Review of The Red Cliff (1949) by Alex T — 05 Aug 2010

Ill admit, I havent seen this version, I sat and watched both parts of the original 5 hour epic. As with most chinese films, you are thrown into the middle of things, which as a device allows them afterwards to sit down and explain the state of affairs in the story thus far, and then our story effectively starts. Im never too good with names in Chinese epics, but the dude with the eagle feather fan ROCKS, furthermore Donnie Yen ROCKS just as hard as feather guy. The scene where theyre in Donnie Yens house and they start playing the zitherstogether and have the 'battle of the minds' just reminded me so much of Jet Li's Hero, which is my favourite film, and any chance to revisit this haunting and emotional moment is welcome.

I agree with the guy who compared it to Lord of the Rings, its similar in that some characters go off on different missions (land army/water army/chick dressed as a dude going undercover who meets dum-dum the fat guy).

The scene that always sticks in my mind is where feather dude is by the lake waiting to read nature to see how the weather and wind are going to affect the battle.

The strategic elements in the film are second to none, this small army with all their formations reminded me very much of the 300 and how they would outwit Zerkzes' army waves.

If youre a fan of Chinese epics, youve probably already seen it (or if youve only seen this version, do yourself a favour and watch the original 2 parts, not this edited version), if youre not a fan, you may want to watch a few shorter epics before you jump into this story, just to familiarise yourself with how Chinese films work (yes, just like Bollywood, they make em different outiside the US).

And once again, just to reiterate, this film ROCKS!