Red Cliff (2009)

Battle of Wits

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

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As a battle epic, John Woo's Red Cliff is as impressively mounted as Braveheart and Gladiator, but as directed by Hong Kong action master John Woo, it easily surpasses them in terms of style and grace, action and cinematography. (It is currently the all-time box office champion in China.) During the Han Dynasty, the evil Chancellor Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) embarks on a campaign to wipe out two rebel forces, with the might of the emperor's army on his side. Representing the two rebel armies, strategist Kongming (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and viceroy Zhou Yu (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) team up to battle Cao Cao; together they use wisdom and cunning against the villain's brute strength. The movie depicts several smaller, individual attacks and battles before building up to the final showdown.

Woo is one of the few directors alive who understands the poetry of action and the beauty of movement, emphasizing these things with a welcome clarity (rather than the usual hand-held action jumble). Likewise, his focus is less on the war itself, than on the friendship between two rivals who have teamed up against a greater evil. Together they use wisdom and cunning to battle the sheer military might of their opponent. The movie unfolds in separate sequences, each representing an individual battle or attack, and it flows impeccably, without letting the numerous characters and plotlines grow too complex. All in all, it may be one of the greatest battle epics ever made.

Note: Red Cliff was released in China in two parts, totaling 280 minutes. A single-film, 148-minute version is opening in America, which was all part of John Woo's original plan. Chinese audiences already know this story well and are getting more in-depth characters, while Americans are getting more of a primer, which focuses more on the main story. I have only seen the 148-minute version thus far, but I can attest that it does not feel choppy or truncated in any way, and works well as a whole film.

[Please also see my more in-depth review at Common Sense Media.]

With: Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Zhao Wei, Hu Jun, Lin Chi-ling, Nakamura Shido, You Yong
Written by: John Woo, Chan Khan, Kuo Cheng, Sheng Heyu, based on a book by Lou Guanzhong
Directed by: John Woo
MPAA Rating: R for sequences of epic warfare
Language: Mandarin with English subtitles
Running Time: 148 minutes
Date: November 20, 2009