Stream It Or Skip It: ‘In the Shadow of the Moon’ on Netflix, a Noir Sci-Fi Thriller That Bites Off More Than it Can Chew (2025)

Netflix touts In the Shadow of the Moon as a “mindbender,” but it’s more of a genre-blender, an objectively ambitious mix of heady sci-fi, moody noir, perplexing mystery, blistering action, gooey melodrama and gory horror. That’s the creamy portion of this movie smoothie; lumpier is its string of revelatory, time-hopping sort-of-twists, which make describing it a potential spoiler landmine. So I hereby proceed with caution.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: The film opens with a wordless scene of urban destruction. It’s 2024. Buildings have been bombed; a modified American flag floats through the frame. Jump back to 1988: Our hero Locke (Boyd Holbrook) has a deep yearning to be more than just a graveyard-shift beat cop in Philadelphia. He desperately wants to hover over gruesome crime scenes, furrowing his brow and poking bodies with his clicky Bic ink pen like a seen-it-all detective in a drizzly David Fincher movie. His superior, Holt (Michael C. Hall), is also his brother-in-law, so he gives Locke a bit of leeway to sniff shell casings and mutter about the tragedy of the human condition and whatnot — all of which is tonally contrasted by his optimistic domestic scene, where his Very Pregnant Wife playfully chides him for making terrible pancakes.

One fateful night, Locke and his partner, Maddox (Bokeem Woodbine), zigzag across town, puzzling over bodies with hollow skulls because their brains liquified right out their orifices — which is approximately No. 1,262 on the list of pleasant ways to go. The perp is a ninjaesque young woman in a blue hoodie (Cleopatra Coleman), who Locke chases into a subway. A speeding train renders her asunder, which is approximately No. 1,263 on the list. Before Locke can take a breath, he learns his wife is in labor — and there are complications. By the end of the night, he’s a widower holding a cooing baby girl in his arms. Like I said, fateful night.

Jump ahead to 1997. Locke got his wish. He’s a detective now, with the mustache and everything, which gives him official jurisdiction to follow a fresh string of brain-liquifications perpetrated by the same hoodie-wearer. But isn’t she dead as hell? Cue Locke’s wild conspiratorial obsession, and scenes of mild parental neglect as he leaves his poor, sweet daughter to sleep on a couple of chairs in the cop shop while he chases — what, exactly? A ghost? A zombie? A something that you may have figured out by now, but I daren’t reveal lest I get waterboarded by spoiler cops? And will the narrative ever loop back to 2024? Mmmmmph!

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: I’d wager director Jim Mickle draws inspiration from Christopher Nolan, Philip K. Dick and the aforementioned Mr. Fincher. The film has the crazy-obsessive protagonist of Take Shelter, the moodiness of Seven and a fistful of components recalling Blade Runner, Terminator, and Looper. Those are its influences, at least. In the harsh light of day, it exists somewhere between medium-ambitious stuff like Source Code and The Adjustment Bureau, and mostly forgettable stuff like Jumper and Push.

Performance Worth Watching: Holbrook seems like a sincere, talented, Armie Hammerish actor who someday will play a second-tier superhero in a big franchise who’s not quite worthy of his own movie but might get a spinoff TV series, because that’s the measuring stick we use these days. He carries In the Shadow of the Moon capably, even when the narrative leaps forward years at a time and buries him under an insane hobo beard and Mickey Rourke-in-Barfly grease-mop.

Memorable Dialogue: “It’s happening again!” Locke exclaims, blandly reiterating what we already know: In the Shadow of the Moon is probably too much like too many movies we’ve seen before.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: In the Shadow of the Moon opens strong with the 9/11-invoking framing device, and a series of gory intercut sequences in which a concert pianist, short-order cook, and bus driver suddenly start bleeding from their eyes and ears. It hooks us from the start, and we’re compelled to see it through, although it’s not all that exhilarating or rewarding. Mired in its conceptual weeds, it’s not nearly as narratively propulsive or suspenseful as it wants to be.

The film rapidly becomes a series of familiarities and a grab-bag of half-baked ideas with a bland visual palette. Mickle ably manages the tone, which is not nothing, but more dynamic direction and less dead-seriousness in the face of its comic-booky flourishes would have given us a reason to forgive its flaws. The more we stick with it, the less convincing it is. Locke’s all-consuming obsession transforms him into a private dick in desperate need of a shower and a supercut; he lives out of his car, poring over his research and pulling on a flask, less Lincoln Lawyer, more Caprice Cuckoo. Was I supposed to chuckle? Probably not. But I did.

And please don’t ask what the title means, or what the movie’s thematic ambitions are. Conceptually, it’s partially realized at best, and confounding at worst. Of course, we shouldn’t desire explanations that render narratives and subtexts dull and lifeless. But we need less clutter and more clarity, which is evidence that In the Shadow of the Moon ultimately tries to do too much.

Oh, and one nitpick: I’m reasonably certain nobody used the word “hoodie” in 1988.

Our Call: SKIP IT. It’s nice to see Netflix taking chances — read: throwing money around — on the type of non-franchise genre stuff that barely sniffs theatrical venues nowadays. So it’s too bad In the Shadow of the Moon is sluggish and stiff in all the wrong places, more wheezy dud than engaging pop.

Your Call:

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba

Stream In the Shadow of the Moon on Netflix