I remember when
Shadow came out I felt like I had to see it. A highly stylized martial arts movie with unique looking visuals was exactly the kind of thing I wanted to see at the time. I never watched it. However, here we are 7 years later and I've finally watched
Shadow. It wasn't the masterpiece I had convinced myself it would be, but there are certainly some great things about it.
For starters, I love the visuals of this movie. Not all of the visual effects hold up super well - some green screen and body doubling gets a little too ambitious at times, but it wasn't enough to subtract from the rest of the movie. The black and white world that we're put in is stunning. The director wanted it to feel like an ancient Chinese ink-wash painting and I'd say it works for a vast majority of the film. It would have been completely passable without it, but it's a nice touch that pays off in the long run.
The action scenes are mostly really good, very
Crouching Tiger adjacent at times just without the flying around. It never gets too jarring or too unrealistic. It gets the job done. There's one scene that everyone seems to be talking about (rightfully so) involving a bunch of umbrellas which gets a little absurd, but it's so badass and crazy that I couldn't help but love it.
Plot wise, I was a little confused at first because there are many names that get thrown at you all at once. It was slow getting started and that didn't help either, but I was locked in after the first 30 minutes or so. It follow a pretty formulaic structure so it's nothing special in that regard, but the great visuals and fun action sequences make up for that. There are a few moments in the last third or so that I didn't expect. Overall a good watch.
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