"Shadow" Review

Shadow (2018) is a wuxia film directed by Zhang Yimou, starring real-life couple Deng Chao and Sun Li. 

Deng plays Commander Ziyu, a respected military leader in the kingdom of Pei. Pei lost the city of Jingzhou to the kingdom of Yang, led by the fearsome warrior Yang Cang, who also defeated Ziyu in battle. Ziyu now wants a rematch, against the wishes of the King of Pei, so he can restore his wounded pride and retake Jingzhou, with the King being seen as a coward who makes concessions and only wishes to avoid war at all costs. However, it is soon revealed that Ziyu is in fact still recovering from his fight with Yang Cang, and the Ziyu seen at court is in fact his "shadow", a man named Jingzhou (also played by Deng), who looks exactly like the real Ziyu did before his injuries took a toll on him. Jingzhou is a native of the city of Jingzhou and is tasked with finding a way to defeat Yang Cang so as to retake Jingzhou for Pei on the real Ziyu's behalf. Meanwhile, not everyone is as they seem, and multiple hidden agendas gradually come to light...

Shadow is a breathtaking film to behold, with several amazingly shot and choreographed fight scenes, especially when combined with some really creative weaponry like metal umbrellas. It's all very inventive and the dramatic flair and emotional weight in the fights make all of them spectacular to watch, especially with how well made they are. The design and cinematography in general are distinctive, with the props and costumes in the film largely being in black-and-white, evoking Chinese ink paintings, lending a beautiful visual style to the whole film that I've never really seen in any other movie.

The plot can seem simplistic at first, but it soon becomes apparent that many more layers lurk beneath the surface as the characters gradually show their colors and schemers set their plans in motion. When everything comes to a head at the end, it was the result of different plans by different manipulators crashing into each other, with all the twists and turns that entails.

One thing I will criticize is the pacing. By necessity, the film has to set up a lot of things at the start, and the setup takes a little while to fully establish before the plot really gets going, and some relevant background information is given in several blocks of text at the start of the film. This approach front-loads a lot of important information needed to understand the plot, and also makes the first 20 minutes or so of the film, spent setting the major conflicts, feel like it drags on for quite a bit. After those 20 minutes, though, the film never stops being engaging in terms of narrative and visual style.

Shadow is an expertly-made wuxia film with a lot of style and a seemingly straightforward narrative that proves to be far more complex as more is revealed. I highly recommend this film!