Review of Red Cliff (2008) by Gareth M — 01 Mar 2010

I'm glad I waited to get my hands on the full version of this film instead of seeing the 'International Cut', the heavily edited down version released in Australian cinemas. And although I got to enjoy the full scope of the story and the rich character arcs, I miss out on the experience of seeing this on the big screen. 'Epic' is a word that doesn't quite do this film justice. The term 'epic', applied to a recent film, generally implies that it features lots of landscape shoots and takes a long time to get anywhere (example: 'Australia') or it gets hyped up beyond belief and half the population become convinced that it's a 'must-see' film before it even gets released to the public (example: 'Australia').

'Red Cliff', on the other hand, is a movie of such massive scale in terms of story, history, character and visual impact, it makes The Lord of the Rings trilogy feel diminished.

Based on 'Three Kingdoms', a story based in Chinese history that to this days remains an important part of their culture and lore, providing the inspiration for countless films, adaptations, re-imaginings and games, Red Cliff focuses on one particular battle involving three factions. Taking the war movie standard of one small group overcoming the odds, with the huge ensemble cast of characters lead by Takeshi Kaneshiro as strategist Zhuge Liang as he attempts to overcome the odds.

With so many characters, it could be easy to become lost in the epic clashes between the armies, but John Woo's experience as a director shows. Each character has their own story and none feel like deadweight, and most are developed through artistic montage sequences. Whilst at times Red Cliff feels as though it's aping Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Woo maintains his own unique visual style that has been basterdised by every Western action directing since The Matrix. Show motion and dramatic use of flames and sweeping camera movements capture the combat, with a classic Woo Mexican Stand-off marking the climax.

Make sure you're comfy before pressing play, you won't want to move once the ball starts rolling.