Cliff Smith Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Shadow Force’ (2025), starring Kerry Washington, Omar Sy, Mark Strong, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Cliff ‘Method Man’ Smith

May 9, 2025

by Carla Hay

Kerry Washington in “Shadow Force” (Photo by Juan Pablo Gutierrez/Lionsgate)

“Shadow Force” (2025)

Directed by Joe Carnahan

Some language in French and German with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Colombia (and briefly in the United States, Mexico, and Spain), the action film “Shadow Force” features a racially diverse cast of characters (black, white, Asian and Latin) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Two married former mercenaries, who used to work for a U.S. government special operations group called Shadow Force, reunite after spending about five years apart, in order to take down the Shadow Force’s former members and leader, who want to kill the spouses for leaving Shadow Force.

Culture Audience: “Shadow Force” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and stupid action movies that have famous cast members.

Natalia Reyes, Mark Strong and Sala Baker in “Shadow Force” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)

That sound you might hear when watching “Shadow Force” is the groan of disappointment that so many talented stars signed up for this awful action flick about two former mercenaries who drag their adorable 5-year-old son into their mess. Lionel Richie’s 1982 hit “Truly” is used as a running joke about sentimentality in the movie. The only “truly” description that applies to this train-wreck film is anything to do with how truly mind-boggling that this level of talent ended up in such low-quality junk.

Directed by Joe Carnahan, “Shadow Force” was written by Leon Chills and Carnahan. The movie takes place mostly in Colombia (where “Shadow Force” was filmed on location), with some scenes taking place briefly in the United States, Mexico, and Spain. Emmy-winning producer Kerry Washington is one of the producers of “Shadow Force,” which unfortunately is a bad investment for her. Her interest in doing this movie seems to be that she wants to showcase that she’s got what it takes to be an action movie star, after being known for mostly starring in dramas and comedies in her career. Washington puts in a good effort when expressing emotions in “Shadow Force,” but she should have chosen a better project, because “Shadow Force” is so horrendous, it’s an embarrassment to everyone involved.

The idiocy in “Shadow Force” begins within the first 10 minutes of the film. Isaac Sarr (played by Omar Sy) is driving to a bank in Miami with his 5-year-old son Ky Sarr (played by Jahleel Kamara), who is a big fan of Lionel Richie’s music. Isaac has been raising Ky as a single parent since Ky was a baby. And where is Ky’s mother, who is still married to Isaac? That information is eventually revealed in the movie.

Isaac and Ky have the misfortune of arriving at the bank just a few minutes before a gang of about 10 armed robbers storm inside and take everyone hostage. One of the robbers holds a gun to Ky’s head. Isaac wears hearing aids, but when he’s about to get in a major brawl, he takes out his hearing aids because he says the reduced noise helps him focus better on the fight. All it looks like is what Tyler Perry as Medea might do when she takes off her earrings before getting into a throwdown.

Isaac tells Ky to close his eyes. Things swirl on the screen and then fade to black. When Isaac tells Ky to open his eyes, Ky sees that all the bank robbers are dead because Isaac killed them all by himself. “Daddy got the bad guys,” Isaac proudly tells Ky. Yes, the movie really is this stupid. It’s also an example of lazy filmmaking to skip over what could have been an intense (although unrealistic) action scene. Isaac and Ky quickly leave the bank before police arrive.

In his rush to be a superhero vigilante, Isaac seems to have forgotten that everything he did in the bank was caught on surveillance video. When you find out that Isaac is supposed to be in hiding, his reckless actions make him look like a moron. This bank robbery massacre makes the news, of course. Jack Cinder, a high-level spy for the U.S. government, sees the surveillance video and immediately recognizes Isaac because he’s been looking for Isaac for the past five years.

And when Jack Cinder sees that Isaac has a son, Jack mutters aloud this realization: “Kyrah got pregnant.” Who is Kyrah? (Her name is pronounced “kye-rah.”) She is Kyrah Owens (played by Washington), who is Ky’s mother and Isaac’s estranged wife. When Ky was a baby, Kyrah left them to go into hiding for Ky’s safety because she thinks the people who want to kill them will assume that she wouldn’t leave Ky.

