“Shadow” is a fascinating and exciting action film from filmmaker Zhang Yimou. While not his best film, it’s no doubt one of his better action films within the last 15 years. Recommended!
TITLE: Shadow
FILM RELEASE: 2018
DURATION: 116 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (16:9 widescreen), Mandarin Dolby Atmos in Dolby True HD and English Dobly Digital 5.1. Subtitles are in English, traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese.
COMPANY: Well Go USA Entertainment
RATED: Not Rated
Release Date: August 13, 2019
Directed by Zhang Yimou
Screenplay by Li Wei and Zhang Yimou
Produced by Liu Jun, Wang Ziaizhu, Catherine Pang
Executive Producer: Edward Cheng, Zhang Zhao
Edited by Zhou Xiaolin
Music by Loudboy
Cinematography by Zhao Xiaoding
Production Design by Ma Horace
Starring:
Deng Chao as Zhou Jing/Yu Zi
Sun Li as Xiao Ai
Zheng Ryan as Liang Pei
Wang Qianyuan as Zhan Tian
Wang Jingchun as Yan Lu
Hu Jun as Yang Cang
Guan Xiatong as Ping Qing
Wu Lei as Yang Ping
With SHADOW, director Zhang Yimou (HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) once again pushes the boundaries of wuxia action to create a film like no other, masterfully painting a canvas of inky blacks and greys punctuated with bursts of color from the blood of the defeated. In a kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, the military commander has a secret weapon: a shadow , a look-alike who can fool both his enemies and the King himself. Now he must use this weapon in an intricate plan that will lead his people to victory in a war that the King does not want.
From renown martial arts director Zhang Yimou (“House of Flying Daggers”, “Hero, “Curse of the Golden Flower”, “Raise the Red Lantern”) and writer Li Wei comes the film “Shadow”, which will be released in North America on August 2019.
The film is set in the Kingdom of Pei which lost the important city of Jingzhou to the Kingdom of Yang, after Pei’s Commander Ziyu (portrayed by Deng Chao) lost a duel to the unbeatable Yang Cang (portrayed by Jun Hu).
When the King of Pei (potrayed by Zheng Kai) finds out that Commander Ziyu had challenged Yang Cang to a rematch without authorization.
The King of Pei demotes Commander Ziyu to commoner status shocking military officials. Instead of a battle, Commander Ziyu wants to offer his beloved sister Qinping (portrayed by Guan Xiaotong) to Yang Cang’s son Yang Ping (portrayed by Leo Wu) in order to bring peace to two warring kingdoms.
Instead, Yang Cang sends a counteroffer that he wants to make Qingping to be a concubine instead. The King of Pei agrees to it, upsetting both Qingpin and General Tian (portrayed by Wang Qianyuan) who supports Commander Ziyu, and for that, he is also demoted.
But we learn that Commander Ziyu is not exactly the man we thought he was. His name is Jingzhou and the real Commander Ziyu was wounded severely in his battle with Yang Cang that he has to recover in a hidden cave but is no longer the same man. He’s a shadow of his former self. Because Jingzhou looks exactly like Commander Ziyu, he was trained from childhood to be Ziyu’s shadow. To serve as his body double in case Commander Ziyu’s life is threateend.
The only people who know the truth about Ziyu’s shadow is Ziyu himself and his wife, Xiao Ai (portrayed by Sun Li).
Because Ziyu was badly injured, Jingzhou is forced to act as Ziyu’s proxy in public and has trained to beat Yang Cang in Ziyu’s place, while Commander Ziyu is planning on how to recapture Jingzhou and ascend to the throne.
VIDEO:
“Shadow” is presented in 1080p High Definition (16:9 widescreen). Picture quality is very good! Close ups show great detail and I found no issues of banding or artifacts during my viewing of the film.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Shadow” is presented in Mandarin Dolby Atmos in Dolby True HD and English Dobly Digital 5.1. The soundtrack features crystal clear dialogue and music, action sequences and crowd ambiance
Subtitles are in English, traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese.
SPECIAL FEATURES
“Shadow” comes with the following special features:
- Making Of – Featuring numerous short featurettes: About the Double, the Director, the Unknown Side of Zhang Yimou, Behind the Scenes, Heroes, Deng Chao and Zheng Kai.
- International Trailer
- US Trailer
If there is one thing that people can find consistent with Zhang Yimou films, it’s his attention to create epic action films.
Fans know already know that if you watch a Zhang Yimou film, you are going to get a lot of action but when it comes to story, it’s no doubt difficult for Zhang Yimou considering he has created many box office hits such as “House of Flying Daggers”, “Hero”, “Shadow” and many more titles, as some may feel his films are more visual than plot-focused.
With “Shadow”, it looks as if Zhang Yimou has found a way to create a film that showcases a strong story, fascinating characters and plenty of action.
And for the most part, I feel that Zhang has found a style which works with audience when it comes to story development since his 2009 film “A Woman, a Gun and Noodle Shop” (a remake of the Coen Brothers film, “Blood Simple”) and 2014 film “Coming Home” despite the controversies surrounding his international big budget films “The Great Wall” starring Matt Damon (2016) and “The Flowers of War” starring Christian Bale (2011).
But “Shadow” while not original, is an interesting concept on how the characters were utilized.
Deng Chao playing dual roles. Â As the character Jingzhou who desperately wants to go back home and be with his mother, but since he was younger, because he looks exactly like Commander Zi Yu, he has to be his shadow and fill in if the Commander is incapacitated.
Commander Zi Yu is injured during his battle with Yang Cang and so, Jingzhou must step in, train and fit the role to also deceive the cowardly King Pei.
Things look like Jingzhou has everything going his way but we start to see a few twists and turns that changes his life.
The film also introduces other characters such as King Pei’s sister Qing Ping (portrayed by Guan Xiaotong) and Yang Cnag’s son Yang Ping (portrayed by Wu Lei), the soldier Tian Zhan and more. But I felt that the other characters were not utilized as the focus was primarily on Jingzhou/Commander Zi Yu and Zi Yu’ s wife Xiao Ai (portrayed by Sun Li).
Without spoiling the film, I will say what makes the film work is the visuals. Visuals are always a priority in Yimou films, with many slow motions and attention fight choreography, it’s what he does best when directing these films.  The action scenes are magnificent!
As for the dramatic aspect of the film, I felt that Deng Chao and Sun Li did a great job and with the coming together of the dramatic and action scenes for this film, it no doubt added to the delightful aspect of enjoying the characters and how they are transformed from earlier in the film right to the end.
Is this the best Zhang Yimou film? It’s a very good film but it’s tough to top films such as “Hero” and “House of Flying Daggers” which are exceptional action films. While his Gong Li films, especially “To Live”, “Raise the Red Lantern” and “Coming Home” show how well the director and the actress work together and there is no doubt for Zhang Yimou fans that his films with Gong Li are no doubt special. Almost in a way, how French Nouvelle fans favor Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina films, as the two were able to create wonderful films together.
Nevertheless, this was a film that relied heavily on actor Deng Chao’s performance and the actor pulled it off wonderfully and the film benefits from Deng’s ability to take on dual roles.
Overall, “Shadow” is a fascinating and exciting action film from filmmaker Zhang Yimou. While not his best film, it’s no doubt one of his better action films within the last 15 years. Recommended!
