Shadow Quick View Umbrellas are Tight Yo Grade: B

Source: IMDB

Shadow tells a story about an ancient kingdom in China. A shadow declares war on a kingdom, as it wants to reclaim their land that is rightfully theirs. Although the king in general would be perfectly fine not taking that risk, as he his allies with another kingdom. Witness a beautifully grey and black inked world, filled with epic battles featuring a bamboo stick and an umbrella consisting of sharp knives... Very neat. I heard many good things about this film and since it was up for rental for 99 cents on ITunes, I figured I check this one out. Shadow is a solid action/drama film, that consists of lovely visuals and some dope moments of action within the battles taken place. Quick flaws to talk about. I found the pacing to be incredibly slow, honestly you can look at it as a good thing for the film taking it’s time to develop the characters, throughly explaining what this war means to some of these characters. But for me at times the pacing became tiresome to me, until we’re finally going into battle. I also don’t get the meaning behind the weapons involved in the battles and what they represent. Like why isn’t the challenger going up against this leader, with a bamboo stick of their own? Why is he fighting him with an umbrella? I would like to know more about that. As far as Cinematography goes, I thought this was really nice looking film. Fits well with the tone of the film, the kingdom has been sitting pretty for a great amount of time, as now things change declaring war on another kingdom. I can say in one scene in the third act, where it’s shown in the dark is a rare occurrence that the film doesn’t look good as you can barely make of what’s going on, but other than that the craft is truly noticed in presentation. The Score was solid as well, would’ve liked more variety with music selections, but it’s still nice to hear. The cast all in all was solid as well, don’t have any complaints. I found the story telling to be rather interesting, as it’s a well told mythical legend tale. It could be worth noting that the film encourages viewers to take charge of what is rightfully yours, to fight for what you deserve, and though you have a comfortable life where you’re at, it’s better to risk it all for something better. I found the action sequences to be pretty cool. I wasn’t expecting to be shown umbrellas with sharp blades... That prop is bad ass and I had a lot of fun when the people from the kingdom used it battle, riding it in the rain. The choreography in some of the action scenes were well done as well, if you came for action this is the right place to go, but you have to be patient with the film in order to receive it. All in all I can see why people come to really enjoy a film like this, it’s just a solid film to watch. Overall, Shadow is a good film. I recommend this film, do check it out sometime it’s good. -Mitch Smietana