Why is this family in hiding? In one of the movie’s many exposition dumps, Jack hastily explains to two flunkies named Patrick (played by Marshall Cook) and Parker (played by Ed Quinn) that Jack used to be the leader of a special operations group of mercenaries called Shadow Force. Jack says about Shadow Force: “Basically, we did God’s work around the globe.” Isaac and Kyra were members of Shadow Force, but they broke two of the biggest rules of the group: (1) Don’t get romantically involved with each other and (2) Don’t ever leave the group.

Isaac and Kyra fell in love with each other and went absent without leave around the time that she found out that she was pregnant. They went into hiding and at some point got married. The movie’s main flashback to their early life on the run (before they separated) was when Ky was a baby, and Kyrah told Isaac that she made the difficult decision to go away for Ky’s safety. Kyrah promised that she would eventually return. But after five years of having no contact with Kyrah, Isaac assumed that she wasn’t coming back. Ky was told that Kyrah was “away,” and it was unknown when she would return.

Jack wants revenge because when Isaac and Kyrah quit Shadow Force, the group disbanded. Losing two members of the group who quit made Jack feel humiliated because he perceived it as a failure of his leadership. And now, Jack wants to reunite Shadow Force: “I’m getting the band back together,” he says. The goal of the reunited Shadow Force is to find and murder Isaac, Kyrah and Ky.

There’s an underlying reason why Jack is on this evil vendetta. Years before Kyrah met Isaac, she had a fling with Jack. He wanted a more serious relationship than what Kyrah was willing to give, so she broke up with Jack, who has been bitter about it ever since. Isaac finds out about this love triangle later when Kyrah inevitably reunites with Isaac and Ky. Jack happens to have a private island in Colombia, where he gathers the reunited Shadow Force for secret meetings.

“Shadow Force” has a poorly written subplot about Jack being secretary general of G7, a group of countries (similar to the real-life G10), that have formed an alliance for economic reasons. The only reason why this G7 subplot seems to exist is to show Jack snarling at international leaders during a G7 conference and angrily reminding people not to call him “secretary” but to call him by his full title of “secretary general.” Jack acts more like a crime boss than a busy politician/spy.

The other members of Shadow Force are extremely generic. Anino (played by Jénel Stevens-Thompson), Cysgod (played by Marvin Jones III), Scath (played by Sala Baker), Moriti (played by Natalia Reyes) and Varjo (played by Yoson An) all have names that are more interesting than their blank-void personalities. The movie gives no personal information about these characters, which makes it too easy to predict their fate in this shoddily made film.

There are two other people looking for Isaac: Marvella “Auntie” Clanter (played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph) and Marcus “Unc” Owens (played by Cliff “Method Man” Smith), who are government agents with formerly close ties to Isaac and Kyrah. Auntie and Unc are a sometimes-bickering couple who are work partners and love partners. Unc and Auntie are first seen looking for Isaac at notorious party island Ibiza, Spain, when it just really looks like an excuse for Unc and Auntie to party in an exotic locale. Oscar-winning actress Randolph is doing another sassy character, while Smith continues to be typecast as a character with street smarts who likes to bend the rules.

You can almost do a countdown to all the tiresome and unimaginative things that happen in “Shadow Force,” whose action scenes of shootouts, explosions and fist fights are sloppily choreographed and often look downright ludicrous. There are not-very-surprising double crosses between certain characters. And the dialogue is so putridly horrible, it’s a minor miracle the cast members were able to not laugh when saying unintentionally funny lines of dialogue.

“Shadow Force” is one of those abominable action movies where people get in brutal fights and say they’re going to kill their opponents right away, but then they end up standing around and talking or glaring and each other. One of the worst scenes in the movie is when Jack is at the mercy of a law enforcement agent who has captured and cornered Jack, but the law enforcement agent allows Jack to just walk away, with no explanation. It all just seems to be a way for Jack to have the inevitable showdown with the expected people.

One of the few bright spots in “Shadow Force” is Kamara’s scene-stealing performance as Ky. There’s a cute scene where Ky reveals to Kyrah that Isaac’s favorite song is “Truly,” but Isaac doesn’t want to admit it. It turns out that “Truly” was the theme song for the wedding of Isaac and Kyrah. Kamara has a bright future ahead if he continues to be an actor. He deserves to be in much better movies than “Shadow Force.”

