In English and Mandarin with English subtitles during Mandarin dialogues
Genre: Drama
Director: Mikael Hafstrom
Cast: John Cusack, Gong Li, Ken Watanabe, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chow Yun-Fat, Rinko Kikuchi, Nicholas Rowe, David Morse, Michael Culkin, Franka Potente
RunTime: 1 hr 46 mins
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Rating: TBA
Official Website:

Opening Day: 1 July 2010

Synopsis:

Nothing is what it seems in this Casablanca-style international thriller set in the ancient Chinese city a week before the attack on Pearl Harbour. US Secret Agent Paul Soames (John Cusack) has just arrived in Shanghai to investigate the murder of his best friend, only to become quickly immersed in a web of conspiracy and lies that beset the city. Shadowed by a Japanese intelligence officer Tanaka (Ken Watanabe), Soames’ investigation quickly centres on a charismatic local gangster, Anthony Lan-Ting and Lan-Ting’s beautiful wife Anna (Gong Li). Before long, Soames and Anna are involved in an affair that will put everything they have at stake. As national loyalties are traded fast and loose for those of the heart, Soames and Anna must race to solve the mystery and make it out of occupied China before the city’s collapse.

Movie Review:

What a crowd.

Over at one end, we have the underrated John Cusack, who has proven that he can headline a movie with Roland Emmerich’s disaster flick 2012. He plays an American who arrives in Shanghai to find himself in lots of troubles and conspiracies.

Over at the other end we have two Asian mega stars – Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li. Viewers may be familiar with Chow’s Confucius and Captain Sao Feng (from Singapore, nonetheless), but he is also fondly known as Hui Man Keung the charismatic triad leader in the 1980 TV series The Bund, which takes place in, yes, Shanghai. Hence, it is most apt that Chow takes on the role of a vicious triad leader in this movie. Gong has stunned the Western audiences with her performances in Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) and Miami Vice (2006), but the most memorable and stunning performance yet (for some male audiences, at least) has to be with her bountiful assets in Zhang Yimou’s Curse of the Golden Flower (2006), where she plays wife of, call it a coincidence if you must, Chow. Here, she plays again plays Chow’s beautiful wife, and flaunts her figure quite a bit in some scenes.

Elsewhere, we have Ken Watanabe, an Oscar nominee (for Edward Zwick’s The Last Samurai), who takes on the role of a shady official who has more than a few dark secrets to hide.

So it is with this wonderful ensemble of actors that we have this period piece set during the years of World War II. A few months before the bombing of Pearl Harbour, these four characters in the Japanese occupied city of Shanghai come together to concoct a dangerous tale of government secrets and forbidden love.

Sounds like your typical period piece with gunfights, grand sets and predictable plot developments of double crossings? Yes, it is. Director Mikael Håfström pulls no surprises here, treating his viewers to scene after scene of impressive set designs (expensive sets were built in London and Thailand because the Chinese authorities said no to the shoot weeks before production was set to begin), remarkable cinematography of sweeping camera angles and intricate costumes of an era now gone. While these help to satisfy the visual senses, they do not do anything more. We’ve seen similarly high production values elsewhere, and the “been there done that” storyline does not push the somewhat dreary pace of the movie forward.

So what we have left are the cast’s sure footed performances. Cusack, whom we have always loved, does a fine job here as an American who arrives in a foreign land, only to find his compatriot murdered. Through his investigations, he discovers things he isn’t meant to find out. The always reliable Cusack plays this role with conviction and has us going along with the ride. Chow is an Asian icon, and his portrayal of the suspiciously treacherous triad leader is spot on. The might and valour he exudes holds the movie together. Gong, as sensuous as ever, commands the screen with her alluring voice and, ahem, her well endowed figure. Watanabe turns in a somewhat touching performance as the villain with a heart. In one scene, he shares with Cusack his past. The emotionally touching sequence will strike a chord with some romantic die hards.
 
So will you walk away with new insights about Shanghai, which is now the bustling metropolis of China? Probably not, but be assured that you’d be wowed by the fine performances of the well directed cast.

Movie Rating:



(This thriller holds no surprises, but you can expect some commendable performances from its cast)

Review by John Li