Red Cliff

[pro-bassoonist]

Preliminary date for the UK market is October 5th.

Time Out Hong Kong:

In a conversation sometime after the release of Red Cliff, I casually asked Woo why he didn’t make it more explicit in the film’s title that it’s only the first half of a two-part movie, thereby surprising and frustrating some of its viewers with the lack of proper closure. “I was thinking about The Godfather,” he remarked. “So I thought I only have to add the number ‘2’ in the second film’s title.”

While the first film is now more appropriately seen as a lengthy buildup, replete with two minor battles and a string of awkwardly humorous character introductions, Red Cliff II has a no-nonsense approach, taking its audience through some of the most renowned military tactics in Three Kingdoms history – including badass prime minister Cao Cao’s (Zhang Fengyi) cunning method to spread typhoid in the enemy camp, Xu chancellor Zhuge Liang’s (Takeshi Kaneshiro) preparation of 100,000 arrows in one night, and Wu strategist Zhou Yu’s (Tony Leung) plot to eliminate Cao’s indispensible naval generals – before climaxing with the most remarkably visualized Battle of Red Cliff ever put on film.

Although Woo’s penchant to reduce everything down to the theme of brotherhood is as maddening as ever – with Zhuge and Zhou often exchanging evocative glances and cheesy assurances of their ‘friendship’ – and his decision to include a Mexican standoff (with swords!) borders on the flat-out ridiculous, Red Cliff II’s overall sense of accomplishment makes it easy for any historically-aware audience to temporarily put down their skepticism. This is an intelligent and resounding epic that more than delivers on its first half’s modest promises.

Edmund Lee

Ciao,
Pro-B