Comments on: Age of Shadows, The (2016) Review

By: Deal on Fire! I Saw The Devil | Blu-ray | Only $8.99 – Expires soon! | My Blog

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 00:09:23 +0000

[…] Blu-ray for I Saw The Devil (read our review), a 2010 action-thriller directed by Kim Ji-woon (Age of Shadows, The Good, the Bad, the Weird) and stars Choi Min-sik (New World, Old Boy) and Lee Byung-hun (A […]

By: Andrew Hernandez

Andrew Hernandez — Sat, 23 Mar 2019 20:56:37 +0000

In reply to Paul Bramhall.

I thought Age of Shadows was pretty good. I do wish Lee Byung Hun had a larger role, and that the movie flowed more smoothly. I thought Assassination was a better movie since it kept track of the characters and had a more linear plot while getting its message across.

I guess my expectations were a bit much since I was expecting a WW2 version of A Bittersweet Life, but there were definitely a lot of parts that make me want to watch Age if Shadows again.

By: Paul Bramhall

Paul Bramhall — Sat, 23 Mar 2019 05:30:08 +0000

I’m 2 years late to the party, but just got around to watching this one. I think the lofty expectations of a Kim Ji-woon movie play a considerable part when going into ‘Age of Shadows’. While it’s easy to argue that his directorial style has lost its edge since his foray into Hollywood, I think the fact that the Korean film industry has also become much more commercial since his 2000 – 2010 hot streak, is just as much of a contributing factor.

It was great to see Ji-woon reunited with Song Kang-ho and Lee Byung-hun again after 8 years, and the brief bursts of action were stellar – I loved the opening chase with Revenger‘s Park Hee-soon, and desperately want to know how they achieved that all-in-one shot of Song Kang-ho jumping off the train (and it’s rare for me to see a shot these days that leaves me wondering “how did they do that!?”). However overall this felt more like a movie from a commercial director like Choi Dong-hoon (it would make a fantastic double-bill with the similarly themed ‘Assassination’), than it did a movie from the guy who made the likes of ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’ and ‘A Bittersweet Life’.

Definitely a worthwhile addition to Ji-woon’s filmography, but at the same time a reminder that the edge Korean cinema had in the 00’s has lamentably been replaced by a more commercial approach. A 7/10 from me.

By: Z Ravas

Z Ravas — Mon, 05 Mar 2018 18:27:51 +0000

I’m a year late to the party but I finally watched this over the weekend. I totally agree with your review, Martin, although for me this film rates actually a lighter higher! I was surprised to see so many Kim Jee-woon fans saying ‘Age of Shadows’ registered as a letdown because of how slick/formal/Hollywood it feels. I do agree it possesses all those qualities, but you’re absolutely right: show me a film from the last two years with better action sequences than this and I’ll gladly eat my hat.

I would say Dante Lam and Johnnie To are the only filmmakers in the same league when it comes to devising such intricate setpieces.