Immediately after a recent Game of Thrones, viewers rushed to discuss two things: who killed who, and if it was even possible to see who killed who, given how dark and muddy the episode appeared on many screens. Whether that was due to TV settings or streaming compression rates or a million other variables, squinting through that murky Game of Thrones episode was a reminder: There’s still nothing like watching a big, boisterous epic in a movie theater.
And if you need another reminder, here’s Shadow, director Zhang Yimou’s visually stunning return to the wuxia genre of martial arts epics set in ancient China. Having seen it both in a theater and on a reasonably decent television, all I can say is: Get to the theater for this one. There’s no comparison.