Latest news with #JoeCarnahan
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Shadow Force' Review: Two Spies Get Dragged From the Cold in Middling Action Opus
When a now-defunct celebrity couple attempted to make like Nick and Nora Charles meets 'Mission: Impossible' in 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' two decades ago, the high-concept, high-budget results were a mixed bag — which didn't stop them from being imitated ever since. The latest duo to step into similar matching marital bulletproof vests is Kerry Washington and Omar Sy, playing globetrotting 'elite special operators' now hiding from their former colleagues in 'Shadow Force.' It takes a certain esprit to pull off this kind of bombastic yet larky star vehicle. Joe Carnahan's film provides passable diversion for a couple hours, but the fun to be had is limited by uninspired action staging, less-than-sparkling dialogue and a maudlin streak of the 'It's about family!!' type. Lionsgate's theatrical release looks likelier to find its primary audience once it reaches home formats. More from Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Desperate Housewives' Reboot From Kerry Washington, Natalie Chaidez in Development at Onyx Collective 'Extraction' TV Series Starring Omar Sy Ordered at Netflix From Glen Mazzara With Russo Brothers Producing Kyrah (Washington) and Isaac (Sy) are a couple who met on the job. They were both part of the titular top-secret assassin unit assembled by then-CIA chief Jack Cinder (Mark Strong) to take out bad guys around the world. But falling in love was against the rules, going AWOL even more so. Some time later, they've gone underground, trying to keep themselves and 5-year-old son Ky (Jahleel Kamara) safe from the vengeance of their ex-boss, who is now General Secretary for G7. Cinder's international career ascent has only made him more anxious to snuff his runaway agents, who 'know too many things.' Plus there's his lingering pique over being dumped for Isaac by Kyrah, with whom he once had a different sort of 'thing.' She has actually spent the last few years away from her husband and child, trying to kill off remaining Shadow Force recruits before they can do the same to her loved ones. However, when Isaac is forced to demonstrate his violent skillset during a bank robbery in which father and son find themselves caught, the resulting heroic surveillance camera footage blows everyone's cover. Dad and son scram to a hiding place in the Colombian jungle, soon joined by an irate mom. (It is typical of the script's weak logic that she blames Isaac for attracting attention, ignoring the minor detail that he was forced to save their child from armed goons.) Once these parents have yelled at and pummeled each other a bit, the family reunion goes on the run, soon crossing paths with old CIA allies: another couple, known as Auntie (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) and Unc (Method Man). Less luckily, they're also tracked down by members of the Force, who drag all the good guys to Cinder's man-made-island lair. The shootout that takes place there is decent enough. Still, 'Shadow Force' aspires to 'John Wick'-ish levels of hyperbolic action without having the elevated fight choreography or visual panache to pull that off. Shot almost entirely in Colombia, the film's locations and P. Erik Carlson's production design are plusses that Juan Miguel Azpiroz's widescreen cinematography doesn't fully exploit, providing neither grittiness nor high style to material that could use one or the other. A chase on mountain roads, then another between speed boats, ought to provide more visceral thrills than is managed here. In character terms, too, the movie keeps falling short. The five reassembled 'Force' killers (Yoson An, Sala Baker, Marvin Jones III, Natalia Reyes, Jenel Stevens-Thompson) are each given a distinguishing look, but practically nothing to say or do. By default, more interest is stirred by Cinder's ill-treated bodyguards-slash-assistants (Marshall Cook, Ed Quinn), who at least hint at some droll camaraderie. It's gratifying when late in the game, they turn out to have more going on than we'd thought. But Strong, who's played many villains, finds so little of interest in this one that he might as well have 'Generic Baddie' (or perhaps 'If I can't have you no one will') tattooed across his forehead. While Sy and Washington are certainly accomplished, personable and attractive performers, these ostensibly showy roles don't do a lot for them, either. He (in a part originally intended for producer Sterling K. Brown) at least imbues his with some humor and warmth. She waxes too earnest for the fairly preposterous premise to bear, hard-selling Kyrah's tough side one minute, belaboring maternal devotion