THE AGE OF SHADOWS is a cracking period thriller that comes to us courtesy of South Korea. The setting is the 1920s and it's a period of Japanese occupation, in which resistance members are doing their best to bring down the Japanese government. I'm not sure why some describe the plot as complicated, because this is straightforward stuff indeed, albeit dense. It is even predictable at times, but that matters little when the production values are so lush and refined. The film plays out a cat and mouse game between the Japanese and the resistance, told from the point of view of a man caught in the middle.

There's very little to dislike about this expertly-directed movie from Kim Jee-woon, the man who previously made the likes of I SAW THE DEVIL and THE LAST STAND. The action scenes are fluid and the opening shot of the soldiers jumping from roof to roof is jaw-droppingly artistic and refined. The running time is a little overlong but there are some great set-pieces here in which the violence isn't skimped upon. The half-hour train interlude has rightly been marked out as the film's highlight, a masterwork in suspense that reminded me of the bar scene in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. The film's exemplary cast includes a cameoing Lee Byung-hun alongside TRAIN TO BUSAN's Gong Yoo and the always excellent Song Kang-ho.

This is a stylish depiction of a plot to destabilise the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula in the early 1920s. The resistance fighters are determined to smuggle explosives into Seoul to destroy key facilities; to kill leading individuals in the oppressor's administration whilst avoiding the Japanese Imperial police who are hot on their trail - and who may well have a spy amongst their number too. I found it a bit too dialogue heavy and you certainly can't doubt the perspective of the good v evil narrative taken by director Jee-woon Kim exemplified by the occupying forces use of some pretty eye-watering brutality on their captives. Kang-ho Song. Yoo Gong and Byung-hun Lee - and the train on which they are travelling - work well in perpetuating the suspense and jeopardy - right until the end. The attention to detail is classy, creative cinematography lending much to the overall look and feel of this tautly paced effort and as cat and mouse adventures go, it is certainly a good one.

Jee-woon Kim isn't coy about the narrative, we know where the character's loyalties lie and who/what they are playing. You'd think this would suck the tension out of this kind of movie, but it merely shifts the plot's focus to more interesting areas.