Red Cliff (2008)

The movie is released in 2 episodes in Asian countries, but it will be compressed to only one in Western countries. This is my review for the first episode.

The movie basically revolves around the battle of Red Cliffs (or battle of Chibi). According to history, this battle happened around 208 A.D. during the decreasing era of the China Han dinasty. This was the most important battle of that era because this was the starting point of a three-kingdom era, which now has become a popular literature and even games (very popular in Asian countries).

The movie starts with the ambition of Prime Minister Cao Cao to unite China. Cao Cao is a powerful man, even more powerful than the emperor, and he "forces" the emperor to grant him permission to attack Liu Bei and Sun Quan, two major rulers on the southern part of China. He leads 800,000 men to attack, while the joint forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan is numbered less than 50,000.

This is only the first half of the entire movie and it acts as a kind of appetizer. I am really looking forward for the second half. For people who follow the history of China or ever play the three-kingdom games, this is a dream comes true. Definitely the best three-kingdom movie of all time. We can see great fighting sequences involving three top Liu Bei's generals, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun. Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei's advisor, and Zhou Yu, Sun Quan's commander in chief, interact nicely in the movie. Both were considered as the smartest and the best strategists in that era and they show it why. Cao Cao acts as my imagination, ruthless, ambitious, arrogant, but also calculating and confident.

Some moments in the movie feels too strech-out, which some may think that it needs to be cut in the editing room. However, it never crossed the boring line for me. John Woo manages to keep everything interesting and I was enjoying every moment. All actors resemble the historical characters perfectly. Liu Bei is a bit disappointing since he does nothing in the movie, but others are satisfactorily portrayed. I believe people who don't familiar with Chinese history can very well enjoy the movie as well. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

You can check my original review from http://rys-movie-reviews.blogspot.co...liff-2008.html.

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To anyone that calls themselves a movie buff you must see this movie! John Woos best movie by miles and miles!

That is all

No. No it's not.

BTW, which version of Red Cliff did you watch?

Oh yes yes it is. I saw the 2 1/2 hour long american version. What could possibly match this?! Not Hard Boiled, and that might be the closest in contention.

Nope, not Hard Boiled. It'd be really hard to compare those two. The film I was thinking of was The Killer. Also, I'd recommend seeing the full version, the 4 hour one. I've not seen the edited for Western audiences one, but only because I knew the other existed and so waited to get my hands on it. I really couldn't tell you whether it's better or not, but I'd suspect that if you like the epic nature of Red Cliffs, you'd really like it. If you just liked the fight scenes, which bored me tbh, then maybe you've seen the right one.

Wow Im stunned. The fight choreography in Red Cliff was Woos' best in a loooong time imo. The Killer was good, but this was easiloy as gripping, suspensful, and much more grounded. The biggest obstacle of Red Cliff will be the sheer scale of the story sorta like how Dune caused confusion to moviegoers unfamiliar with the book. If youre familiar with Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, the 200 year war"s" to unify China, then see this you must. If not then be prepared cause movie like this dont come around often.