Kerry Washington & Omar Sy in failed action

Let’s face it: family life and be members of an elite assassination team simply do not mix.

We hope that a problem to which few readers can refer, but that afflicts the central characters of the new action film by Joe Carnahan, who slipped quietly into the rooms without advanced projections. Kerry Washington and Omar Sy play Kyrah and Issac, who were members of the titular organization until they make the mistake of falling in love and having a baby. Since then, they have become thugs, but in a modern way: Issac remains at home and takes care of their young son Ky (Jahleel Kamara, adorable), while Kyrah remains on the ground to eliminate the many assassins who were assigned to kill them for their transgression. As the ISSAC explains to his son, he and Kyrah were bad guys, making “the dirty work of God” all over the world before realizing the error of their ways and becoming good guys.

If you cannot guess how the rest of Shadow force I play, you just haven’t seen enough direct-video movies.

Of course, the scenario co-written by Carnahan (Gray,, Copshop) and Leon Chills does his best to inject a certain oddity into the mixture. Issac is largely deaf without its hearing aids and it removes them before embarking on action, apparently under the theory that its combat senses will be reinforced. Parents and children exceptionally love Lionel Richie’s music, causing many drops of needle (“really”, really?) And moments as cute as the little Ky fully grasping the messaging of the song “Brick House”.

Issac’s efforts to stay under the radar with his son go wrong when a bunch of masked and heavily armed banks make an appearance as he is in the local branch with his son. (Do you not hate when it happens?) ISSAC carefully removes its hearing aids, comes into action and sends thieves, all of which are taken on video and become viral. He naturally attracts the attention of Kyrah and the old boss of Isaac Jack Cinder (Mark Strong), which you know instantly is not good when he is shown for the first time by making tricks in a pool in his beautiful house by the water.

After the Issac exhibition in the world, Kyrah returns to team up with him to protect Ky, leading to not so agused jokes on which of them are the best blow. “We do not want another Odessa,” said Kyrah, letting viewers wonder what devil has happened in Odessa, because it seems more interesting than what’s going on here.

While Cinder and his team of assassins approach their prey, Kyrah and Issac take the type of globetrotting endemic to this type of thrillers, with more exotic place names identified on the screen that you would not find it in the office of a travel agent. Among their pursuers are the cute called “Aunt” (Da’vine Joy Randolph, having fun) and “UNC” (Cliff “Method Man” Smith), who secretly try to protect them. (This represents the first appearance on the big screen of Randolph since its award -winning Oscar return The selectedThis only adds credibility to speech as much on the “Oscar curse” with regard to support artists.)

All this leads to the inevitable ultra-violent confrontation, with inversions of loyalty, betrayals and the type of high-speed engine pursuit has done much better in James Bond and Mission: Impossible Movies. You will not be surprised to learn that before it is finished, Issac has further removed these hearing aids.

The charisma had to Washington and Sy everything they can to make the procedure captivating, but even they find it difficult to make it interesting. Strong tries even stronger, investing in his nasty representation with the kind of intensity normally reserved for Greek tragedies (he recently played in a London production of Oedipus opposite Lesley Manville). But he is defeated by the kind of ham writing in which the villain takes so much pleasure in explaining how bad he is – with ironic asiates and smacks – which he meets more tedious than formidable. We can say as much Shadow force.