Review: Red Cliff (2009) ****
Tony Leung in John Woo’s Red Cliff
Told in simple, broad, memorable strokes, John Woo’s Red Cliff is the kind of historical action epic Hollywood seems to have lost the ability to reliably deliver. Based on a 700-year-old Chinese novel set in the 3rd century AD, it tells the story of an ambitious general who bullies his weak emperor into crushing two less powerful warlords to the south. Realizing the two kingdoms can’t stand alone, a military strategist from one kingdom convinces a war hero from the other that they must form an alliance and use their superior knowledge and tactics to defeat the more powerful enemy.
Originally shown to Asian audiences in two parts totaling 5 hours, Woo always intended an edited version that would be more appealing to Westerners. The version opening this week for US audiences (and already playing on VOD) has been pruned back to 2 hours and 30 minutes, a length barely enough to contain the film’s massive scope, but it just manages to work. The result is a breathlessly paced bit of action entertainment that is a little simplistic at times, but never less than entertaining.
For better or for worse, the sheer scale of Red Cliff (expertly enhanced by some judiciously employed CGI that is never a distraction) tends to tamp down some of Woo’s more operatic tendencies. This might be a disappointment for the director’s hard-core fan base, but it’s kind of a relief for those disappointed that Woo’s over-the-top style never found its full flower in Hollywood. Count me among the latter. Woo isn’t changing the face of action cinema here as he once did in the late ’80s and early ’90s, but he’s still a master working with enormous confidence on a project he’s very enthusiastic about and it’s fun to watch.
Helping him out are the great Tony Leung (with whom Woo has not worked since 1992′s Hard Boiled) as the war hero and Takeshi Kaneshiro (Chungking Express, House of Flying Daggers) as the military strategist with whom he unites to fight a common foe. Both men bring all of their considerable charisma to their roles and every bit is needed. The characters may have had more room to live and breathe in the original 5-hour version, but here they must be established quickly and memorably. The dialogue also leans a little heavily on clichéd Sun Tsu-isms and Chinese martial philosophy, but the actors manage to bring it to life.
I suspect the two-part version of Red Cliff (already available on Asian Blu-rays) is a deeper, richer, more layered affair, but it could also be more bloated and ponderous – a deadly side effect of many epics of such scale. Either way, the fat-free 2 hour and 30 minute cut has to be admired for its brevity and pacing. The characters are clearly and cleanly defined, the story is straightforward (if a bit predictable) and the whole thing delivers like a freight train of action entertainment. Building gradually over time, it reaches several mini-crescendos on its way to a fiery, land/sea finale that runs for 25 minutes from the time the first arrow flies until the last corpse falls.
It’s easy to see why Red Cliff broke box office records in Asia and one hopes it finds an audience here in the US as well.
Red Cliff. China 2009. Directed by John Woo. Screenplay by Guo Zheng, Sheng Heyu and Woo Chan Khan. Cinematography by Lu Yue and Zhang Li. Music score composed by Taro Iwashiro. Edited by Robert A. Ferretti, Angie Lam and Yang Hongyu. Costumes designed by Tim Yip. Starring Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Vicky Zhao, Hu Jun, Shidou Nakamura and Lin Chiling. 2 hours 40 minutes. Rated R by the MPAA for sequences of epic warfare. 4 stars (out of 5)
Filed under: Reviews
Tags: Angie Lam, Chang Chen, Guo Zheng, Hu Jun, John Woo, Lin Chiling, Lu Yue, Red Cliff, Robert A. Ferretti, Sheng Heyu, Shidou Nakamura, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Taro Iwashiro, Tim Yip, Tony Leung, Vicky Zhao, Woo Chan Khan, Yang Hongyu, Zhang Fengyi, Zhang Li
Great review! You just made a close-to-3-hr foreign language sound like a whole lotta fun. I now have interest in seeing this. Before, I had none.
Seems like it’s been a while since we had any worthy Asian action epics. Am I forgetting something since Hero and House of Flying Daggers?
For those interested, the two-part version is available on blu ray at a good price and it’s region free (the review offer a tip for negotiating a hiccup for North American region A users of the first disc) ->
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Red-Cliff-Blu-ray-Review/7821/
In line with Craig’s prediction in his fine review, Glenn Kenney reviewing the two part version commented that “much of the pruning [in the abridged version] is from the film’s first part, and it includes a lot of poetic touches but also some character building”.
I loved this movie. Amazing action, terrific characters and it never felt like a two-and-a-half hour movie to me. It really moved at a great pace.
The edition of the 100-chapter novel that I have consists of 4 separate paperback volumes, so I think either it has to be done in a series of television episodes or 2-hour movies (the way BBC does with adaptations of Charles Dickens’ novels) or it has to be pared down smartly. I think Woo accomplished the second option beautifully.
Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro are two of my favorite actors too, so seeing them together on screen was a great treat for me. And just a nitpicky thing, you have Hero as a credit after Kaneshiro’s name, along with Chungking Express and House of Flying Daggers, but actually he wasn’t in that. Tony Leung was the one in Hero – he played Broken Sword.
Great review.
@jb: Curse of the Golden Flower wasn’t per se an action flick, but it was another Zhang Yimou epic that had many action sequences, lots of court intrigue and was a costume and drama spectacle of operatic proportions.
Kaneshiro was in a Cory Yuen movie called Hero, but when I saw it in his filmography I thought they meant Zhang Yimou’s version so I took it off.
I love the still you used for this review too. Loved that fan and the way they used it in the movie. Empty seat with his fan left behind on it and you know he went off to kick some ass.
Takeshi Kaneshiro had some good fan action there too. :p
Never saw the Cory Yuen movie. Maybe I’ll check it out on Netflix.
I can’t wait to see this thing again. The At The Movies dudes weren’t impressed (though Phillips recommended the 5 hour version of which he’d only seen the first half) but I think they’re comparing it too much to Woo’s early career.
Me? I was just taking it as an epic action flick and it totally worked. I had a lot of fun with it.
Wow, if you liked the International Cut, I think you will LOVE the two-part version, which is in fact (I suspect, I haven’t seen the Int. Cut) more through with events instead of just a mish-mash of action sequences.
It’s funny, I like both for different reasons. The US cut you sort of have to not think about it too much… the plot goes by really really quickly and it bounces from one action thing to another. I really liked that aspect of it, but in a completely different way I also enjoyed the 2 part cut (which I later bought on UK DVD). It was richer and a bit deeper though a bit more slowly paced.
Both versions were a lot of fun and I think it would depend on my mood which one I’d rather watch.
My favorite part was the Turtle tactic, it just went totally over my head. My mother and I looked at each other puzzled and said their thinking was too deep for us. xD
I loved all the individual battles. They were all very clever, but the Turtle was particularly intense.
Of course the crazy fire battle at the end was spectacular.
I have to say great cast too. You can’t go wrong with Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro