Shadow

Set in China during the Three Kingdoms period, Shadow centres on Commander Zi Yu, a military leader in the kingdom of Pei who has lost a strategically important city to his rival, General Yang Cang. The kingdom's young ruler, King Pei Liang, favours preserving peace, while the commander considers war unavoidable and prepares in secret to reclaim what was lost. Gravely injured and unable to lead troops or appear strong at court, he relies on a double trained since childhood to take his place. Only his wife, Madam Xiao Ai, knows that the man moving through the palace is a shadow standing in for the real commander.

Zhang Yimou directed and co-wrote the film with Li Wei. It is the eighteenth of the twenty-five films he has directed, following The Great Wall and preceding One Second. Deng Chao plays both the commander and his double, with Sun Li as Madam Xiao Ai, Ryan Zheng Kai as King Pei Liang, and Hu Jun as General Yang Cang.

Released in 2018, the film runs 116 minutes. It cost about 44 million US dollars and took roughly 92 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from 20,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.7 out of 10 from 472 votes. A critics' rating of 7.7 out of 10 from 104 reviews places it above the audience scores on both platforms.