If you know anything about Shadow Force, you’ll probably only know the badly over-photoshopped faces of Kerry Washington and Omar Sy, the corny font, and the basic design of the poster at your local movie theater. It seems like the type of film you can easily skip because if you’ve seen one terrible action flick, you’ve seen them all. For Shadow Force, think again. What lies underneath the cheap marketing is a surprisingly fun, exciting action flick with strong performances and a nice pace.

Shadow Force Review

Joe Carnahan has made a career out of ridiculous action flicks. Boss Level was a surprising standout in a deeply bland and frenetic library. Between this and the Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Steven Yeun starrer Rip that releases later this year on Netflix, Carnahan’s career is looking up.

Kerry Washington as Syrah and Jahleel Kamera as Ky in Shadow Force.