Zhang’s latest, an espionage thriller set in 1930s Manchuria, mostly works as a violent, intricately-plotted genre exercise about spies and traitors. 

A return to form in some ways, Zhang’s monochrome martial-arts drama is visually gorgeous but not always compelling.  

Fairly entertaining inasmuch as it is a CG-fest ‘historical fantasy’ with spectacular visual flourishes, but ultimately generic and mechanical in its execution.

The plot may involve repetition, but the dramatic power of its execution sees Zhang return close to the form of his early 1990s works.

A surprisingly uneven film with a lack of character and historical focus on 1937 Nanking.