Italian Premiere | In Competition
China, Hong Kong, 2025, 142’, Mandarin
Directed by: Larry Yang
Screenplay: Larry Yang
Cinematography (color): Qian Tiantian (CNSC)
Editing: Zhang Yibo
Art Supervision: Yang Wei
Production Design: Liu Lina
Costume Design: Boey Wong
Action Director: Su Hang (JCST)
Music: Nicolas Errera
Sound Design: Wang Yanwei
Post-Production Supervisor: Zhai Yujia
VFX Producer: Liu Qin
VFX Supervisor: Han Chao
Producers: Zhang Chao, Victoria Hon (HK), Zhang Puran, Su Beini, Belle Lau
Production Companies: iQIYI Pictures (Beijing) Co., Ltd, Beijing Hairun Pictures Co., Ltd.
Cast: Jackie Chan (Wong Tak Chung), Zhang Zifeng (He Qiuguo), Tony Leung Ka-fai (Fu Longsheng), Ci Sha (Simon/Xiwang), Wen Junhui (Feng), Zhou Zhengjie (Liu Jinxiao), Wang Ziyi (Wu Yaolei), Lang Yueting (Madam Wang), Liu Qiunan (Xin), Zac Wang (Ray), Li Zhekun (Zai Zai)
Date of First Release in Territory: August 16th, 2025
Nearly 20 years after
Eye in the Sky by Yau Nai-hoi (FEFF 2007), the universe of monitoring and tailing that once reflected the emerging anxiety of surveillance techniques becomes the starting point for a new adaptation, now set not in Hong Kong but in a spectacular Macau. This is not a simple remake: following the 2013 Korean version, this reinterpretation by Larry Yang, who previously directed
Mountain Cry (FEFF 2016), poses a crucial question: in the age of predictive algorithms, does the police’s human intuition still matter? Or is the craft of surveillance destined to be overtaken by databases? By rewriting almost 90 per cent of the original screenplay, Yang transforms the story into a contemporary action thriller that looks artificial intelligence squarely in the eye.
The narrative hinges on the dynamic between three main characters: the retired officer Wong Tak Chung, played by Jackie Chan, who had already worked with Yang on the action comedy
Ride On; the young officer He Qiuguo (Zhang Zifeng), who reluctantly becomes Wong’s protégée; and the anti-hero Fu Longsheng, a cunning and lethal knife-wielding criminal portrayed by Tony Leung Ka-fai, reprising his role from the original film, here imagined as having survived the events of 20 years previously.
The film unfolds at a relentless pace, structured like a chess match between watchers and the watched, alternating virtual surveillance with hand-to-hand combat. Yet it is also a confrontation between generations: on one side, two mature men still physically intimidating; on the other, younger officers who rely primarily on technology. Jackie Chan, now seventy-one, performed all his own stunts: his physical tenacity becomes a metaphor for the film’s central question – man versus machine, experience versus software. The camera follows him through breathless chases and tightly choreographed fights, demonstrating that his screen charisma has lost none of its intensity. It is no surprise that the film took over 1.3 billion RMB at the box office and is considered one of Chan’s strongest action performances in recent years.
The film also touches on the theme of fatherhood. Wong feels protective towards the young policewoman, the daughter of a colleague and friend who died in a clash with criminals – a tragedy inadvertently caused by Wong himself. Fu Longsheng, by contrast, tends to his group of orphans that he has “adopted”, training them in the art of crime. Yet while Wong’s is a protective, almost tender form of fatherhood, Tony Leung’s Fu exerts a perverse control over his “children:” a sadistic relationship founded on violence and psychological manipulation.
The emotional core of the film is to be found in the bond between Wong and the young recruit, played with charisma by Zhang Zifeng, a mainland actress, who while still of a tender age is already highly experienced. Their dynamic, which swings between discipline and affection, is the only genuinely empathic relationship in an environment dominated by screens and drones. Fu’s relationship with his adopted sons, on the other hand, is marked by fear and rivalry, particularly in the case of the twins Simon and Xiwang, both portrayed by Ci Sha.
In the film, Macau itself becomes a breathtaking set: from the vertiginous heights of the Macau Tower to the narrow streets of Coloane with their colonial architecture, and the glittering interiors of Wynn Macau. At times, the film resembles a glossy postcard featuring Macau as a crossroads between luxury and criminality.
A final sequence during the closing credits openly hints at a sequel; Jackie Chan confirmed in January 2026 that it is already in development.
Ultimately,
The Shadow’s Edge is a film that looks to the future without forgetting the past: a spectacular action thriller capable of interrogating our technological present, yet finding its true raison d’être in human relationships, and in the lined but resolute face of Jackie Chan, who not only defies gravity but also the passing of time.
Larry Yang
Larry Yang (b. 1981) is a representative of a new generation of bi-cultural filmmakers: at 16, he moved to the United States to pursue his studies. Upon returning to China, he studied at the Beijing Film Academy. Later he studied at the University of Edinburgh. In 2007, he began his career as a director and screenwriter. His second feature, Sorry, I Love You (2013), adapted from a Korean drama, premiered at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, becoming the first Chinese film to be screened there. His film Mountain Cry (FEFF 2016) received multiple awards at national and international film festivals. The Shadow’s Edge marks Yang’s second collaboration with Jackie Chan, who previously starred in his 2023 film Ride On.
SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
2012 – Nana
2013 – Sorry, I Love You
2015 – Mountain Cry
2019 – Adoring
2023 – Ride On
2025 – The Shadow’s Edge