Red Cliff 2008
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Genre:Action ,Adventure,Drama
Release: 4 December 2009 (USA)
Director: John Woo
Stars:Tony Chiu Wai Leung|Takeshi Kaneshiro|Fengyi Zhang Writer:John Woo,Khan Chan Songmaker:Dolby Digital,, IMDB | Views: 1266 |
Red Cliff Complete info
Genre :Action|Adventure|Drama
Title :Red Cliff
Year :2008
Rating :7.4
Duration :148 min
Release :4 December 2009 (USA)
Star:Tony Chiu Wai Leung,Takeshi Kaneshiro,Fengyi Zhang,Chen Chang,Wei Zhao,Jun Hu,Shid“ Nakamura,Chiling Lin,Yong You,Yong Hou
Director :John Woo
Writer:John Woo | Khan Chan
Country:China
Language:Mandarin
Moviescore:73/100
Movie Location:Filming Locations: Beijing, China See more ¯
Picture Rating:MPAA
Movie Budget:Budget: CNY 553,632,000 (estimated)
Movie Gross:Gross: $626,809 (USA) (26 March 2010)
Movie Company:Beijing Film Studio | Beijing Film Studio | Lion Rock Productions
Movie Sound : Dolby Digital,,
Red Cliff Tagline : Taglines: Destiny lies in the wind. See more ¯
Red Cliff Description
The first chapter of a two-part story centered on a battle fought in China's Three Kingdoms period (220-280 A.D.).
Red Cliff Plot
Plot Keywords: battle | china | alliance | strategy | chinese | See All (56) ¯
Red Cliff Synopsis
In 208 A.D., in the final days of the Han Dynasty, shrewd Prime Minster Cao Cao convinced the fickle Emperor Han the only way to unite all of China was to declare war on the kingdoms of Xu in the west and East Wu in the south. Thus began a military campaign of unprecedented scale, led by the Prime Minister, himself. Left with no other hope for survival, the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu formed an unlikely alliance. Numerous battles of strength and wit ensued, both on land and on water, eventually culminating in the battle of Red Cliff. During the battle, two thousand ships were burned, and the course of Chinese history was changed forever. Written by Anonymous
Red Cliff Critics
A friend of mine revealed to me that John Woo acknowledged parallels between characters in his movies, and characters from the Three Kingdom era, and that General Zhao Yun was one of Woo's personal favourites. This admiration for General Zhao's qualities cannot be more obvious when it is he who opens the first battle proper, with a very familiar character episode involving the rescue of the infant son (and future lord) of his master Liu Bei, thereby sealing his reputation of valor, earning admiration even from enemy Cao Cao. Fans of Liu Bei's camp will undoubtedly cheer at the appearances of his sworn brothers General Guan Yu (who is worshiped as a Deity until this very day, and remains one of my favourite characters besides Zhao Yun) and General Zhang Fei, whose gruffness translates to instant war-ready prowess. While Liu's army is clearly routed in a military loss, it explained the dilemma of Liu's leadership. One which is based on sincerity, a quality which persuaded his chief military strategist and genius all round Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) to join his cause, but one which lacked military strength in numbers, despite having some of the best generals of the time under his leadership. Which of course Cao Cao admires and probably is envious about, given his superior strength in numbers came from surrendering armies, whose loyalty remains questionable, and of course with individual generals who can't surpass the abilities of those from Liu. Playing the king like a puppet and having him issue a decree for permission to pursue Liu Bei who has fled southwards, he sets his sights also on warlord Sun Quan, for a more personal reason akin to the story of Helen of Troy. Zhuge Liang, knowing their current weakness, seeks an alliance between the armies of Liu and Sun Quan, and this forms most of the first half, where he had to play envoy to cajole and persuade, especially in convincing Sun Quan's most trusted adviser Zhou Yu (Tony Leung) that war is inevitable and they should form a win-win partnership. And here's where great minds think alike, and watching both Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang do a friendly pit against each other is nothing short of amazing, where so little says so much. It helps of course that both Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro have been paired up as leading men on screen before, in Wong Kar-wai's Chungking Express and in Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's Confession of Pain too, lending some much established and credible chemistry as men who share admiration in each other's ability, especially when Zhou Yu seemed to have a fairer balance between fighting skill and intellect. With one side having highly disciplined soldiers with good morale, and the other having renowned generals to be leaders, it doesn't take a genius to realize the advantages gained in fending off a common enemy together. The fight sequences were pure spectacle, with old school wire work combined with technological wizardry to showcase some large scale battle sequences at a macro level, or to highlight the immense naval numbers that Cao Cao brings to battle. Formations and strategies take centerstage in a first major confrontation on land, where one gets to see John Woo's interpretation of Zhuge Liang's "ba-gua" (8 stratagems) strategy, made more entertaining through the continuation of what we have already seen in each general's fighting ability, each given a unique style befitting the characters in folklore, such as Guan Yu and his Guan Dao (Green Dragon Crescent Blade) and Zhao Yun (Hu Jun) and his spear. There's the usual bellowing cape and slow motion in Woo's signature style, but these were kept to a minimum, as are the pigeons (though they do make an appearance, but serving some purpose). Perhaps it is the success of the fight sequences that had left some lamenting for more, but bear in mind this is just but the first half of the movie, setting things up. The major war sequences of course are left in the second movie which we will get to see com
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