Leung carries ‘Hidden Blade’ as long as he can
With his insouciant appeal and Cary Grant cool, Tony Leung could charm a houseplant. As a double agent in World War II Shanghai in Cheng Er’s “The Hidden Blade,” he utilizes such deadly weapons as a knowing crinkle in his eye and wry smile. For him, getting someone to betray their country during wartime is a walk in the park.
Every ounce of star wattage from Leung (“In the Mood for Love,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”) is needed because Cheng’s slow-burn espionage opus is mostly inert, save for the occasional action sequence. As Mr. He, Leung even gets into an extended hand-to hand combat sequence that rivals the excess of the “Rowdy” Roddy PiperKeith David brawl in John Carpenter’s “They Live” (1988).
Like all World War II films made in China, “The Hidden Blade” glorifies the Communist Party, although less so than some others. Mr. He is the director of counterespionage for the Japanese military that rules Shanghai, but works as a double agent with a network of spies in the Communist resistance looking to take over after the Japanese are driven out.
There’s a third side, too — loyalists to the corrupt Chinese government that was in charge before the Japanese invasion. They, of course, must be purged.
Mr. He thinks he can trust his wife, Ms. Chen (Zhou Xun), but who knows which of the three sides other asserted characters are on? That includes the handsome but cold-blooded Mr. Ye (pop star/rapper-turned-actor Wang Yibo) and Ye’s exfiancee Ms. Fang (Zhang Jingyi).
“The Hidden Blade” arrives in the United States less than a month after opening in China, where it was part of a near-record $1 billion Lunar New Year box office. While it is eminently watchable, it’s a movie that consists of mostly people plotting and scheming, but sometimes barely moving at all.
Tony Leung can only do so much.
Every ounce of star wattage from Tony Leung is needed because Cheng Er’s slow-burn espionage opus is mostly inert.