Some of the comedy revolves around Ky saying adult things to demonstrate that he hears things that are inappropriate for children his age. In a very “inside joke” part of the movie, Ky mentions the Wu-Tang Clan, which is the rap group that has “Shadow Force” co-star Smith as member under his rap name Method Man. “You can’t fuck with the Wu-Tang Clan,” Ky chirps, as the adults laugh at the kid’s foul-mouthed comment. Ky also gets some uncomfortable laughs from the adults when the Commodores song “Brick House” (also written by Richie) is played in a scene, Ky blurts out that it’s a song about “breasts and booties.”

Putting all of these kid jokes aside, “Shadow Force” is appallingly inept in showing how Kyrah and Isaac constantly put Ky in danger during the couple’s strategy of “kill or be killed” when dealing with their ex-Shadow Force teammates. The spouses try to cover up the truth and outrght lie to Ky every time the assassins come after them. But by the time Ky is put in a trunk of a car that is shot at, flips over, and crashes into a lake, or when he sees people using military assault rifles all over the place, it’s kind of insulting that anyone would think this kid hasn’t figured out that something is very wrong and that people are trying to kill his parents.

During all of this mayhem, Kyrah and Isaac occasionally speak French to each other, as if that’s supposed to make them look more romantic. It doesn’t. Sy (who has done better work in other movies) is very stiff in his “Shadow Force” role as Isaac. Washington and Sy have lukewarm chemistry together as Kyrah and Isaac and are more convincing as parents to Ky. Strong is just doing another version of the villains that he’s played on screen in many other roles. “Shadow Force” might be slightly entertaining if you enjoy watching mindless movies to laugh at, but the movie is funny for all the wrong reasons, and it’s not so amusing if you’d rather spend your time doing other things.

Lionsgate released “Shadow Force” in U.S. cinemas on May 9, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on May 30, 2025.

Review: ‘On the Come Up,’ starring Jamila C. Gray, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Lil Yachty, Sanaa Lathan and Cliff ‘Method Man’ Smith

September 23, 2022

by Carla Hay

“On the Come Up”

Directed by Sanaa Lathan

Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional inner-city U.S. neighborhood of Garden Heights and briefly in Atlanta, the dramatic film “On the Come Up” features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with some white people and Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A 16-year-old girl, who’s an aspiring rapper involved in rap battles, has to decide if she will follow her manager’s advice to present a false image of herself as a “gangster rapper,” in order to become popular and get a record deal.

Culture Audience: “On the Come Up” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of hip-hop culture and coming-of-age stories where teenagers try to define their identities.

Michael Cooper Jr. and Jamila C. Gray in “On the Come Up” (Photo by Erika Doss/Paramount+)

Based on Angie Thomas’ 2019 bestselling novel of the same name, “On the Come Up” is a fairly entertaining but predictable drama about a 16-year-old inner-city girl who wants to become a rapper and gets involved in her local rap battle scene. There are better movies about aspiring rappers who do rap battles, but at least “On the Come Up” centers on a rare female perspective that’s refreshing from the cliché machismo in rap. The movie’s appealing performances overcome some flawed film editing.

“On the Come Up” is the feature-film directorial debut of Sanaa Lathan, who helmed the movie with a lot of heart, but the movie needed some technical finesse. Some of the scenes are choppily edited, so that instead of appearing seamless, the scene transitions look abrupt and don’t flow well with the story. However, the movie (whose adapted screenplay was written by Kay Oyegun) excels when it comes to the correct casting choices, since all of the cast members give believable performances. “On the Come Up” had its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.

The protagonist of “On the Come Up” is 16-year-old Brianna “Bri” Jackson (played by Jamila C. Gray, making an impressive feature-film debut), a talented writer who wants to pursue a career as a rapper. She lives in an unnamed U.S. state in the South in an inner-city neighborhood called Garden Heights. Bri is polite but outspoken and not afraid to stand up for herself.

