Red Cliff (2008)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Best movie of this year hands down!

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

For some reason, no easter film nowadays seems to escape the wuxia curse - whenever there is any sort of action, it needs to be over-the-top unrealistic action because of REASONS. Anyway, Chi Bi (Red Cliff, a film adaptation of the civil war of the Three Kingdoms period) is a pseudo historical film where there is much wuxia fighting while apparently something else also goes on. The film is three hours long. It's boring. it's slow. It's excessively melodramatic. The acting is always forced, there is no attempt at historical accuracy, so unless you are in the market for a three hour all you can eat of kung fu fights, why would you watch this film. Red Cliff isn't terrible, i suppose if you wanted some asian action, this film will do it for you. What it doesn't do, is have a sense of pacing with said action. Say, like The Matrix had. The story is very vague and serves more as a framing device for the good guys to beat up the bad guy, and hardly every moves forward. Combat is laughably unrealistic and without a set of rules laid beforehard, such as, say, THE MATRIX had. So you're just watching three hours of guys on strings shattering spears with their bare hands. Honestly, i'm done with this garbage. I'm not 14yo anymore. I was hoping the asian cinema was ready to come of age, but since the magnificent Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, it seems they have taken more steps back than steps forward. It's bad. I mean, it's not HORRIBLE, but i wouldn't recommend it. 5.5/10

The first word that comes to mind is epic. There is simply no other way to describe the massive scale sweeping narrative of this production. Battle scenes contain hundreds, sometimes even thousands of extras. When the camera tracked over Cao Cao's fleet, I couldn't help but feel impressed. It's one thing to be told that someone has two thousand ships; it's another thing entirely to see every one of them, stretching for miles along a swollen river. Whether it's the number of extras, the exquisitely detailed set pieces, or the lavish costume design, you can tell that no expense was spared at any point.Of course there's more to a film than just production values, there's also the matter of plot and characterization. Fortunately, Red Cliffs delivers here as well. The plot, which follows warlord Cao Cao's invasion of southern China in ancient times, is easy to follow but not at all threadbare. The characters are also fairly well developed, considering the size of the cast.I admit that at first I wasn't sure what to think of the combat sequences. They were certainly quite impressive, but seeing a warrior dodge spear thrusts from half a dozen enemies and then dispatch all of them with a single attack made it hard for me to suspend my disbelief. Then I realized that this is a martial arts film as much as a war movie. When viewed on these terms, the fight scenes were highly enjoyable. I rarely got the feeling that any of the actors' moves owed more to special effects than to their physical abilities, and it was quite refreshing to see them dispense with the One at a Time Attack Rule. The larger battle sequences between armies are also well staged, with the Tortoise Shell Formation sequence being one of most impressive displays of strategy and precision choreography that I've seen in quite a while.This film is hardly perfect. Some parts of the movie, such as the birth of the foal, or the scene in which one of the generals tends to his pigeons didn't seem entirely necessary. I suppose that perhaps these scenes had some greater meaning that Chinese audiences would have grasped, but I can certainly understand how the distributors were able to cut the running time by half for the film's western release.Overall, however, it does a good job of holding the viewer's attention and telling a compelling story. It is a successful blend of historical epic and martial arts film, and should satisfy fans of both.

The first part in a two-part epic clocking in at nearly five hours, John Woo helms one of the most breathtaking war epics ever made. Costing nearly a hundred million dollars to make just this first half, you see the production value from the first seconds. We open with a massive battle with great choreography and sweeping shots of scores of men. It's massive. From there we get into the plot, which includes tons of characters who the western audience won't know well, so it makes the plot confusing at points. That said, the gist is that Cao Cao is trying to take down rebels against the Empire as the Three Kingdoms era is being heralded in. The final battle will be at Red Cliff, where the rebels lay in wait.The middle of the movie isn't very action packed but very beautifully shot and interesting in how it is composed, showing the Asian insistence on beauty and aesthetic over moving the plot. It's quite interesting and you are still treated to many breathtaking scenes full of energy.The final battle is massive and absolutely amazing. The generals come out one at a time and kill dozens of soldiers like they're cardboard cut outs (making the Dynasty Warriors games seem like an inspiration or something). It's massive, it's kinetic, and entirely enjoyable.The film ends with a cliffhanger (of course) but you'll leave feeling pretty complete. It's an excellent piece of cinema. That said, I can see complaints about the insistence on things that don't matter at all. The soccer game at the end of the film? That didn't matter at all. The jam session an hour into the movie? The horse giving birth? But as a complete picture, it's a great foray into a world that American audiences rarely get to see.Sweeping, huge, and beautiful, Red Cliff Part One is definitely recommended.

What's missing from this movie are the character development of all the villains and heroes.Red Cliff is the climax of the first half of "The Romance of Three Kingdoms", and if you read the story, there are lots of character development that went in to flesh out the personalities of each of the characters leading up to this point. Without it, the viewers will have no idea about who the characters are, because the explanations are completely missing from this movie.It's assumed that you have great familiarity with this story already going into the movie theater.For this reason, for westerners who are not familiar with this story, it will be difficult to understand what the premise of the story is, and the importance of each of the characters.So, while the movie is exciting, it might turn into just another action movie.The real story of Red Cliff is in part 2 of this movie. Part 1 is like the prequel to the war that leads up to the great battle of Red Cliff.That being said, the movie is a great masterpiece in that characters are so well presented, and formulated. People who are familiar with the story will not be disappointed, watching the movie.John Woo's did a masterful job of translating the story and bringing the characters into the big screen. If the story of Red Cliff was to be made into a movie, this is the way it should be done.