Red Cliff
A mere slip of an epic at 146 minutes (you think I'm kidding, but I watched the original two-part, five-hour Asian-market version)
John Woo’s first Chinese film in nearly two decades is both a triumphant homecoming and too much of a good thing.
When Woo went to HollyWood in the run up to the handover of Hong Kong in the early 90s he was riding the crest of a wave: hyper romantic urban thrillers like The Killers, A Better Tomorrow and Hard Boiled had earned him a reputation as the best action director in the world.
Cast details
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Top rated films View all Face/Off - BLU-RAY Version (1997) 
Red Cliff (2009)
He took a little while to adjust to American filmmaking, appeared to hit his stride with the brilliant Face/Off, but then faltered… Windtalkers was a damaging set back and Paycheck was nothing if not well-named – pure hack-work. That was six years ago, so Red Cliff has been a long time coming.
It’s not hard to see why. This is moviemaking on an astounding scale. Apparently it’s the most expensive ever mounted in China, and you can believe that. Most filmmakers use CGI instead of armies of extras. Woo uses both.
Red Cliff: Chen Chang
This isn’t his first costume movie – they’re not well known in the West, but he made a few martial arts movies back in the day – but Woo never enjoyed such budgetary largesse in his Hong Kong days. The very least you can say is the budget is there on the screen.
Set in the Han period, approximately 280 AD, this is the oft-told story of the battle of the Three Kingdoms. An ambitious Prime Minister, Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi), heads south to put down two rebellious provinces – though in fact, they’re not rebelling at all, he just wants to consolidate his own power and get cosy with a certain maiden he has had his eye on
With an army of 80, 000 men he expects a walk-over. But the viceroys (Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Chen Chang) forge an alliance against him. They are still out-numbered ten to one, but clever battle tactics do something to even up the score.
In some ways this feels like a throwback to the traditional widescreen epics of the 1950 and 60s: Ben Hur, Spartacus and El Cid. It’s all about the spectacle and sheer weight of numbers. What’s different is that there’s even more stress on the action – especially in this Western cut, that ditches half the character stuff from the original version. Admittedly, that is a wise decision – it was way too slow – but it does leave the movie with a lop-sided feel.
The action is very different from the old style epics too. Woo doesn’t stint on the blood, but he also mixes in Chinese wire-work effects and Hero-style supernatural theatrics. It doesn’t always work – it’s hard to care about an underdog who also seems to be invincible – but more often than not it’s entertaining.
Evidently influenced by Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, the battles start big and keep on growing, so if combat and carnage doesn’t interest you, don’t bother with Red Cliff. Most of us are susceptible to these kind of cinematic war games, though, and on that front Woo’s movie is an undoubted winner – his best for a long time.
Reviews
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Critics' reviews
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The Battle of Red Cliff occupies a similar place in Chinese folklore to the Arthurian legends in our own: a sprawling... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful members' reviews (3)
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28 out of 28 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
This is an amazing film
It's a film of loyalty war spying love deception ambition strategy friendship.
See it on a big screen with 5.1 sounds in blu ray.
I highly recommend it.
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- Chantal
- Posted 15 Apr 2009 20:52
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21 out of 22 people found this review helpful
Intrusive and arrogant
Unbelievably, this DVD forces you to watch all the trailers before the main feature - and there are a good 25 minutes of overblown drivel trailers to sit through (the kind that show you the entire plot of each film) ! I did not even get to the main film, I was so annoyed. Why do they do this ?
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14 out of 18 people found this review helpful
Buy the DVD
Buy both the DVDs dont bother watching this at the cinema as they have cut loads just to be one film. I bet they have made it into one big action film and missed most of the story. Both films are well over 2hours each and the cinema version is 2 and a half hours.
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Most recent members' reviews (2)
View all -
21 out of 22 people found this review helpful
Intrusive and arrogant
Unbelievably, this DVD forces you to watch all the trailers before the main feature - and there are a good 25 minutes of overblown drivel trailers to sit through (the kind that show you the entire plot of each film) ! I did not even get to the main film, I was so annoyed. Why do they do this ?
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
not top
well yet another martial arts/war film from the east.
i love these kind of films and i always have my eyes fix on the tv start to end.
Has always i end up disappointed after watching the film.. yes the fight sence are cool and action special effects are stunning, but these films are lacking,
they will never top films like crouching tiger hidden dragon, jet li hero, house of flying daggers... may be they are based on the same idea/plot...
may they should get someone who know real kung fu such as the great bruce lee
R.I.P
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28 out of 28 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
This is an amazing film
It's a film of loyalty war spying love deception ambition strategy friendship.
See it on a big screen with 5.1 sounds in blu ray.
I highly recommend it.-
- Chantal
- Posted 15 Apr 2009 20:52
-
21 out of 22 people found this review helpful
Intrusive and arrogant
Unbelievably, this DVD forces you to watch all the trailers before the main feature - and there are a good 25 minutes of overblown drivel trailers to sit through (the kind that show you the entire plot of each film) ! I did not even get to the main film, I was so annoyed. Why do they do this ?
-
14 out of 18 people found this review helpful
Buy the DVD
Buy both the DVDs dont bother watching this at the cinema as they have cut loads just to be one film. I bet they have made it into one big action film and missed most of the story. Both films are well over 2hours each and the cinema version is 2 and a half hours.
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7 out of 7 people found this review helpful
Great Cliff
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7 out of 8 people found this review helpful
Red Cliff - A Well Made Adaptation.
As some who has read and is a big fan of the Three Kingdoms novel I was both elated and skeptical to hear John Woo was making the adaptation of such a crucial stage of the book. Fortunately, Woo has created a film which will not only please those with no previous knowledge of the events but also those like me who spent second and third viewing checking for continuity. This is a wonderful looking piece to match other 'Chinese Epics'. The battle scenes are spectacular and are largely more realistic than other films of it's type and as a result captivates the serious viewer for longer. The script is believable with enough quirks to allow the audience to release a chuckle to balance out the seriousness of the rest of the film. As an adaptation there is a risk of being largely different to the original work and of course changes have been made. However the alterations to the story are not too 'overblown' and as a result the film appeals to a larger market, by introducing more action, but also manages to be fantastic viewing for the sceptics like myself. Overall a film worth watching and buying for a lasting collection. As long as it is viewed as an adaptation no one should have any trouble thoroughly enjoying Red Cliff from start to finish.
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
not top
well yet another martial arts/war film from the east.
i love these kind of films and i always have my eyes fix on the tv start to end.
Has always i end up disappointed after watching the film.. yes the fight sence are cool and action special effects are stunning, but these films are lacking,
they will never top films like crouching tiger hidden dragon, jet li hero, house of flying daggers... may be they are based on the same idea/plot...
may they should get someone who know real kung fu such as the great bruce lee
R.I.P -
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
Brilliant
Brilliant but subtitled.
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Great battle scenes
Found the trailers very annoying at start you cant fast forward etc so your stuck watching 20min of boring trailers.
Film was ok, battle scenes were great. Think i would of enjoyed film more if wasnt subtitled throughout, subtitles were really small so found it hard at times to stay with the plot -
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Red Cliff III
Having purchased Red cliff 1 & II from Hong Kong I was not too interested in this version of the film. However I was pleasantly surprised that the storyline hung together even with major chunks being omitted (original film over 4 hours liong). Action scenes are superb together with the musical score, Storyline is major chinese history lesson so overall very watchable even if you don't like subtitles
Critics' reviews
-
The Battle of Red Cliff occupies a similar place in Chinese folklore to the Arthurian legends in our own: a sprawling... read more on Time Out