What a cast!! Ken Watanabe, Chow Yun Fat, John Cusack and Li Gong in this almost epic 40's noir type mystery cross war flick set just before the Pearl Harbour bombings. The film looks beautiful with lavish sets touched up with cgi cityscape's dotted throughout, a nice mix of… More
What a cast!! Ken Watanabe, Chow Yun Fat, John Cusack and Li Gong in this almost epic 40's noir type mystery cross war flick set just before the Pearl Harbour bombings. The film looks beautiful with lavish sets touched up with cgi cityscape's dotted throughout, a nice mix of models and cgi which is easy on the eye, a good balance. The costumes, cars, buildings and sets in general are all perfect and lovingly put together which is clear to see, allot of effort in this film for the grand look.
Of course the cast compliments this nicely with great performances all round, despite Cusack maybe being slightly out of place, but even minor or brief roles are well played by known character actor faces from both the West and East.
The film is a big vision, a vision of one of China's oldest and largest cities but its a slow burner for sure so don't get excited expecting lots of action, there are sequences of gun fighting and 'mob' type hits but for the most part this is mainly dialog in good looking locations. I'll be honest, this film did get a touch boring throughout with many characters, changing relationships, alliances, crosses and much spy/espionage chat (you need to pay attention) but little spy/espionage thrills, what there is was short and sharp and benefits from excellent camera work.
There are moments of quality acting and sombre visions of war which does really make this film special, the noirish private eye side gives it a fresh look and unique feel as you sometimes forget its a war film with the smoke filled gambling dens and neon lights that twinkle in the Shanghai streets. Its all gorgeous to watch but not quite as interesting story wise, swaying alittle towards abit muddled or confusing at times, I need to see it again really.