Working at an immensely steady clip in the last few years, Zhang Yimou is setting his sights on the first sequel amongst his vast career. Following the impressive worldwide box office of over $180 million for his spy thriller Cliff Walkers, a follow-up has now been announced by Hong Kong’s Emperor Motion Pictures (via Screen Daily), with the director set to return. While there are no plot details nor production timeline yet for Cliff Walkers 2, the original was set just prior to WWII and followed four Chinese Communist Party agents who infiltrate the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo to extract a prisoner.
Jared Mobarak said in our review of the first film, “Zhang Yimou and co-writer Yongxian Quan’s Cliff Walkers wastes no time in delivering the first of its spy genre twists to ensure we’re always questioning the actions on-screen thanks to the kind of traitor you can...
Jared Mobarak said in our review of the first film, “Zhang Yimou and co-writer Yongxian Quan’s Cliff Walkers wastes no time in delivering the first of its spy genre twists to ensure we’re always questioning the actions on-screen thanks to the kind of traitor you can...
- 3/25/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Out here in the West, Zhang Yimou has an established reputation as an auteur of wuxia martial arts films. Pieces of lavish design and spectacle such as Hero and House of Flying Daggers and even the execrable The Great Wall. However, to assume this all he’s capable of is a bit like assuming that Jack Daniels is the only whiskey made in Tennessee. The martial arts stuff is just what makes it over to us and is broad enough to penetrate the Western consciousness. In truth Yimou is a highly versatile workhorse of a director, dabbling in everything from personal drama to crime to espionage.
It is this territory in which Cliff Walkers is set. On the snow swept hills of North East China in the 1930s when the nation was under Japanese occupation. Here four Chinese agents of the Soviet Union are parachuted outside the city of Harbin to extract an informant.
It is this territory in which Cliff Walkers is set. On the snow swept hills of North East China in the 1930s when the nation was under Japanese occupation. Here four Chinese agents of the Soviet Union are parachuted outside the city of Harbin to extract an informant.
- 5/4/2021
- by Liam Macleod
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The mission: parachute into Manchukuo (an area of China under the unofficial control of Japan during the 1930s), find escaped comrade Wang, and escort him to freedom. It’s what Communist party operatives Zhang (Zhang Yi), Yu (Qin Hailu), Chuliang (Zhu Yawen), and Lan (Liu Haocun) have trained to accomplish during years spent in the Ussr and they’re willing to give their lives towards that goal. It shouldn’t therefore be surprising when a last-minute order necessitates them splitting up into pairs that in turn splits up their marriages. There can be no question of treason. If one is captured, his/her love for the other cannot be used to compromise the operation. Zhang and Lan go one way while Yu and Chuliang go the other. Both walk into a trap.
Zhang Yimou and co-writer Yongxian Quan’s Cliff Walkers wastes no time in delivering the first of its...
Zhang Yimou and co-writer Yongxian Quan’s Cliff Walkers wastes no time in delivering the first of its...
- 4/29/2021
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.