Hidden blade11/23/2023 I will admit that there were moments when I checked my watch, wondering how much longer there was, but the acting is top-notch and I really loved the ominousness of the score. If that’s not your cup of tea, you might find it mostly boring with it’s over two-hour runtime. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who loves spy films. However, there is a fantastically choreographed fight scene near the end featuring Wang and Leung during which my heart stopped. Threads start unraveling, and you have to follow them to see where they end. There is a lot of talking, and a few scenes whose tone seems discordant with the rest of the film. While Hidden Blade doesn’t shy away from violence, it isn’t, at heart, an action movie. There is a particularly traumatizing scene featuring a bunch of miners that was difficult to watch. While the focus of the film is more on the actions of the Chinese government and spy organizations, it does not overlook Japan’s actions. Japan’s treatment of China during this time period was horrible, to the point that modern-day citizens of China can be ostracized for visiting certain temples in Japan. This movie is not for the faint of heart. And it’s his character arc that really ties the whole film together. He bounces between extremes so quickly that I nearly got whiplash. I’m no longer surprised by Wang’s acting chops after the masterpiece that was Luoyang, but the duality of his character was so perfect. He comes across as a very calm presence, but he exudes an aura that signals that you would not want to cross him, or meet him in a dark alley. Aside from the fact that it stars Wang Yibo (if you remember, I’m working on watching his entire filmography), his co-star is Tony Leung, so you know that this was going to be an amazing film. I’ve been excited about this movie for ages, and I didn’t even think it would hit theaters in the United States. I don’t think I would have been quite as engaged if I knew from the beginning who was on which side. It was honestly frustrating while I was watching, but once I realized how everything tied together, I appreciated the disjointed narrative more. Only at the end of the film, when you see how and where that scene fits in the timeline, do you truly understand. We would be shown a scene early in the film and have no context for what we were seeing. You aren’t supposed to know who to trust. It’s an espionage film it’s meant to be confusing. The non-linear narrative made it difficult for me to really follow the story, but I believe that was the point. The film is told in a series of non-chronological vignettes, starting as early as the final bombing of Guangzhou in 1938 and ending approximately year after Japan surrendered. Ye ( Wang Yibo), a subordinate of Director He’s, and Officer Watanabe (Mori Hiroyuki), the Japanese official overseeing the PSD in Shanghai. Our three main characters are He (Tony Leung), the director of the Political Security Department, Mr. Our main protagonists are members of the Political Security Department in Shanghai, a counterespionage division working on behalf of the Japanese puppet government. Hidden Blade is a dark and intense espionage thriller set in China during World War II, known in China as the War of Resistance, as China fought against an invading Japan.
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