Not sure why people haven't been more generous in their reviews of this film.It was a great piece of film making with a great premise, good characters, excellent acting, and scripting, and it is beautifully shot.This isn't an Oscar contender, but then it doesn't have to be to actually be a good and entertaining film worthy of a viewing.I really enjoyed the way it placed a murder mystery into such a tense and dramatic period of history - World War II effectively becomes another central character in this film, and to great effect actually, because we all think we've got the big secret figured out right up until the very end when we discover it's not actually what we thought we 'knew' it to be.I also really enjoyed the fact that it presented us with a strong notion of the fact that even during moments of huge historical importance, at the centre of these events are still real human beings, just like you and I, with real human concerns and affairs that consume their attentions (as well as the big things like world war).A solid little flick, definitely worth the watch!

They don't make 'em like this anymore. When was the last time you saw a thriller, edge of your seat mystery, action pact, period piece, and relentless pace with a bunch of accomplished and well know actors who ply their skills for the art and not for a big budget by today's terms? This is one. In the tradition of movies like 'The Quiet American' (2002), 'L.A. Confidential' (1997), 'Chinatown' (1974) , "Mulholland Falls' (1996), 'Double identity' (1944 & 1973), 'Touch of Evil' (1958) and even the classic 'The Maltese Falcon' (1941), the movie 'Shangai' seems to stand out today in a sea of glitzy flicks and romantic comedies galore. I was very pleased by its storyline, to see the cast of names I knew and liked, so I jumped at the chance to watch it. It was like re-experiencing movie going fun like I had not in a long time.Considering the cinematography, special effects and staging challenges that brings us back in time to the days preceding Pearl Harbor and in Shangai of all places (what a backdrop), and considering also the cast, if you have cinematic knowledge, it is almost incredible that this film was made at all and more so for a mere $50M budget. I trust the ratings will only keep going up as more viewers record their own ratings, because it deserves better than just 6.5 as of the time of my review. Most of the movies in which company I included 'Shangai' are admittedly better to equal.I was looking for something recent featuring Li Gong because she is one of those actors (actress) who has a knack for picking movies that are excellent and in which she plays roles that are demanding; I came across this movie. I read the names of the cast; I'm a fan of most of John Cusack's work, and the same goes for Yun-Fat Chow, David Morse, Ken Watanabe, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Franka Potente. My movie collection includes several movies from each of them. It goes without saying that I liked it and recommend it.

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.

The plot takes place in Shanghai a part of China the Japanese didn't completely take over yet during the Japanese invasion and occupation of China in 1940's. Jeffrey Dean Morgan has a scene in the beginning a very short scene and you wonder why he would want to be cast for this movie. But he gets some flashback scenes which makes his decision sort of makes sense. Anyways the plot mainly revolves around Paul Soames(John Cusack) investigating a friends death while the Chinese and the Japanese are basically having something similar to a gang war between each other in Shanghai. Mainly between the Chinese resistance and the Japanese servants to their emperor. The movie also has spy elements to it and doing espionage on the Japanese and Nazis, mostly on the Japanese. The flaw of this film is that it just doesn't have good character interactions sometimes and not very clever and sometimes not all that believable. I could tell this movie is a homage to noir and even if the topic at hand is interesting, the movie as a whole just wasn't that great. The movie moves slowly and doesn't cover as much as it should with it's run time. both actors play a role they probably wasn't proud of. Not much is accomplished during the run time of this movie. This is a decent film and a good homage to noir, but I can see why this movie didn't do so well. It just isn't for mainstream audiences and and besides the performances it just seemed like a straight to DVD film despite the large budget. Even if the film to some degree accomplished what it tries to do to some degree. I was disappointed in a way since the movie didn't go the direction I wanted it to go, which isn't anything against this film but my own wants. Mainly because almost all the screen-time is on John Cusack despite it having well known Asian actors. The second most screen-time goes to Gong Li. The biggest reason I wanted to see this movie is because it has Chow Yun-Fat and Ken Watanabe and was expecting a face off between the two different characters these actors will play in a clever manner. Which would have been cool, but that wasn't the case. And another disappointment is how these two Asian actors hardly has any screen-time, their roles are small. The main element that drives this film is the characters impulses and intentions, which will keep you guessing and until everything is put together and everything comes together is a above average manner.7.8/10