Palace intrigue and ornate martial arts duels are just the surface of Shadow, Zhang Yimou's stunning 2018 period epic of doppelgangers, zither duets, double-crosses, and monochrome colors splattered with blood.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 12, 2022

The fight choreography in the third act is unique and beautiful.

| Jul 30, 2021

Building rather slowly towards climactic action, this is a corpse-strewn sort of Jacobean revenge drama, its violence staged with considerable panache.

| Oct 15, 2020

With the colour palette of an ink wash painting, Zhang Yimou creates one of the most memorable wuxias in years...

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 23, 2020

A politically driven, exceptionally lavish historical drama that represents Zhang at his most visually poetic.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 28, 2020

Yimou Zhang once again reminds us of his trademark beauty, and Shadow is a significant return to form.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 27, 2020

Zhang proves that, operating in this vibrant, superficial mode, he's still capable of generating the requisite thrills.

| Jul 30, 2020

Zhang Yimou's new wuxia epic, titled 'Shadow', represents for my taste in martial arts, a fascinating film that never ceases to amaze me throughout the journey with its plot of loyalty, betrayal and power. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jul 28, 2020

While pretty and grand, and the idea of a historical epic from the director of "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers" sounds like a great concept, "Shadow" falls flat and cold.

| Original Score: C | Jun 30, 2020

The film's message seems to be that absolute power corrupts absolutely, making it a veiled critique of China's current leader.

| Jun 27, 2020

This heightened atmosphere sets the perfect tone for the story, which is rife with scheming, torqued emotion, and of course, incredible fight scenes.

| Feb 25, 2020

It has the goods, both as spectacle and as an enjoyable dense political thriller.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 30, 2020

f you like sword fights you should like this wuxia film despite its confusing palace intrigues.

| Original Score: B+ | Jan 7, 2020

There's a certain traditional type of ink finger-painting in China that director Zhang Yimou's new movie evokes to seductive perfection.

| Jan 7, 2020

Not much more to say, "Shadow" is one of the greatest wuxia films of all time, an audiovisual poem and overall, a true masterpiece.

| Dec 25, 2019

It is a creative and aesthetic masterpiece.

| Original Score: 10/10 | Nov 18, 2019

Overall, Shadow is as stunning as Yimou's recent filmography but the numerous complexities make the story unnecessarily confusing.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 11, 2019

At times, Shadow is a feast of sound and vision.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Sep 16, 2019

Intrigue drawn in ink.

| Aug 16, 2019

If you are a fan of visually dazzling films with heart than you will leave the theater awestruck by it.

| Original Score: 8.5/10 | Jul 28, 2019