The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
Cliff Walkers
Drama · Action · Mystery · 2021
In the puppet state of Manchukuo in the 1930s, four Communist party special agents, after returning to China, embark on a secret mission. Sold out by a traitor, the team find themselves surrounded by threats on all sides.
Movie details
Cliff Walkers
2021 Drama · Action · Mystery 2h 0m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.7 / 10
Community rating
In the puppet state of Manchukuo in the 1930s, four Communist party special agents, after returning to China, embark on a secret mission. Sold out by a traitor, the team find themselves surrounded by threats on all sides.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Cliff Walkers?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
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White Vengeance
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White Vengeance tells the story of two brothers contending for supremacy during the fall of the Qin Dynasty, which ruled Imperial China from 221 to 206 BC. As rebels rose, the nation fell into chaos. Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, became leaders of the rebellious army, and also became sworn brothers in battle.Xiang Yu and Liu Bang are close friends who both serve King Huai of Chu. King Huai uses a plot, saying that whoever can subvert the Qin kingdom in Guanzhong would be the Lord Qin, in order to benefit from the competition between Xiang Yu and Liu Bang. Xiang Yu is over-confident. He fights against the main force of Qin army, and entrusts Liu Bang with Yu Ji, the woman he loves.Liu Bang expresses his love to Yu Ji and takes the chance to invade Guanzhong first when most of Qin army is outside fighting against Xiang Yu’s army.
The Great Magician
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In the years after the Revolution, China broken up into fiefdoms held by warlords, who are busy fighting each other. One warlord has imprisoned a girl and wants her to be his seventh wife, but he's too honorable to force her. The local revolutionaries wants to kill him and bring back the republic. But when a stranger returns from abroad with mastery of magic to recover the girl he loved, who is tricking whom and who will win at the end?
Page Eight
Mystery · 2011
Johnny is a long-serving MI5 officer. His boss dies suddenly, leaving behind an inexplicable file which threatens the stability of the organisation.
Shanghai
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An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.
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Macau Police brings the tracking expert police officer out of retirement to help catch a dangerous group of professional thieves.
Triage
Drama · 2009
The wife of a photojournalist sets out to discover why he came home from a recent assignment without his colleague.
Black Bag
Drama · 2025
When intelligence agent Kathryn Woodhouse is suspected of betraying the nation, her husband – also a legendary agent – faces the ultimate test of whether to be loyal to his marriage, or his country.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Zhang Yimou
Written by
Zhang Yimou · Quan Yongxian
Zhang Yi
Zhang Xianchen
Yu Hewei
Zhou Yi
Qin Hailu
Wang Yu
Zhu Yawen
Chu Liang
Liu Haocun
Xiao Lan
Ni Dahong
Section Chief Gao
Li Naiwen
Lu Ming
Court is in session
Put Cliff Walkers on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.