Voxitype
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Jemima
It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
Allissa
.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
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.
Anssi Vartiainen
Shanghai takes place just before Japan entered the World War Two. Paul Soames (John Cusack) comes to China to look for his friend who, like him, worked for the American intelligence effort. From that basic setting we end up getting a good mystery thriller, with all the usual good stuff. Glamorous women, elegant locations, the looming threat of war, betrayals, reveals, backstabbing and more.One of the film's strengths are its actors. I haven't seen Cusack in anything for a while, but he's still in great shape and gives a good performance as your typical silent neo-noir investigator hero. Li Gong is also very good as Anna Lan-Ting, the resident femme fatale.Truth be told, I kind of wish the script was a bit better so that these people could have really stretched their wings. As it is, it's not bad, but it's not really all that original either. You can figure out the mystery pretty early if you know anything about history, the biggest twist when it comes to characters also comes near the beginning, none of the romance subplots really surprise and as a whole, while I was entertained, I wasn't really that thrilled.Shanghai is a good film to check out if you're a fan of wartime period pieces and want to see one that, for a change, doesn't take place in Western Europe. It has great actors, a decent script, excellent production values and a tight enough pacing to make up for its unoriginality.
edenonline
It isn't difficult to understand why this hackneyed piece of rubbish has gone std. It must contain every cliché ever used by every other film-maker of a ww2 period drama set somewhere 'exotic'. Every whitefella and even some of the unwhites, gets about in a white linen suit and panama. Cigarette holders (ivory & jade carved of course), a casino, unrequited love, spies, bad eggs plus the occasional good egg hiding among the bad 'uns Claude Rains style, every cliché is there and yet as a movie this thing doesn't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy plagiarism. Un-engaging is how I would best describe it. The plot is predictable, the costumes are uninspired and the actors frequently appear to be doing little more than any decent clothes horse would. So much could have been done in this movie. Surely the US is mature enough now for a complete re-examination of what really happened in the years leading up to Pearl Harbour, and take ownership of their role in inciting the Japanese American conflict. You won't find any of that here. The Japanese and Germans are all evil. There is no attempt whatsoever to consider the reasons Japan decided that an attack on Pearl Harbour was its last best option. People are portrayed as worrying about the fate of Jews when contemporary accounts actually reveal that was the last thing on the minds of the soon to be allies before and during WW2. Race was a factor in the war in the Pacific, although not quite the way it was portrayed here. The Japanese were accepted by a big chunk of the middle class indigenous populations of the English and French colonies they invaded, as freeing those societies from white anti-Asian racism. After all the Japanese were Asian as well. It wasn't until after WW2 that persecution of the Jews by the European Nazis was reported as a major issue.None of these distortions are exclusive to this movie, there have been a zillion others just like it. But why bother to spend all this money on yet another ho-hum cliché full of cartoon characters, that doesn't even come close to any sort of historical accuracy? WW2 is sufficiently distant now that objective assessment should be a hallmark of any movie about that period which is aiming for A grade status.
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
