The Age of Shadows

Set in Korea in the late 1920s, under Japanese colonial rule, The Age of Shadows centres on a Korean-born police officer working for the Japanese authorities. Assigned to track down the leaders of a resistance network, he finds his loyalties tested as he gets closer to the group and its plan to bring explosives in from Shanghai and strike at Japanese facilities in Seoul. What follows is a cat-and-mouse contest between the resisters and the agents pursuing them, with betrayal a constant risk on both sides.

The film is directed by Kim Jee-woon, working from a screenplay by Lee Ji-min and Park Jong-dae, and it followed The Last Stand in his filmography. Song Kang-ho leads as Lee Jung-chool, with Gong Yoo, Han Ji-min, Shingo Tsurumi, Um Tae-goo and Shin Sung-rok among the cast.

Made on a budget of about 10 million US dollars, it took roughly 53 million worldwide, a strong return for a Korean period thriller. On IMDb it holds 7.1 out of 10 from around 12,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.2 out of 10 from 386 votes. A critics' rating of 7.2 out of 10 from 49 reviews places it close to the audience scores, suggesting a broadly similar reception on both sides.