Bri and her older brother Trey (played by Titus Makin) spent much of their childhood in foster care, because their single mother Jada “Jay” Jackson (played by Lathan) abandoned them and was a heroin addict for many years. Jay has now been clean and sober for the past three years and has regained custody of Bri, but Jay is struggling financially. Trey, who is now in his early 20s, quit a master’s degree program to get a job to help with the family finances. He currently works at a low-paying job at a restaurant called Sal’s.

Bri’s father was a semi-famous rapper called Lawless, who died when she was a very young child, so Bri never got to know him. His cause of death is not mentioned in the movie. Jay met Lawless (whose real name was Lawrence) when she was hired to be a “video vixen” in one of his music videos. Lawless was the type of rapper who was on his way to becoming a big star, but he never quite reached those heights and therefore never became wealthy.

In Garden Heights though, Lawless is kind of a legend in the neighborhood. Garden Heights even has a street mural dedicated to Lawless that Bri often passes when she’s walking down that street. As an aspiring rapper, Bri feels that she’s living in the shadow of her deceased father, but she’s also proud of being his daughter. That’s why her chosen rap name is Lil Law. Even though rap is a big part of her life, Bri has a geeky side to her, because she’s a self-described “Star Wars nerd.”

Bri is currently a student at Helen McCoy High School, which has a racial integration program, where low-income kids (who are usually African American and Latin) are bused to the school, which has a large population of middle-class white students. To make some money, Bri sells candy to some of her classmates. Her two best friends are also her schoolmates: laid-back Malik (played by Michael Cooper Jr.) and gossipy Sonny (played by Miles Gutierrez-Riley), who is very caught up in social media and viral videos that are trending.

Jay’s younger sister Patricia, who’s nicknamed Aunt Pooh (played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph), supports Bri’s dreams to become a famous rapper, and has volunteered to become Bri’s manager. Aunt Poo is also struggling financially, so she sees Bri as a potentially big ticket to a better life as the manager of a rich and successful rapper. Aunt Poo is inexperienced as an artist manager, but she tries to make up for that inexperience with a lot of sassy bravado and street smarts.

In Garden Heights, people gather on a regular basis for rap battles, which are set up like boxing matches. But instead of throwing punches, the opponents in the ring throw insults at each other in impromptu rap lyrics. The winner (whoever gets the louder cheers from the audience) receives a three-figure cash prize, usually $500. A local radio DJ named DJ Hype (played by Mike Epps) is the main emcee for these rap battles in Garden Heights. Bri compares getting in this rap battle ring to being like “‘The Hunger Games’ of hip-hop.”

Bri’s very first rap battle is a disaster for her, because she’s too nervous and freezes up when it’s her turn to speak. Unfortunately, some people in the audience took videos of this embarrassing moment. The videos go viral. Instead of being defeated by this setback, Bri is determined to win in her next rap battle.

Her opponent in this next battle is an up-and-coming rapper in his late teens or early 20s named Milez (played by Justin Martin), who is the son of a smooth-talking, successful music manager named Supreme (played by Cliff “Method Man” Smith). Supreme is at the rap battle that has Bri and Milez facing off with each other. It just so happens that Supreme has an indirect connection to Bri, because he used to be the manager of her late father, Lawless.

The outcome of the rap battle between Bri and Milez won’t be revealed in this review (it’s easy to guess), but it’s enough to say that Supreme is so impressed with Bri’s rapping skills, he offers to become her manager. Supreme tells Bri that he can take her career to the next level by getting her a record deal and making her a star. Bri accepts Supreme’s offer. Where does that leave Aunt Poo? Feeling rejected and bitter.

Meanwhile, “On the Come Up” has a subplot about law enforcement brutality by security officers at Helen McCoy High School. One day, Bri is walking in a school hallway, when two security officials named Officer Long (played by Malachi Malik) and Officer Tate (played by Cuyle Carvin) approach Bri and demand to see what’s in her backpack. Bri exercises her right to refuse, since these security officers don’t have a warrant or any reason to search her personal belongings.

Officer Long (who is African American) and Officer Tate (who is white) immediately escalate the situation. Officer Long, who is the more aggressive one, ends up tackling Bri in the hallway, and he places handcuffs on her. It’s unlawful brutality (especially since Bri is unarmed), but the school sides with the security officers and gives Bri a two-week suspension.

