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James Marsh

3/5 stars
For the past decade, veteran action hero Jackie Chan has been single-minded in his commitment to resuscitating his paternal image through his film roles.
From The Foreigner and Bleeding Steel to Hidden Strike and Ride On, Chan’s on-screen personas have been as committed to restoring broken ties with estranged children as to bringing international criminals to justice.
His latest work, The Shadow’s Edge, continues this trend as he reunites with writer-director Larry Yang Zi in a loose remake of Yau Nai-hoi’s Eye in the Sky (2007).


Chan plays Wong, a surveillance specialist brought out of retirement to assist the Macau police in apprehending an elite gang of hi-tech criminals.
Tony Leung Ka-fai reprises his role as the gang’s elusive patriarch, but more notable is how much of the film’s bloated runtime is spent on Wong’s relationship with his dead partner’s daughter, Qiuguo (Zhang Zifeng, Sister).
Trading Hong Kong’s gritty urban setting for the luxury casinos and cobbled streets of the former Portuguese colony, Yang’s reimagining is a far grander affair than its predecessor.
The action opens with a spectacular heist sequence set in and around the Macau Tower, as a band of young cyber criminals (including Ci Sha and Wen Junhui) evade capture from the city’s Public Security Police Force using a combination of elaborate disguises, martial arts and extreme sports.

Conceding that their AI-enhanced surveillance technology is no match for these new kids on the block, Wong is brought in to train a hand-picked squad of young officers in how to track their suspects the old-fashioned way.
Soon enough, Wong identifies the gang’s leader to be “The Shadow” (Leung), a notorious criminal who has been at large for decades and adheres to a similar old-school code of ethics.
At 142 minutes, The Shadow’s Edge long outstays its welcome, but is still a notable step up from many of Chan’s recent offerings.
Buried amid about an hour’s worth of unnecessary melodrama, during which Wong atones for his partner’s death by bonding with his daughter, is an intriguing meditation on the potent influence of fathers.

Wong hopes to impart traditional wisdom upon his fresh-faced team, while conversely, Shadow rules over his collection of outcasts and orphans with fear and violence.
Sadly, Yang’s script never dares to probe these ideas with much enthusiasm and gets bogged down by a string of unnecessary twists in its final moments.
He does make time for plenty of close-quarters action, however, with even Chan getting his hands dirty. In these moments, The Shadow’s Edge finds its light.
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Jackie Chan plays an old-school ex-detective to Tony Leung’s villain in this action film that has a little too much melodrama


Jackie Chan plays an old-school ex-detective to Tony Leung’s villain in this action film that has a little too much melodrama.


Chinese language cinema

Asian cinema

Film reviews

Cinema

Fame and celebrity

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Jackie Chan

What to do in Hong Kong

Tony Leung Ka-fai

An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Jackie Chan plays an old-school ex-detective to Tony Leung’s villain in this action film that has a little too much melodrama

Jackie Chan plays an old-school ex-detective to Tony Leung’s villain in this action film that has a little too much melodrama