John Woo attempts to bring the legendary Han Dynasty Battle of Red Cliff to the screen. It is the most expensive Asian produced film to date. For U.S. audiences, we receive an edited version of this four hour plus epic. Having not seen the longer version, I can't say if this is good or bad. Some of the film's problems seem to be due to this missing hour and a half, but not as much as one might think. Even at 2 ½ hours, this is still epic filmmaking.
Cao Cao (Fengyi Zhang, FAREWELL, MY CONCUBINE) is the Prime Minister of the Han Empire. Some believe that he isn't simply content with controlling the young Emperor (Ning Wang), but wants to rule himself. He claims he wants to unite all of China, but his thirst for power is endless. With a million soldiers he issues a crushing defeat to Xu Kingdom leader Liu Bei (Yong You, TRIANGLE). Liu Bei's chief strategist Zhuge Liang, or better known as Kongming, (Takeshi Kaneshiro, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS), suggests that they align with the Wu Kingdom, which is lead by its young ruler Sun Quan (Chen Chang, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON). Sun's army is lead by the calm warrior Zhou Yu (Tony Leung, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE), who happens to be married to Xiao Qiao (Chiling Lin, Chinese model), the woman Cao Cao has desired ever since their one and only meeting as children.
Zhou Yu and Kongming not only develop a bond through their understanding of warfare, but also their love of music. Before tackling the enormous odds of defending the Wu Kingdom's Red Cliffs from Cao Cao, they have to find a way to unite the various leaders of the forces. Zhang Fei (Zang Jingsheng), with his classic wild beard that looks like a static-charged lion's mane, is a brute warrior, who is blindly loyal to his brother Liu Bei. Zhao Yun (Jun Hu, INFERNAL AFFAIRS II) is the heroic general that saves Liu Bei's child. Zhou Yu's general Gan Xing (Shido Nakamura, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA) is a taskmaster to his troupes and isn't afraid of death. Sun Shangxiang (Wei Zhao, SHAOLIN SOCCER) is a brave female warrior who plays a crucial roles in the battle against Cao Cao.
While all those characters are Chinese legends (the film also has Guan Yu [Ba Sen Zha Bu]), they become types in this version of the story. The beginning of the film has a truncated feel and spends little time establishing many of these characters before throwing us into battle. Names of the characters and their positions flash on the screen and an English narrator fills us in on some of the important backstory, but it is still quite disorienting. It's hard to care about anything that is happening to Liu Bei and his troupes at this point.
But once the film introduces Zhou Yu, it takes on a traditional historical epic feel like BRAVEHEART. While the characters personalities aren't fleshed out, there military stratagem is. When focusing on the gamesmanship between Cao Cao and the team of Zhou Yu and Kongming, the film is at its best. Many of Second Century Chinese war tactics will be new to Western audiences. They truly did have an art for war. From innovative uses of shields to complex troupe formations to their understanding of how natural phenomena can be used against their opponent, the film captures these elements fascinatingly.
But from time to time, John Woo acts like John Woo. While there is a tradition of turning historical figures into superheroes in Chinese cinema, this film doesn't seem like it's trying to be ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA. Fancy fight choreography often undermines some of the historically detailed battle sequences. Catching arrows and making giant leaps are like Mel Gibson's William Wallace doing a triple flip before beheading a soldier. The tone of these flourishes in style does not mesh with the historical epic. However, they come only in a few waves at the beginning, middle and very end. The very end is quite disappointing because it makes what was building up to be a powerful ending into a typical drama fest. But because by this point we do care about the good guys and hate the bad guy, a little poetic exuberance doesn't ruin our appreciation totally.
When RED CLIFF is focused on history, the story sails. Woo has put together a wonderful cast of Asian stars. Leung brings a powerful calm to Zhou Yu. Kaneshiro gives Kongming a curious mix of wisdom and childlike mischief. When Woo goes into action movie mode though, the film falters. He even finds a way to work in a dramatic scene with a white dove, a trademark of his. So if you shut off your brain for the quarter of the film that wants to be a kung fu fantasy then you'll enjoy it. With so many films these days asking the audience to turn their brains off for the whole film that's not so bad.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
