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John Woo’s Red Cliff movie review & Trailer
Red Cliff is John Woo’s new Chinese Dynasty epic, originally released in 2008, it has finally made it’s way to North America. John Woo has been in the scene for well over 30 years now, he is both respected as an American and Asian film maker. Most well known for his films Face/Off, Paycheck and Mission Impossible 2 in the US, he has reverted back to his roots to direct Red Cliff. Based on the Battle of Red Cliffs and events during the end of the Han Dynasty and immediately prior to the period of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China, Red Cliff is a 2hr30min epic proportion film. Not knowing much about Asian cinema myself, most of the actors were unknowns to me but in their native country, they are the Johnny Depps and Meryl Streeps of the film world. This film is an achievement from start to finish (well almost…), utilizing thousands of extras, hundreds of historically accurate warships, large scale sets and a musical score that would put any John Williams sets to shame, I loved this film. The characters in this film are so real and frighteningly God-like, they command on screen time and make you feel like you’d bow down to them if in their presence. It’s almost as if the characters themselves know they belong in an epic and are acting the part to perfection. The most interesting part of this film though is the intricate detail to war strategy, war is much like a game of chess and this entire film is a Bobby Fischer match. As a cinematographer myself, I was thoroughly impressed by the cinematography and camera work in this film, each frame could be a picture hanging on a wall and the lighting/style is flawless. Red Cliff isn’t perfect though, the ending made people in the theater chuckle and cringe at how absolutely cheezy and cliched it was, rainbows anyone? Some scenes also reminded me of the physics defying film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and brought me out of the movie but for the most part, the war scenes were incredibly visceral and realistic. I’m so thrilled to see that Asian cinema has finally achieved a film in equal epic proportion to Lord of the Rings. I highly recommend viewing this film in theaters when it gets a wide release and rate it 4.5/5. Check the trailer below and look back soon for UGR’s interview with John Woo himself.
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