CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

pointyfilippa The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

blrnani It's actually a hard film to classify, since in addition to being a crime thriller, it's also a spy film in a pre-war setting and there are elements of human drama and romance that touch on honour, friendship, patriotism and respect. I don't know if that has affected its success among a public that all-too-often tends to pigeonhole the genres it wants to watch. The story begins by following up a long and close friendship, but Cusack arrives too late to save his life. Seeking to avenge him, and also do his job as an undercover American agent, he plunges into the dark world of growing Japanese domination and Chinese resistence in an impressively convincing recreation of pre-war Shanghai (despite being forced to relocate to Bangkok a week before shooting). This brings him into contact with some fascinating characters. There's the charming crime lord, played by Chow Yun Fat in a style reminiscent of Alan Delon, the beautiful but mysterious Gong Li who is so easy to fall in love with, and Ken Watanabe as the head of Japanese intelligence, who is efficient yet still manages to maintain romantic vestiges. The story builds to an exciting and complex crescendo, as Japan attacks Pearl Harbour and takes over the Shanghai international quarter and the individual interests of the main characters come into conflict. It is well worth watching this film to see how it all plays out.

Thomas Aitken Not sure why people haven't been more generous in their reviews of this film.It was a great piece of film making with a great premise, good characters, excellent acting, and scripting, and it is beautifully shot.This isn't an Oscar contender, but then it doesn't have to be to actually be a good and entertaining film worthy of a viewing.I really enjoyed the way it placed a murder mystery into such a tense and dramatic period of history - World War II effectively becomes another central character in this film, and to great effect actually, because we all think we've got the big secret figured out right up until the very end when we discover it's not actually what we thought we 'knew' it to be.I also really enjoyed the fact that it presented us with a strong notion of the fact that even during moments of huge historical importance, at the centre of these events are still real human beings, just like you and I, with real human concerns and affairs that consume their attentions (as well as the big things like world war).A solid little flick, definitely worth the watch!

KineticSeoul The plot takes place in Shanghai a part of China the Japanese didn't completely take over yet during the Japanese invasion and occupation of China in 1940's. Jeffrey Dean Morgan has a scene in the beginning a very short scene and you wonder why he would want to be cast for this movie. But he gets some flashback scenes which makes his decision sort of makes sense. Anyways the plot mainly revolves around Paul Soames(John Cusack) investigating a friends death while the Chinese and the Japanese are basically having something similar to a gang war between each other in Shanghai. Mainly between the Chinese resistance and the Japanese servants to their emperor. The movie also has spy elements to it and doing espionage on the Japanese and Nazis, mostly on the Japanese. The flaw of this film is that it just doesn't have good character interactions sometimes and not very clever and sometimes not all that believable. I could tell this movie is a homage to noir and even if the topic at hand is interesting, the movie as a whole just wasn't that great. The movie moves slowly and doesn't cover as much as it should with it's run time. both actors play a role they probably wasn't proud of. Not much is accomplished during the run time of this movie. This is a decent film and a good homage to noir, but I can see why this movie didn't do so well. It just isn't for mainstream audiences and and besides the performances it just seemed like a straight to DVD film despite the large budget. Even if the film to some degree accomplished what it tries to do to some degree. I was disappointed in a way since the movie didn't go the direction I wanted it to go, which isn't anything against this film but my own wants. Mainly because almost all the screen-time is on John Cusack despite it having well known Asian actors. The second most screen-time goes to Gong Li. The biggest reason I wanted to see this movie is because it has Chow Yun-Fat and Ken Watanabe and was expecting a face off between the two different characters these actors will play in a clever manner. Which would have been cool, but that wasn't the case. And another disappointment is how these two Asian actors hardly has any screen-time, their roles are small. The main element that drives this film is the characters impulses and intentions, which will keep you guessing and until everything is put together and everything comes together is a above average manner.7.8/10

denis888 I have really enjoyed this excellent movie, since i love war films. This one is about a pre-Pearl Harbor Shanghai, where Japanese, Chinese, Nazi, American intelligence services clash, and it's common people who make history. John Cusack is a great choice for the main role, and he delivers his part impeccably. Being a secret agent, he is deeply sensitive and sensible man, who wants to reveal some mysteries and he is right in the whirlwind of a war craze. Other actors include Chow Yun Fat, Gong Li, among others, and they all do great jobs. Japanese soldiers fight the Chinese partisans, Americans try to find out what they think will help... and all this is a dizzying background to a deep touching story of love, hate, cowardice, friendship, bravery and valor. This movie is highly recommended