
Screenplay by Timo Tjahjanto
Produced by Wicky V. Olindo, Timo Tjahjanto
Starring Aurora Ribero, Hana Malasan, Ali Fikry, Kristo Immanuel
Premiere Date: September 15, 2024 (Toronto)
Running Time: 144 minutes