Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.5

Shadow Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 7, 2019

Is it time for another Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? Ang Lee pretty much remade the wuxia genre over in his own image with that film, and in some ways at least martial arts films have never been the same since. Shadow may end up doing something along the same lines, though perhaps with regard to style more than substance. Co-writer and director Zhang Yimou has had his own pretty redolent history with wuxia films, having helmed such features as Hero and House of Flying Daggers, and kind of ironically given one of Shadow’s most noticeable stylistic flourishes, its near black and white cinematography, many of Zhang’s previous films have been noted for their bold use of color (Zhang even employed the then rarely used Technicolor for Ju Dou). Zhang may have experienced something of a major misfire with his attempt to appeal to Western audiences with The Great Wall, but he seems thrillingly in control of Shadow, even if the film is perhaps too rote in some of its plot dynamics and may not provide enough of the kind of (literal?) high wire acts that have been a staple of wuxia films since, well, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Some introductory text gives some brief background and context for the film, detailing a war between the kingdoms of Pei and Yang, which was supposedly settled after Yang’s chief warrior, a General named Yang Cang (Hu Jun), defeated Pei’s chief warrior, Commander Zi Yu (Deng Chao), delivering a battle winning blow that left Yu seriously injured. As a result, Pei has lost control of a prized asset — the city of Jing. As the actual film opens, Pei’s kind of surfer dude-esque King Pei Liang (Zheng Kai) is holding court when Yu returns from an unauthorized mission to Yang (the kingdom) where he agreed to have a one on one rematch with Yang (the General) in order to settle once and for all which kingdom will claim Jing. The King is understandably miffed, as his chief aim is to preserve the peace and he is willing to let Jing go for the sake of that perceived harmony.

In a weirdly tense moment that is soon clarified, Yu and his wife, known only as Madam (Sun Li), are commanded by the King to play zithers that are brought in, something that leads to lots of stolen glances between Yu and Madam, and which results in both Yu and Madam more or less refusing to play despite their King’s orders. That reluctance is soon explained when Madam passes through a hidden door to a secret cavern where it turns out the man we’ve assumed is Zi Yu is in fact a slave of sorts named Jing (Deng Chao) who, due to his close resemblance to the real Zi Yu (Deng Chao of course), has taken over the “role”, since the actual warrior is in fact seriously injured and seemingly tipping over into madness. The tension in the zither scene is due to the fact that while Jing is in essence a "body double" for Yu, he does not have Yu's inherent musical talent. Madam is in on the ruse, but no one else in the palace is.

There are a number of competing interests at stake in Shadow, ostensibly built around who will control the city of Jing, but really dealing with personal power and identity. Interestingly, while both Madam and the King's sister Qing Ping (Guan Xiaotong) are shown to be the pawns that women typically were in that era and culture, it's the character of Jing who seems to be most buffeted by the vagaries of fate. In his guise as Yu, he's stripped of his Commander status by the King, but is still slated to battle General Yang, in the hopes of finally winning his freedom. In the meantime, the King tries to renew efforts at détente by offering Qing Ping as a potential wife to General Yang’s song Ping (Leo Wu), with some unexpected consequences. In some ways this is all pretty standard “palace intrigue” stuff, but Shadow invests it with surprising energy, even if the film’s wuxia elements are perhaps just as surprisingly few and far between.

With the possible exception of the fact that both characters and locations share names in certain instances, something that’s actually much easier to track watching it than it perhaps is in trying to write about it, the plot, while tracking the course of several major characters, is resolutely easy to follow once everyone is introduced and the underlying premise is established. But in a way plot hardly matters here since the film is such a riot of style. The film repeatedly references taijitu, the yin and yang symbol, and in fact there’s overt dialogue given over to how masculine and feminine approaches to battle differ. The whole “almost” black and white ambience of the film may have some deep philosophical meaning which frankly escaped me, but it provides Zhang and cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding with multiple opportunities for really striking imagery. Aside from virtual tableaux they assemble outside (where it’s always raining), there are some fascinating shots inside King Peiliang’s throne room, which seems to be adorned with weird semi-opaque panels with artwork, through which several shots are taken as if to suggest all is not as it seems.

Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shadow is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. I was a bit worried when the Well Go USA masthead once again had little ripples of banding, but once this gorgeous film starts, I noticed no reoccurrences. As can hopefully be made out in the screenshots accompanying this review, this Phantom Flex4K and Red captured material (finished at a 4K DI) is in color, though just barely at times. Typically the frame is filled with an impressive array of blacks, whites and grays with just a hint of tone, often for skin. Things are toyed with, however, and there is one noticeable instance late in the film where the palette becomes at least a little warmer. Detail levels are striking throughout this presentation, even in some relatively dark scenes courtesy of the omnipresent rain or secret cavern where the real Commander Zi Yu is hiding out. The film's special effects seamlessly weave Deng Chao in both of his roles together, quite often in the same frame and just as often interacting with, including touching, each other.

Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shadow features a great sounding Dolby Atmos track in the original Mandarin (a lossy English dub is included). There is fantastic immersion throughout this presentation, albeit sometimes surprisingly subtle given the hyperbolic nature of many of the events depicted in the story. Everything from Madam futzing with a metal lock on a door (in an image and sound effect moment that bookends the film) to the absolutely wild zither music to the well staged if admittedly relatively infrequent wuxia sequences offers good engagement of the surround channels, and elements (no pun intended) like the nonstop torrential downpour can help to engage the Atmos channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout.

Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making Of

  About the Double (1080i; 2:17)

  
  

  The Director (1080i; 3:17)

  
  

  The Unknown Side of Zhang Yimou (1080i; 3:03)

  
  

  Behind the Scenes (1080i; 2:43)

  
  

  Heroes (1080i; 4:06)

  
  

  Deng Chao (1080i; 2:49)

  
  

  Zheng Kai (1080i; 2:02)

• International Trailer (1080p; 2:05)


• US Trailer (1080p; 1:56)

As is typically the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the supplements are authored to follow one another automatically, so that clicking on About the Double is essentially a "Play All" option. After the US Trailer for this film plays, the disc is authored to move on automatically to trailers for other Well Go USA releases. Those trailers for other Well Go USA trailers also play automatically at disc boot up.

Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Zhang is obviously attempting to create an almost mythic or folkloristic account of these relationships, and his incredibly striking imagery certainly helps to achieve that goal. The story has some predictable aspects, but it's quite interesting how it manages to interweave the lives of at least four major characters (five, if you include both "versions" of Commander Zi Yu), as well as a couple of other supporting court characters and citizens of Yang, giving each of them an interesting storyline. But it's the imagery that will probably initially stand out the most to many viewers, and it is ravishingly on display here. Highly recommended.