Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

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

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

coxaca This is a fascinating movie in many ways, not least for its partially successful elucidation of a particularly dark period in Shanghai's colourful history. However, "Shanghai" comes across all too often as a confused mish-mash of other movies - Casablanca and The Third Man both spring rather too readily to mind - while offering little of its own in the way of an original plot or any intriguing character arcs.Solid acting work all 'round. Franka Potente is probably the most watchable of the actors here, despite being less toothsome than Gong Li (who looks every bit her age in this movie but is still ravishingly attractive).There are a few intriguing glimpses of Shanghai as it might have been in the early 40s, including one particularly well-recreated crane shot of the Bund - although I have to say the ships look just a tad too close to the imposing British-built buildings lining that famous boulevard. There's another shot from inside the Cusack character's hotel room showing a few of Shanghai's classic buildings through the window, clearly digitally composited as those particular buildings could never have been viewed that way from the one vantage point. However, it seems (judging from the credits) that the vast majority of this movie was shot in Thailand, and thus most of the street scenes and interiors are fairly generic and not particularly evocative of Shanghai's history. For a much better rendition of this you need to have a look at Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution" which treads similar territory (Shanghai, spies, Japanese occupation etc) with much more style.Indeed I find myself wondering why this movie was made at all, given that pretty much 100% of its thematic territory had been covered by Lee's movie just a couple of years before, and with considerably more chutzpah.Nevertheless...if you're a fan of any of these actors, it's worth a look.

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.

stevenball2 Few international movie stars of a certain age can compare with Gong Li - she is in a class all her own. Acting since her 20's - she is now more beautiful than ever in her 40's. She has only made a handful of Western movies & her command of the English language is still developing. She was great as the bad geisha in Memoirs of a Geisha - she was great as a drug lord's mistress in Miami Vice & now she is back in Western movies as the wife of a shady character in Shanghai. Unfortunately this movie made in 2008 has yet to be released in the US - so the only way to see it is to buy a DVD. It was made for the big screen & that is where it belongs. Julie Weiss's costumes are Oscar worthy. There are some similarities to Casablanca. Both movies are named after cities. Both female leads are in the resistance. Both movies have Nazis. & John Cusack does his best to channel Humphrey Bogart. But the best reason to see this movie is to enjoy the divine Gong Li dressed in some fabulous costumes. You will be entertained.

movielover0021 I expected a lot with an international heavy weight cast like this one. All the way to the smallest characters are filled with great actors. The cinematography is excellent and successfully recreates the feel of 40's Shanghai, along with the a secretive atmosphere that enhances the film noir mood. The story moves at a good pace where there isn't a scene too many and you have to keep your mind working to uncover the mysteries Paul Soames is trying to solve.The excellent cast doesn't disappoint, John Cusack is solid and believable as an agent posing as a journalist. It's not hard to understand he would fall for the insanely beautiful Gong Li who seems to have found a fountain of youth somewhere. She plays the role of Anna Lan-Ting with a seductive and secretive flavor which is a joy to watch. Her husband, mob boss Anthony Lan-Ting, is being played by Hong Kong icon Chow Yun Fat who exudes charm and power but still manages to walk the fine line of a character you feel attracted to but also know you should actually stay away from. His performance adds the right amount of flair the production needs. Ken Watanabe plays out his sinister vibe along with a human grace perfectly and Jeffrey dean Morgan is believable as the friend who ended up dead.Instead of a movie about politics and war, it's more about human relations and the different side to people. How people are used and mislead at times like this, and matters of the heart play an important role in the decisions the characters make.If you are open to a movie that makes you think and wonder, you will definitely love 'Shanghai'. The only thing that I did not get into was the romance-angle between John Cusack and Gong Li.... but maybe that's how it's meant to be. It's easy to see why he would fall for her but she, on the other hand, might have a whole different agenda.