The Shadow’s Edge ★★★★

Released: 3 October 2025

Director: Larry Yang

Starring: Jackie Chan, Tony Leung Ka-fai

There’s a reason why crossover movies do well at the box office: whether it’s a long-awaited fight of the biggest kaiju or iconic slasher villains doing weigh-ins in Vegas, the sheer curiosity can easily sell an outlandish concept. In that sense, Larry Yang’s The Shadow’s Edge is a star vehicle of the old guard, a good ol’ versus flick that doesn’t even need a gimmick — the promise of seeing Jackie Chan battle it out with Tony Leung Ka-fai mano a mano is enough to get action fanatics seated. Some might say it’s a real ‘clash of the titans’… This is Yang’s throwback to Hong Kong action cinema at the turn of the new millennium, a rare specialty that shows why the old ways are sometimes better.

It all starts making sense when you look at the film’s origin: this is a remake of the 2007 Cantonese feature, Eye in the Sky, produced by Johnnie To and starring Tony Leung Ka-fai in practically the same role he reprises in Yang’s Mainland reimagining. Along with many homages to To’s oeuvre in the film, this is the fundamental DNA that forms Yang’s rulebook. Trading the gritty approach of the original, The Shadow’s Edge is a surveillance thriller with an action-heavy focus: when a group of robbers led by the elusive Shadow (Tony Leung Ka-fai) successfully pull off a crypto heist in Macau, the local police force realize that AI might not be the panacea they expected it to be. Naturally, a mess like that requires assistance from a retired intelligence expert, Wong (Jackie Chan), whose methods are as old-fashioned as they are effective. Alongside a hand-picked team of intelligence officers, Wong is tasked with hunting down The Shadow… all for the sake of that Chan vs Leung spectacle, of course.

It’s rather obvious that director Larry Yang adores Hong Kong action cinema, thankfully with all its sentimental and comedic roots: shades of Johnnie To’s Running Out of Time duology and Benny Chan’s Raging Fire are on full display here, all observed through a decidedly metatextual lens in regards to the film’s two main attractions. Chan and Leung Ka-fai are given a sort of “one last ride” arc, with Chan being a vigilant anti-AI advocate assembling a crew of agents and Leung Ka-fai having to question his familial ties, as both characters end up replaced in one way or another — a sobering look at action stardom in an era when aging heroes are paving the way for a new breed of masculine protagonists. Ironically, the film’s casting of Wen Junhui (better known under his idol moniker, Jun), feels like yet another stab at metacommentary on modern trends in studio cinema and its attempts to do away with the silent macho type.

There’s a remarkable melodramatic quality to the film, especially in its quieter moments: echoing Johnnie To’s Breaking News, the dinner sequence here is the non-action highlight, allowing Chan and Leung Ka-fai to riff off each other and process both their respective careers and the weight of fatherhood (particularly in Chan’s case, almost as if he’s attempting to make belated amends). Inevitably, the whole thing escalates into a cat-and-mouse action extravaganza with flashy fight choreography and brutal stuntwork, but it’s the strangely somber lingering aftertaste that makes Yang’s movie feel like the last hurrah of vintage theatrical action cinema.