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Comment RSSShanghai Review (Spy Report)
21.04.09 # 5:01 # Review # 8 Comments
An early Shanghai review, by trusted source Collin Willardson.
Last night I caught the new John Cusack film Shanghai, which isn’t out until September. It was actually pretty good. We were told it was something of a work in progress, with editing, score and some potentially big cuts still to be made, and they were fielding audience opinion at the end.
Shanghai is directed by Mikael Håfström, the Swede behind Derailed and another Cusack movie, 1408. It also stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan (yes, The Comedian from Watchmen), Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li (Memoirs of a Geisha) and David Morse (the killer in Disturbia, bad cop in 16 Blocks).
Overall it was solid. The plot was pretty hard to follow, especially going into it without any prep whatsoever. It’s a WW2 drama taking place right before America joins the war, before Japan attacks China and Pearl Harbor. John Cusack and Jeffrey Dean Morgan are spies for America in Shanghai trying to figure out what Japan is doing there.
John Cusack’s cover is a journalist, and throughout the movie he kicks a lot of butt. I was a little taken aback at first because I didn’t think a journalist could be so bad ass, but when it’s revealed it’s just a front it makes a bit more sense.
Morgan gets involved with the mistress of Japan’s army commander and gets wind of attack plans on Pearl Harbor. He passes this on to Cusack who tries to gather enough evidence to prove it to his superiors. He gets involved with a local Mafia head (Chow Yun-Fat) and his wife (Gong Li) and together they try to piece together what Japan and Germany are up too.
It was surprisingly action packed - I thought it was going to be a long, drawn out drama swamped with romantic subplots. It was a really clean (no foul language, no boobies, only minor drug usage kids) action drama. I wasn’t quite convinced by Cusack as a lethal weapon - I know he did Grosse Pointe Blank but he usually plays writers in his films, or some heartbroken guy who can’t find love. The scenery is spectacular, Shanghai itself looks amazing, and there are some great fight scenes. Chow Yun-Fat and Gong Li both put in good work. I wasn’t bored during Shanghai, but part of the time was spent trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
Director: Mikael Håfström
Cast: John Cusack, Yun-Fat Chow, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, David Morse, Franka Potente, Ken Watanabe
Release Date: 4 September 2009 TBC 2009/2010
Grade: B
Leave your own Shanghai review in the comments.
Posted by 
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, so much easier to read now that that damn Jambo player is blocked.
I’m not a big fan of period romance movies. Not my demographic. I am a fan of Cusak though, and from the looks of her, I’m sure I’ll be a fan of Li Gong. I’ll probably convince myself this is a spy movie and go see it when it opens. Come to think of it, I could probably squeeze a few brownie points out of it by “agreeing” to go see it on date night. Cuz I’m sensitive like that.
Hi! Did Gong Li look gorgeous as usual?
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a John Cusack flick and reading about this makes me think, “Gosh, can’t this come out sooner?” He looks as great as usual and I have no doubt his performance will be superb as always. As for this being a period romance film, well, I’m open to just about anything with John in it. And I mean anything.
Lucky baggard John gets to Kiss Gong Li?
I was an featured extra on this film (German diplomat/SS Officer and stand-in for German Consul). They must have spent a fortune on it as the clothing, cars and effects were first class. And yes, Gong Li looked terrific.
Cool Ian. Is it true Cusack was very chummy or flirty with Gong Li on the set?
Yes, and not only her from what I could see. Can you blame him? She was drop-dead gorgeous. Unless it ends up in the editor’s bin, there is a night-scene shot in the courtyard of Eltham Palace in south London and at around 3.00am it got very cold and they had to do loads of re-takes because her lips kept quivering half-way through a piece of dialogue with Cusack. They had placed several blazing gas-fired braziers along the courtyard and in-between takes we all huddled around them, including her.
Oh man I hope it stayed! Yes, Gong Li is a beauty. She really looks much younger then mid 40’s(?). How are her English skills coming along?
As for Cusack. This sounds like a good role for him. I really like him as a dramatic actor.
Ian is there a way I can contact you for more of your Shanghai stories?