- Actors: Jackie Chan, Elane Zhone, Ethan Juan
- Directors: Vash
- Disc Format: Dolby, Subtitled, Surround Sound, Widescreen
- Language: Mandarin Chinese (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region A/1
- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Rated: Not RatedNR
- Studio: Well Go Usa
- Release Date: January 21, 2020
- Run Time: 109 minutes
While somewhat
confusing prior to seeing the film, it makes sense that The Knight of Shadows Blu-ray release has two contrasting
characters portrayed on the cover. Along with Jackie Chan smiling in a white
outfit, Ethan Juan is scowling in all black, representing the two sides of this
film. Chan’s character provides most of the lighthearted humor and slapstick
action, while Juan takes up the melodramatic role of tragic hero. Unfortunately,
this mash-up is often as poorly planned and as jarringly inconsistent as the
cover art for the Blu-ray.
Even if the home
entertainment release seems content to capitalize on the fame of these two
stars, The Knight of Shadows actually
has a frame a reference for anyone who has been watching wuxia films in recent
years. The heavy melodrama mixed with bad CGI and heavily fantasy-driven
narratives are nothing new, though most of those didn’t try and cram in an
overwhelming amount of humor as well.
Opening with a
prologue that explains the magical power of brush that can remove demons from
this world, we watch demon hunter Pu Songling (Chan) capturing a sea monster
with the help of his gentle demon helpers. Having made a life out of hunting
demons, he also writes their stories to sell for a living in a local village.
It is an idyllic existence, relatively speaking, until a pair of demons begins
causing trouble in town. When one of the law enforcement officers (Austin Lin) investigating
the crimes committed by the demons discovers the truth, he begs Songling to
take him on as an apprentice.
Songling sets
out to stop the demons in town, along with his new and old assistants, but they
soon cross paths with a mysterious man named Ning Cai Cheng (Juan), who seems
to be both hunting and protecting a demon named Xiao Qian (Elane Zhong). When
they discover the truth about the demon, they find a predictably tragic and
melancholy love story at the center of the conflict. This usually seems to be
the case.
While I never expected Jackie Chan to continue
making action films in which he does his own stunts, it is somewhat
disheartening to see the martial arts legend in a film with such a
preoccupation with CGI. The entire climactic sequence seems to have been
created in a computer, missing any real human touch. It feels more like a
computer game cutaway scene than a movie, and Chan is only vaguely recognizable
due to the shortcomings of bad digital effects.
It isn’t that The Knight of Shadows is a particularly bad film, but it also comes
nowhere close to being a good movie. It is indicative of most films coming out
of the Chinese film industry lately, which seems to be a model mirroring
Hollywood. These films don’t need to be great, as long as they are sellable to
the widest audience possible. And with the combination of humor, heart, and
action into one film, this appears to be the primary purpose, somewhere
slightly ahead of entertainment.
The Blu-ray release of The Knight of Shadows is devoid of any
real special features, beyond the pathetic additional of English-language
dubbing and a trailer. However, I would recommend watching this film on Blu-ray
rather than DVD, if only for the slight improvement on the visual look.
Especially for a film with such a heavy-handed use of digital effects.
Entertainment Value:
6/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 4.5/10
Historical
Significance: 3/10
Special Features: 1/10
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