Review of The Red Cliff (1949) by Lisa M — 14 Jan 2010

Part 1 of John Wooâ??s historical epic focusing on the battle of Red Cliff during Chinaâ??s Han Dynasty. Prime Minister Cao Cao wages war against the South, so Liu Bei (leader of the Xu kingdom) and Sun Quan (leader of the Wu kingdom) join forces with their smaller armies to defend themselves.

The bulk of Part 1 has Liuâ??s advisor (Takashi Kaneshiro) persuading Sunâ??s advisor (Tony Leung) for the two kingdoms to become allies, and then sees them preparing for war, with a few skirmishes to keep the action going.

Itâ??s a sprawling cast but each character has time to develop and the film is well paced and structured, and of course Woo delivers the action when it matters.