Shadow isn't really a remarkable Zhang Yimou film. It's still quite good, it stands out through its visual style which he's good at, but it lacks in character development or dialogue. The dialogue is just basic, hardly making an effort to tell the story, but the visuals are able to mostly carry the film alone. It's shot in a very much grayish color palette, which works for the time in which it takes place and it's interesting to learn some of China's history and culture through it. The film is almost 2 hours long, but despite it very much Chinse soap opera story telling, the plot is interesting follow. There's a city battle at the end that's well choreographed too and all together I appreciated Shadow more for its style than its substance. It's delicate and better than his previous film, the blockbuster The Great Wall, but it's not close to the best work I've seen of him, Raise the Red Lantern either.

B