There are racial overtones to the unfair way that Bri was treated. In a meeting with the school’s Principal Rhodes (played by L.A. Winters), who is white, the principal talks to Bri and her mother Jay in a condescending manner. The principal, who seems to have a “guilty until proven innocent” attitude toward Bri, says that teachers have been complaining that Bri is disruptive in class. These are vague accusations that the principal never backs up with evidence.

When Bri tells Principal Rhodes that the school’s security officers target African American and Latin students more by than the white students, the principal is dismissive of this complaint. Bri finds out Officer Long felt he had a right to search Bri’s backpack because of rumors that Bri is a drug dealer. Bri vehemently denies that she’s involved with drugs (she’s telling the truth), and she says that she only sells candy out of her backpack. The principal shows a racial bias by seeming skeptical of Bri, but Principal Rhodes offers to do an investigation.

Jay is outraged that Bri has gotten suspended when Bri didn’t do anything wrong. Malik and Sonny want to have student protests against law enforcement brutality, and they want to start a viral video campaign showing Bri getting unlawfully manhandled by Officer Long. Bri refuses, because she thinks getting involved in protests will damage her rap career. During her two-week suspension, Bri’s career progresses, and she begins to wonder if going back to high school is really necessary when she could start being a full-time rapper.

Bri ends up making some money by winning rap battles. The money (which Bri gives to her mother) comes in handy, because Jay has recently been laid off from her church job due to budget cuts. Jay is having a hard time finding a new job. Things have gotten so bad, the apartment’s electricity has been turned off due to non-payment of this ultility bill.

Supreme dazzles Bri with big promises and sets up her very first recording session after he whisks away Bri, Malik, Sonny and Milez to a trip to Atlanta. During this trip, Bri meets an up-and-coming rapper named Infamous Millz (played by Lil Yachty), who is also from Garden Heights. And two romances develop between the young people in the story. One romance is more predictable than the other.

Bri’s blossoming rap career comes at a high price though: Supreme has convinced her to create a fake image of being a gangster rapper. Bri doesn’t carry guns, is not involved with crime, and has never been arrested. However, Supreme tells Bri that most people who buy rap music are suburban white kids, and the only way to become a successful rap artist is to make the type of music that will scare these kids’ parents. Needless to say, Bri’s family members and friends think she’s making a big mistake by not being her authentic self as an artist. Lathan and Gray have some well-acted scenes together when Jay and Bri have some disagreements with each other.

“On the Come Up” has some realism in how the music business works when it comes to rap, but the movie definitely takes a glossy view of how much sexism is ingrained in rap, a music genre that’s dominated by black male artists. There’s only one scene in the movie that shows a female rapper other than Bri. It’s when Bri and a young woman named Latrondra (played by Samantha Peel)—who uses the rap name Mystique and looks like a Nicki Minaj wannabe—do a spontaneous rap battle against each other in a parking lot. Latrondra/Mystique is never seen or heard from again in the movie.

Bri also doesn’t struggle much before she signs with an influential and experienced manager. As an attractive underage teenager, Bri would definitely be a target for predatory people in the music business. However, “On the Come Up” presents a very sheltered version of the harassment and discrimination that Bri would face as a teenage girl who wants to become a rapper. She gets a few snide and sexist comments, but that’s about it.

Because “On the Come Up” is rated PG-13 (suitable for people ages 13 and up) by the Motion Picture Association of America, the language in the movie is very tame compared to the langauge of hip-hop culture in real life. Therefore, the lyrics in the rap battles are sometimes a little corny in “On the Come Up.” For uncensored and more adult-oriented lyrics in a rap battle movie, check out the 2017 drama “Bodied,” or for a more mainstream option, the Oscar-winning 2002 drama “8 Mile,” starring Eminem in a semi-autobiographical role.

Much of what holds “On the Come Up” together is the winning performance of Gray. Even with Bri’s realistic flaws, viewers will constantly be rooting for Bri to succeed. It’s a typical underdog story in many ways, but “On the Come Up” presents a unique and engaging story of a female rapper—the type of artist who rarely gets to be the star protagonist in a feature film.

Paramount Pictures released “On the Come Up” in U.S. cinemas and on Paramount+ on September 23, 2022.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B7AXY4xXyQ