SHANGHAI Trailer

Interesting. Yun-Fat Chow doesn’t seem to age while Li Gong does. Alright, due to the fact that my favorite Hong Kong actors are getting old, I’m really adamant about doing this trailer discussion. Most of my favorites are either choosing their movies carefully or resorting to being behind the camera. The Asian part of my childhood is disintegrating before my very eyes. Therefore, I’m going to talk to you about this movie that was released in 2010 but is being re-released for 2015 for some reason. My guess is because the pool of good movies is getting really thin but that is largely a subjective opinion based on how jaded I’ve become over the years. Watch the trailer above.

This noir-ish film is directed by Mikael Håfström and stars John Cusack surrounded by Li Gong, Yun-Fat Chow and Ken Watanabe. Set in the 40s, an American expat returns to Shanghai due to his friend’s death. As it is, the city is occupied by the Japanese. Cusack’s character, the Humphrey Bogart-ish Paul Soames, becomes involved with a Chinese dame and a mob boss. As he gets further in unraveling the mystery behind his friend’s death, he falls in love and discovers something shocking. Alright, now that I have the basic setup out of the way, let’s get to the good parts.

Awesome thing number one: Chow with guns. If you’re a John Woo fan (if you’re not, go watch his movies then come back and read this), you understand how awesome guns are when in Chow’s hands. Skip to the 1:12 mark. After the initial explosion, you have him shooting fast and being awesomely manly. Essentially, he survives an assassination attempt and nonchalantly responds to Soames that he’ll find his attackers. There are no signs of stress or grief in his demeanor. He just lights a cigarette and the next shot edits in.

Awesome thing number two: Creepy Ken Watanabe. I’m not too familiar with Watanabe’s work but he has his sinister vibe going strong here. Basically, it’s just shots of him in the shadows but it works since he has that perpetually serious look. It seems like he’s looking down on you while at the same time planning your murder. This feeling complements the eventual stigma that was attached to the Japanese during World War II.

Finally, we have the beautiful Li Gong – a great actress to complement Chow. It’s reminiscent of their roles together in Curse of the Golden Flower, except they don’t seem to hate each other.

Things that are not so awesome: It’s a trailer and not the whole movie. You can only tell so much from a trailer. If it interests you, go see it. If not, then don’t. I’ll be honest here, though. I really needed to see Yun-Fat Chow shoot things.

Shanghai gets released in August 21st 2015 in the U.S. For everyone else, you probably have Netflix or your country’s equivalent.

(top image source: The Weinstein Company)