The Shadow's Edge

Story: Fu Longsheng (Tony Leung Ka-Fai) was a jewel thief who disappeared decades ago, until he resurfaced and, in a spectacular operation, stole some digital assets, including the address of a wallet whose password he doesn't know. His five "children", whom he took under his wing when they were still living in an orphanage, risked a great deal during the operation, and the police almost caught them. Luckily, one of their team members is a hacker and was able to take control of the cameras scattered throughout the city, leaving the police blind so that they lost the suspects. The police realize they can no longer rely on their existing technology and bring specialist Wang (Jackie Chan) out of retirement to assemble a team and train them in surveillance. Wang made only one mistake during his service, but it cost his partner his life. This partner was the father of He Qiuguo (Zhang Zifeng), who is now a police officer herself and joins Wang's team. While the team is still in training, they spot Fu at a market by chance. Using their keen sense of discretion, the team must now track him down to find his hideout and uncover his future plans.

Review: It's not often that a Hong Kong film can positively surprise me, especially not when Jackie Chan is in it. Lately, he's basically only made slapstick comedies, and since "Kung Fu Yoga" I've completely given up on his movies. With last year's "Panda Plan", the poster alone was enough to make me stop even considering following Chan's filmography anymore. But "The Shadow's Edge" managed to convince me with its trailer that we're getting a serious action film here, reminiscent of Hong Kong's golden age, without missing the opportunity to modernize things a bit. The tone is dark for most of the movie, the drama isn't just an afterthought, and the story is surprisingly gripping. In short, "The Shadow's Edge" is likely to be the highlight of this year's Hong Kong releases for many. And that's particularly surprising, since director Larry Yang previously worked with Chan on "Ride On". Thankfully, slapstick is nowhere to be found this time around. Instead, you can expect non-stop action.

Larry Yang doesn't miss the opportunity to immediately draw the viewer into the film with an adrenaline-fueled first mission. The cat-and-mouse game is executed through skillful editing, ingenuity in the escape routes, and short but snappy martial arts sequences. And all this before Jackie Chan even appears on screen. Yang avoids the mistake of putting Chan at the center of the action scenes when it doesn't make sense. Therefore, we get to admire the skills of the younger generation first. Later on, of course, Chan himself has to step up. While his fights with the juvenile criminals, thanks to some gadgets/weapons, at least don't seem completely far-fetched — Chan is, after all, 71 years old now — the finale against Leung Ka-Fai feels all the more fitting. Here, two men face off who stand out with their tenacity and experience, thus compensating for what they lack in youthful energy. This also makes the conflicts much more typical of Hong Kong: you simply get the impression that there really is something at stake and anything could happen.

Some viewers might get the feeling that they've seen the film's plot somewhere before. And that's absolutely correct, because this is a remake, or rather a reinterpretation, of "Eye in the Sky". As back then, Tony Leung Ka-Fai reprises his role as the villain, while Jackie Chan now takes over Simon Yam's part. The story is also expanded to include facial recognition software and the calculation of potential escape routes thanks to AI. However, since there's a hacker among the gangsters, the cameras prove unreliable, and an "old fossil" has to be reactivated. It all fits together quite well and gives the original a fresh coat of paint which is an obvious path to take and shouldn't bother anyone. Furthermore, as mentioned, the tone remains surprisingly serious and gritty. This is primarily thanks to Leung Ka-Fai, whose screen presence is both menacing and, in quieter moments, reveals him to be a human being with feelings. His relationship with his adopted children, in particular, proves surprisingly complex for an action film and offers several dramatic moments that don't feel tacked on.

Chan, in turn, takes his ex-partner's daughter under his wing. In doing so, he must grapple with his own guilt and Qiuguo's accusations. Zhang Zifeng ("High Forces") sometimes plays her role a little too much like a sulky teenager, but at least it ensures that the father-daughter relationship has some impact. There are a few convincing confrontations and even a few tears, but none of it feels out of place. Here, too, the script does a good job. During one phase of the investigation, the villain Fu and Wang also begin to get closer. The suspense of whether someone might blow their cover with a careless word, since Fu already suspects that Wang and his daughter could be two investigators, is very well crafted, and Chan and Leung deliver their strongest performances in this scene. Leung also has a few particularly memorable moments with his "children", as the story itself is also about deception, betrayal and passing the torch to the next generation.

"The Shadow's Edge", at almost 142 minutes, is a long film, but it never feels that way. The perfect interplay of action sequences, nerve-wracking surveillance, and drama never gives you a chance to catch your breath. The action, in turn, is superbly choreographed, sometimes emphasizing spectacular acrobatics, while at other times focusing on the fight for survival. Leung Ka-Fai, for example, has to slash his way through a horde of killers with his knife, which escalates into surprisingly bloody mayhem. In another attack, several police officers suddenly fall victim to some mercenaries. Nothing here is watered down, as is normally so often the case with modern Hong Kong cinema. Larry Yang circumvents most major problems posed by Chinese censorship with a cleverly written screenplay and ultimately creates an action thriller that truly feels like a Hong Kong thriller. Virtually everything about it works, which makes me somewhat skeptical about the teasing of a sequel towards the end. Taken on its own, "The Shadow's Edge" is certainly the first action thriller from Hong Kong in a long time that can be wholeheartedly recommended to everyone without hesitation.

Buy this movie:

Follow @AsianMovieWeb