the next; her prickliness around Isaac makes whatever mutual chemistry brought them together hard to detect. It might've been entertaining to let her character's alpha air be the secret sauce in their marriage, but neither script nor star are willing to make that leap. The dynamic between Randolph and Method Man actually does go there, after a fashion — yet again, Leon Chills and Carnahan's screenplay never quite gives these actors the opportunity to shine as we keep expecting them to. A bullet-riddled scenario this simplistic and improbable can't afford to be as sentimental as 'Shadow Force' often gets. There's too much screentime handed over to child thespian Kamara being precociously adorable — which he is. But charm is dampened by the rote calculation of having a tyke curse for laughs, or hammily sing along to old R&B hits. A running gag here is that wee Ky is a superfan for 80s slow-jam king Lionel Ritchie. Like so much else here, that plays out as an obvious gimmick deployed minus the wit or surprise that might've made it fly. If only Sy and Washington had been given some latterday equivalent to the banter William Powell and Myrna Loy got in those 'Thin Man' movies. Instead, the best the filmmakers can manage is saddling them with the same exact fadeout that ended 'After the Thin Man' on a note of shameless schmaltz almost 90 years ago. Best of Variety The Best Albums of the Decade
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ben Affleck & Matt Damon's The Rip Gets Teaser Trailer, Release Date
Netflix has released the first look for The Rip, the upcoming action movie starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who play two Miami cops who discover millions of dollars in a stash house. The Rip teaser trailer, which was only shown live during Tudum and not officially released, features Affleck and Damon as cops who have to ask whom they can trust after discovering a life-changing amount of money. The cast also includes Steven Yeun, Kyle Chandler, Sashe Calle (The Flash), Néstor Carbonell (Shogun), Catalina Sandino Moreno (Silent Night), Scott Adkins, and Teyana Taylor (A Thousand and One). It releases January 16, 2026. Check out The Rip teaser trailer below (watch more trailers): The upcoming movie, which is set to release in the fall of this year on Netflix, tells the story of a group of cops who come upon millions of dollars in an abandoned stash house. As the group figures out what to do, things begin to fall apart after outside forces find out about the money. In a statement on the movie, writer and director Joe Carnahan likened the project to classic 70's cop thrillers, and said they drew from iconic films like Serpico and Prince of the City, as well Heat, for inspiration. 'RIP came out of a deeply personal experience that my friend went through, both as a father and as head of tactical narcotics for the Miami Dade police department,' said Carnahan. 'It's inspired in part by his life and then, by my enduring love for those classic 70's cop thrillers that really valued the character and interpersonal relationships and became touchstones of that era — films like Serpico and Prince Of The City and more recently, Michael Mann's Heat.' The post Ben Affleck & Matt Damon's The Rip Gets Teaser Trailer, Release Date appeared first on - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
Geek Tyrant
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Release Date Revealed For Netflix Film THE RIP Starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck — GeekTyrant
Netflix has revealed the release date for their upcoming crime thriller, The RIP , starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. It also stars Teyana Taylor and Sasha Calle, and is written and directed by Joe Carnahan with Artists Equity producing. The film will be released on January 16, 2026. The streamer also debuted a sneak peek, though it was for the room only. The RIP follows a group of Miami cops whose trust begins to fray after they discover millions in cash in a derelict stash house. As outside forces learn about the size of the seizure, everything is called into question — including who they can rely on. Michael Joe and Kevin Halloran of Artists Equity exec produced. After launching Artists Equity in November 2022, Damon and Affleck released the company's first film, Air, in spring 2023 to strong reviews and a solid box office performance. Since then, it has produced the documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told for Amazon MGM Studios and Small Things Like These , which opened this year's Berlin Film Festival and won the Silver Bear for supporting actress Emily Watson. Recent releases include Apple's The Instigators starring Damon, while the Amazon MGM pic Unstoppable is gearing for a December premiere after its debut at TIFF. via: Deadline
