War, what is it good for? A cracking good story for a film! (Red Cliff II (DVD))

Member Name: sakura8

Product:	Red Cliff II (DVD)
Date:	26/06/09 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting story, amazing action and scenery

Disadvantages: A bit long for some, unnecessary sex scene

This is a review of the Western version of the film seen at the cinema, as there are various versions available on DVD as it was originally released in two parts in Asia. This film is also known as Chi Bi.


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I went to see Red Cliff with my family for Father's Day, as we are Chinese and my brother and I thought it would be an interesting film to watch with my parents. The last time I went to the cinema with my Mum was when we went to see Three Men & A Baby and she fell asleep (understandable really), so we were hoping this would be a film that would hold her attention!

I didn't really know what the film was about as I'd only seen one advert for it on TV. I knew that John Woo directed it and that it was produced by the same people who did 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', so I kind of knew what style of film to expect.

Luckily my Dad gave us a quick overview of what the film was about as we were waiting for the film to start, as he'd done some research being the history buff that he is.

He told us it was about the war in the summer of AD 208, between the imperial army led by the evil Prime Minister Cao Cao and the southern warlords Sun Quan and Liu Bei, who forge an alliance as they are badly outnumbered against Cao Cao's enormous army. The title 'Red Cliff' comes from where the final battle was fought.

We all thought the film started quite slowly and I personally could have done without the gratuitous sex scene. I don't think it added anything to the film and watching that kind of thing with your parents isn't ideal! Now I'm not a prude, but this isn't the kind of action I wanted to see!

There is also quite a long scene where Liu Bei's chief advisor Zhuge Liang and Sun Quan's Viceroy Zhou Yu are playing traditional Chinese instruments, as Zhuge Liang tries to convince Zhou Yu to form the alliance. The music they play is supposed to represent Zhou Yu's indecision of whether to join the fight against Cao Cao, so it sounded pretty random and crazy and my fiancé asked me if this was Chinese jazz!

I can see where they were going with that scene, as Zhuge Liang guessed Zhou Yu would join the fight just from how he was playing. Zhuge Liang is quite a spiritual character and he played a key part in how the war was won. He was an expert in interpreting weather patterns and this was integral in forming strategies against the enemy. This film really made me appreciate how incredibly clever they had to be in the olden days to outwit their opponent and there are some truly amazing tricks pulled out of their billowing Chinese robed sleeves in this film! In those days you couldn't just send in a tank or a missile-laden fighter jet!

The action scenes are amazing, as you would expect from John Woo and the team behind 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. Whilst the camera work features John Woo's signature style with arrows flying straight towards the camera in slow motion, the flying-around-fighting-in-trees is rightly absent. As the story is based on true events and the classic novel 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms', all of the battles are on dry land or in the sea.

Even if you're not a fan of martial arts, you will still appreciate the fighting scenes, as the majority is hand-to-hand combat with huge swords and spears. The choreography is beautifully done and there are some amazing moves carried out by the main Generals as they dive right into the action.

The majority of the acting is very solid and I enjoyed their performances. Chow Yun-Fat was originally cast to play Zhou Yu, but I think Tony Leung ('Hard Boiled', 'Hero') did an excellent job in the role. Takeshi Kaneshiro ('House of Flying Daggers', 'The Warlords') plays the wistful character of Zhuge Liang very well and even though he doesn't do any actual fighting, he makes the most of his screen time.

Fengyi Zhang ('Farewell My Concubine') plays the bad-guy part of Cao Cao with just the right degree of villainous sneer and evil laughs, but we also see a softer side to him as it is revealed he loves Zhou Yu's wife Xiao Qiao, who is played by Lin Chiling. Hers is the weakest performance in my opinion, but that is hardly surprisingly since she is a Taiwanese ex-supermodel and her acting experience is limited to a few TV adverts.

The film took a long time to make and John Woo started planning in 2004. It is the most expensive Asian-financed film to date and quite a lot of the budget is due to the CGI. John Woo apparently used Troy as a benchmark and this is evident when you see the hundreds of ships on the water and all the soldiers about to go into battle.

It is a long film, about 2 hours 45 minutes, but once the action gets going you do get absorbed in the film and time quickly passes. However, despite knowing my Mum would struggle to sit comfortably still, we were still surprised when the first of the credits appeared on screen and she shouted "Oh thank God!" and jumped to her feet! She did enjoy the film, but it was too long for her, however she should count herself lucky that we didn't see the original Asian version, which was released in two parts, totalling over four hours in length!

I would recommend this film even if you don't have a strong interest Chinese history, as it has an interesting story and it has been beautifully depicted with the stunning Chinese countryside as the background to this bloody war.

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The Western version we saw at the cinema was in mandarin with English subtitles, which were actually shown slow enough so we could read them!

Summary: It will make you appreciate the art of war.