If you love epic historical war movies, then you should pay close attention to John Woo's take on China's most legendary battle called, Red Cliff (originally The Battle of Red Cliff).
Woo is no stranger to historical war movies having been directed the flop-o-rama Windtalkers which was a painfully uninspired, generic action-movie set in World War II. That movie, along with Paycheck, became Woo's one way ticket to a temporary exile back to China.
But don't fret Woo fans. I have a big feeling this war movie will not disappoint. The film simply looks amazing! It looks like Woo is back to making films that dubbed him a legend in Hong Kong.
Red Cliff is based on the Battle of Chibi, a battle that catapulted the end of the Han Dynasty in 208 A.D.. The movie follows the zealous Prime Minister Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) who wanted to become China's Emperor by unifying all kingdoms into a single empire. To do that, he must rid of all the warlords governing each kingdom.
After learning that Liu Bei (Yong You), the warlord from the west and Sun Quan (Chen Chang), a ruler from the south had joined forces against him, Cao Cao sends an army of more than 200,000 soldiers and 2,000 ships south of China to eliminate this allied forces of merely 50,000. However, Bei and Quan collaborated on a strategy that eventually defeated Cao Cao's seemingly overwhelming military might.
The movie also stars five-time Hong Kong Film Award winner Tony Leung who stars as Zhou Yu, Quan's Viceroy who befriended Bei's military advisor Zhuge Liang (played by hearthrob Takeshi Kaneshiro).
Leung is one of my favorite actors around anywhere because he's so versatile and flawless on each of his roles. Not many actors anywhere can command a screen as strong as he could. Plus, his movies are all blockbuster hits!
The North American version of the film has been edited to about 2 1/2 hours. It's Asian version was split into two parts. Part 1 was released September 2008 and Part 2 in December 2008. Each part runs for at least 2 hours. The Asian version delves into each of the main characters more in hopes of educating the audience the historical importance of that battle to China as well as the world.
Red Cliff is the most expensive film production in Asia to date at $85million and became an instant sensation everywhere outside the western hemisphere. The film is slated to be released limitedly in New York and Los Angeles on Nov. 20 then goes nationwide Nov. 25th.
See the trailer below:
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