Shadow Force: Kerry Washington’s Spy Thriller Finds Streaming Redemption

by

Despite a rocky start with mixed reviews, the new series Mr. and Mrs. Smith, starring Kerry Washington, is now proving to be a success on streaming platforms. It appears the show has finally connected with viewers.

Currently, Shadow Force is the third most popular movie on Prime Video in the U.S., but you need a Starz subscription to watch it. It’s behind only Trap House and The Tank, which has been a big hit this month. Despite this, Shadow Force is the top movie on Prime Video in countries like Argentina and Brazil.

The series follows former black ops agents forced to return to their dangerous past lives as mercenaries and assassins. Kerry Washington and Omar Sy play Kyrah and Isaac, a divorced couple who reunite when their son becomes a target of their ruthless ex-boss, Jack Cinder (Mark Strong). They must fight off attacks from their former colleagues, including Cysgod (Krondon) and Moriti (Natalia Reyes), to protect him.

Despite a rocky start and mixed reviews, the film has found success on streaming platforms. Critics weren’t impressed, giving it a 30% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and criticizing its lack of originality. While audiences generally liked it better – awarding it an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes – other review sites like IMDb and Letterboxd show lower scores from viewers.

Despite flopping badly in theaters—earning only $5 million against a $40 million budget, according to The Numbers—Shadow Force is finally finding success as a streaming hit. While this is the first positive outcome for the controversial 2025 spy thriller, it doesn’t make up for the significant financial losses it experienced in cinemas.

Could Shadow Force Get a Sequel?

Despite gaining some popularity on streaming services, Shadow Force’s disappointing performance in theaters likely means there won’t be any sequels. The film earned back only a small fraction of its budget in theaters, and it would need to become a surprisingly big hit on streaming to justify continuing the franchise. Unless it really takes off with streaming audiences, don’t expect to see any more Shadow Force movies.

Honestly, what worries me most about the future of Shadow Force is that the story just feels…done. We’ve all seen this movie before, so many times! And a lot of those other films actually do a much better job with the “retired spy gets pulled back in” plot. It’s become a really common thing, especially with all the direct-to-streaming movies on Netflix and Prime Video. It just feels like this kind of story works better when you can watch it at home without having to go to the cinema.

Viewers might enjoy watching the original Mr. and Mrs. Smith instead – the 2005 action-comedy starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie that started the trend of similar spy stories, which are still popular today. A new series based on the movie, also called Mr. and Mrs. Smith, recently debuted on Prime Video in 2024 with Donald Glover and Maya Erskine as the leads, and it’s been surprisingly well-received.

The series is moving forward with new leads Sophie Thatcher and Mark Eydelshteyn. If you were a fan of Shadow Force, you’ll probably enjoy Mr. and Mrs. Smith or other shows with a similar storyline even more.

Shadow Force is available to stream on Starz.

Read More

2026-01-17 02:09