Geek Vibes Nation
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Vibes Nation
Lionsgate To Release The Kerry Washington & Omar Sy Action Film 'Shadow Force' On Blu-Ray This July
Lionsgate Home Entertainment has announced that they will be releasing the action film Shadow Force on Blu-Ray and DVD on July 8, 2025. The film is currently available on Digital platforms. From director Joe Carnahan (Narc, The A-Team), the film stars Kerry Washington, Omar Sy, Mark Strong, Academy Award Winner Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Cliff 'Method Man' Smith. The Blu-Ray comes with a Dolby Atmos audio track and exclusive special features. Get more details below! Synopsis: In SHADOW FORCE, Kyrah (Kerry Washington) and Issac (Omar Sy) were once leaders of a multinational special forces group called Shadow Force. They broke the rules by falling in love, and in order to protect their son, they go underground. With a large bounty on their heads, and the vengeful Shadow Force hot on their trail, one family's fight becomes all-out war. SPECIAL FEATURES Shadow Force: Declassified — Audio Commentary with Writer-Director Joe Carnahan and Editor Kevin Hale Making Shadow Force — Ain't Nothing to F*** With International Waters: The Locations Behind Shadow Force Isla Gunfight: Final Battle Breakdown Theatrical Trailer Before we let you go, we have officially launched our merch store! Check out all of our amazing apparel when you click here and type in GVN15 at checkout for a 15% discount! Make sure to check out our podcasts each week including Geek Vibes Live, Top 10 with Tia, Wrestling Geeks Alliance and more! For major deals and money off on Amazon, make sure to use our affiliate link!
Geek Tyrant
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Joe Carnahan Reflects on His Unmade DAREDEVIL Trilogy Set Across the 1970s and '80s — GeekTyrant
Back in 2012, director Joe Carnahan was circling a bold and brutal Daredevil film that was just months from becoming a reality, until it wasn't. As the clock ticked down on 20th Century Fox's rights to the character, the studio scrambled to keep Matt Murdock in their corner. Carnahan was hot off The Grey and The A-Team, and was their Hail Mary. But, then time ran out, and Marvel got the rights back, and Carnahan's vision faded away. Now, more than a decade later, Carnahan is opening up about the project, which would've given us a version of Daredevil unlike anything Marvel has delivered. Carnahan told CBR: 'You know what's funny? My Daredevil was a trifecta, and it was Daredevil '73 which was classic rock, Daredevil '79, which was punk rock, [and] Daredevil '85, which was new wave. That was, those are my movies, right?' Carnahan was building a Daredevil trilogy that pulsed with the heartbeat of Hell's Kitchen, each entry soaked in the music, grit, and unrest of a changing New York. Visually and thematically, it was shaping up to be Taxi Driver by way of Frank Miller. Fox, of course, was desperate to keep Daredevil. Marvel Studios, already plotting its massive Infinity Saga, offered a trade, Matt Murdock for Galactus and the Silver Surfer. Fox declined. Instead, they gambled on a last-minute Carnahan project. But development stalled, and Marvel got their Devil back. Carnahan, when asked whether he's watched Netflix's Daredevil or the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again, admitted, 'It's hard for me to get into that. I think I got my heart broken by not being able to do it. And I know Charlie Cox is great. My buddy Dario Scardiopane runs the show. I love [Jon] Bernthal to death. I should have better reasons for not having seen it, but I don't.' It's clear Carnahan has a complicated relationship with the genre. He added: 'The A-Team was as close as I ever came to, like a guy with a cape, you know? And then, I mean, the El Chicano that just died a horrible death, but it was a really cool, kind of, like, a Latino Punisher kind of a thing.' He continued: 'I enjoy the execution of those, like a fan, sitting in a theater watching them. But, is there stuff [I would work on in the genre]? Like Daredevil, but Daredevil is a blind guy that has this extra sensory thing. 'I'm interested in that, the kind of the street level [characters], you know, guys that aren't really blessed with anything other than this—something has been they've been deprived of something. So they have this extra sensory skill.' Carnahan's Daredevil would've been grounded, bloody, and drenched in style, a street-level character study and the concept seems like it would've been awesome. But, I guess the way everything played out was meant to be, and new Marvel Studios owns it all, and they are running with it. Would you have wanted to see Carnahan's 1970s-set Daredevil?
