Viewed in
2009, 2010
Premise
John Woo's nearly five hour long retelling of the Battle at Red Cliff during the Three Kingdoms era in Ancient China.
Loved
The cool war tactics.
Liked
Eye candy in the form of epic action scenes.
Hated
Transitions in the second half of the original.
Thoughts
Easily John Woo's best film since The Killer and Hard Boiled. Arguably his best.
I am completely unaware of the historical significance of this battle and the era in general. Nevertheless, it was an entertaining story to watch. Those who have played 'Dynasty Warriors' video games will recognize the characters and their names.
The action scenes were excellent. With a Hollywood budget, the special effects did not look cheesy, as there was a good blend of computer graphics, wires, old school stunts, and countless extras to enhance the sword fights.
Director John Woo kept his flashy style under perfect control. I was afraid of ridiculous-diving-sideways-with-dual-weapons-in-slow-motion moments, but instead it was full of cool and (mostly) plausible fights. Having said that, I could not help but giggle during a serious scene because of his obligatory 'white doves flying' signature.
My favorite moments were the tactics involved. The opposing sides would take turns explaining, anticipating, countering, and out-executing each others' strategies. With smart characters and grand battles, it was like watching a historic chess match on steroids. How a character stole a hundred-thousand of his opponent's arrows without casualty was worth the price of admission.
Overall, the acting was well done, though it's probably easy to look badass in flowing garments and quoting Chinese poetry. I liked the fact that even though the cast was quite large (and all Asians look alike), they were pretty easy to tell apart. Granted I have only seen him in a few films, I was rather shocked by how old Asian superstar Tony Leung looked.
I watched the three-hour American version before seeing the five-hour original. Overall, the latter offered a more complete epic, but had more flaws. Things made more sense, as director John Woo could take his time with his characters and even the action sequences. Even though both contained the same battles, the original had a lot more subplot in the action, and explained why certain characters existed and why others simply disappeared mid-scene in the American version. Even some of the action scenes were extended, which was a bonus, considering slick action sequences are Woo's forte.
As expected, the pace was slower, but it was only boring in two places. In the second hour of the first half, there were way too many character scenes without plot movement, and some of them were redundant (we get it, Zhou Yu and his wife love each other very very much!). In the second half, there was an absolutely annoying love subplot involving the sister as a spy. It was implausible and absolutely failed as comic relief. Also, I hated the ubiquitous tearaway cloth-transitions in the second half.
Lastly, could we agree that to ban the obligatory break-single-object-then-fail-to-break-multiple-objects as a visual demonstration of 'united we stand, divided we fall' cliché? It would be funny if one day, movie makers ran out of items to use.
Led by cool ancient Chinese battles and some clever tactics, this was one of the best action films of 2009. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes epics, especially one dipped in history and strategy. If you have five hours (or two nights), then I would recommend the original over the American version. It will be worth the time to get a more complete story.
What I would change
In regards to the original: get rid of the annoyingly repetitive tearaway cloth transitions, and got rid of the Pit character. The sister-spy subplot would have be interesting enough with her simply trying to avoid detection in enemy camp.
Random
In the credits, I kind of understand thanking caterers and accountants, but the 'making of staff'? You know, during your making of featurette, you can thank your staff, at the end of the featurette. You could call them credits.
Personal
When I watched the three-hour version in 2009 I used Amazon.com's streaming movie rentals service. It was my first time using it and everything went smoothly. Over a wireless network and through a few walls, the stream rarely interrupted and the picture quality was DVD quality on my PC. I had no trouble reading the subtitles or making out action scenes. Cheaper than an evening showing at the multiplexes, this was a good way to watch movies that are impossible to find, even in Los Angeles.
