The Shadow’s Edge by Larry Yang (2025)
For the record, I haven’t kept up with Jackie Chan’s recent films. I think I tried watching 2023’s Hidden Strike, which also starred John Cena — emphasis on the word “tried.” Thus, I went into The Shadow’s Edge with, shall we say, lowered expectations, and was quite pleasantly surprised. Chan plays a former police officer who’s called out of retirement to train a younger generation of cops in old school surveillance after their AI-powered systems fail to capture a gang of audacious thieves. Soon enough, they’re on the track of an infamous ex-spy turned assassin (played by Tony Leung Ka-fai) who’s dealing with his own complications. Although it suffers from an occasionally convoluted plot, The Shadow’s Edge is a decent popcorn film packed with glossy, Mission: Impossible-style action and loads of melodrama. Chan is still pretty nimble for a guy in his seventies, and he still knows how to use a prop or two, though the film’s use of CGI, editing, and stunt doubles gets pretty obvious, especially whenever Chan gets into a knock down, drag out brawl. In addition to the action, The Shadow’s Edge has some genuinely affecting moments as Wong imparts some hard-earned wisdom to his young protégés, and I was honestly impressed at just how suspenseful the cat-and-mouse game between the cops and the spy would get. The film ends on a cliffhanger that totally sets up a sequel, though no official announcements have been made yet. If and when one is released, I’ll definitely be checking it out.
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