Hidden Blade is a Chinese espionage film that takes place around the time of World War II in Japanese occupied China. It follows the stories of two men working for the Japanese government. Although it is a propaganda film, it doesn't feel as preachy as I was expecting it to be. It had a great cast starring some big names, such as Tony Leung and Wang Yibo to name a few. In my opinion, Tony Leung really stood out in his role compared to the rest of the cast. Before going into this film, it would help to have some historical context of this time period. Otherwise, the story is hard to follow as it is. The film drops you into the story and barely bothers to explain things. The main issue I had with this movie was the flow of the plot. There were a lot of times where the movie would jump back and forth to the same few particular scenes. It made it very difficult to follow the story and the timeline.

The musical score, though not bad, was a miss for me. There are some really great cinematic shots in this film. It is an art film after all. One thing I liked was the depiction of dogs in the film. There were various types of dogs featured that led very different lives. You can say their lives paralleled some of the characters in the film. If you've seen a lot of espionage films or dramas from this era, you might find the movie a bit predictable. Would I watch this film again? Probably not. Although it had some great shots and the climax was entertaining, the storytelling wasn't quite there for me since it was hard to follow. I also felt like there was a lot of subtext I might've missed. I knew a particular scene or moment was important, but couldn't quite put my finger on why. Even if I were to re-watch it, I don't think I will understand some of the hidden subtext unless someone explains it to me. It might be worth checking it out for the cast though.