Red Cliff

Decent, but forgettable epic tackling a complicated and intricate period of Chinese history. I was pretty impressed with the display of ancient Chinese military tactics. I can honestly say for once in my life that devoting hundreds of hours to nearly ten different Dynasty Warriors games finally paid off. I wouldn't have understood anything that was going on without those games.

I rate both parts as one, because it's really just one movie cut in two. This is one of the best war movies ever. The beginning is not exactly gripping and I felt disappointed, but this feeling didn't last long as the movie picked up and offered a brilliant experience. Extremely high production values and sooooo beautiful soundtrack make this one shine. And if you're a fan of the Three Kingdoms era, this is a must.

I didn't get to see the full 4 hour one, I didn't know it existed until after I saw this but at 2 and a half hours it seemed fine. I think it dragged in some places actually, so adding more time probably wouldn't have helped that. But there were some great battle scenes even though a couple parts made me roll my eyes. Still... Dynasty Warriors. Could have used more (or any) Lu Bu.

Absolutely fantastic. As far as epic movies go this is as good as it gets. Very character driven, the action scenes are exhausting and the acting is top class. Thankfully the plot's not too complicated to follow, as John Woo's direction guides you al...(read more) ong nicely. Can't wait for part two

Reviewing both parts as one movie. High production values pay off as this war epic looks fantastic. Choreographed fight/battle scenes were well done and not totally unbelievable like they are in a lot of other Asian films. Never dull and always entertaining. John Woo has made a return to form. Tortoise formation kicks ass.

There is an idiom in my language which roughly translates as : "I would rather be a thorn on the mountain of freedom, than being a rose on the mountain of enslavement". I am glad Woo finally returned to his homeland, I wasn't expecting anything worthwhile from him again.

While the beginning falters, the rest of the film picks up awesome (ludicrous?!) speed. Honestly, it felt like watching the new Star Wars (Kurosawa wipes, Kaneshiro playing Obi Wan), only MUCH better. There is genuine awe, danger, and ingenuity in the "war" battle choreography, although seeing every single thing 6 times in slow-mo is irritating at times.

If you are one of those viewers, who got a rash by to much pathos, stay far away from Woo's Movie, cause Red Cliff is full of it with each passing Minute. Apart from this Woo created a brute and epic Movie about the day of the decisive battle in the Ming Dynasty.The battle scenes are very impressive and the Movie gets better and better 'til the final attack by sun quan and liu bei.

While I can appreciate the visuals and the tactics behind some of the war scenes, it is all too exaggerated and lengthy. Fight scenes start to get boring if they last for too long...

amazing, epic, great, brilliant, its everything last samurai, braveheart or that movies always wanted to be

Dynasty warriors without having to mash the buttons and listen to hectic guitars. A touch above the other historical military epics -Gladiator, Braveheart et.

A massive historical war epic that somehow feels more vast than I expected even a cast of 2000 to allow. It's got a certain mass choreography that you don't see every day, but the battles themselves tend to pull in close and become indistinguishable; after 5 hours we've seen a lot of horses falling over and heroes surrounded by spearmen. Woo takes his time getting there too; every scene feels like he just relaxed and let it run, giving everyone a chance to do their thing. (continued in Part II)

Big surprise, the guy who's a sucker for the old Asian "dynastic" aesthetic loved a movie about an epic Chinese battle. All I can say really is, Zhou Yu is a mafuckin strategist extraordinaire! I'm really hyped to see the full four-hour version, but at the same time, I'm so glad they cut it down for the North American audience; I'd agree with the notion that this audience wouldn't be able to handle the full thing. Battle choreography was just unreal. But, as Obby noted - a serious lack of Lu Bu.

Not as good as Gone With the Wind

Phenomenal wars in field

John Woo, it is good to have you back. Young whippersnappers may be surprised to know that Woo was once regarded as the world's premier action director. Red Cliff is a fine return to form, and an engrossing epic-scaled spectacle.

Would rank this much higher if I could tell one Chinaman from another. I had a hard time keeping the characters straight. Still, a fantastic telling of this legendary event in history, with some great action sequences and fantastic performances on an epic scale. Made even better if you've played one of the million Dynasty Warrior games. This is the Chinese Braveheart. The Asian Lord of the Rings. An amazing epic, well worth watching in it's entirety.

Reviewing both parts as one film. Very high production value and really nice emphasis on tactics. The plot is predictable, but the tactics on the battlefield are not. Weak, hammy dialog and some overlong scenes drag the run time to a total way longer than it should have been, but the battles are so well done that it doesn't really matter that much. Far better than most Asian war movies, very glad they didn't give anyone the unexplained ability to fly.

As a huge fan of the Dynasty Warriors game, I absolutely loved this. It totally validates the experience of those games, and as a result John Woo has unknowingly made the best video game movie ever. The cinematography, art direction, and action sequences are all fantastic. Even at 5 hours, it moved along quickly and was exciting all throughout. It's a great movie.

merits but mind numbingly slow

I watched the theatrical version. The performances are solid (Kaneshiro is particularly good), but you can tell more attention was paid to choreography and production values (like what has to be Woo's longest dove scene) than anything else.

Two and a half hours seem more than too much, although any complaints about the mess of it, the incoherent jumble, might invite a challenge from its partisans to sit through the unabridged version before rendering judgment.

John Woo's massive Chinese war and warlord movie has plenty of action -- maybe too much -- but what it lacks is grandeur a la Shaolin. Still, it doesn't sprawl or meander much and there are a number of indelible characters and some impressive fight scenes. I particularly enjoyed the final act. This rating is for both Part 1 and II.

Good, enjoyable, but not the epic movie they tried to make it out to be. Hopefully the second half picks this film up.

turns out John Woo can actually build a masterful drama epic!! and not ONE exploding motorcycle in the whole thing!

A little too melodramatic for me, but the set pieces were nice and some of the shots really are breathtaking. Also, apparently they based it less off of Three Kingdoms, and more off the tales/documents from ~600s (AD), I believe.

The land battle against the cavalry in the first part of this movie is so ridiculous. I think the general unit is overpowered; those guys make Boromir, Aragorn and Legolas look like pussies. However, the rest of the movie is fairly compelling.

I haven't seen the edited Western version but both of the original movies are fantastic. The set design is spot on, the characters look great and an epic plot is conveyed within a short period of time. Some of the CGI is poor but it's still remarkable to watch. Zhuge Liang is cunning, Cao Cao is a great villain, and the Wu characters are certainly interesting. The battles speak for themselves. If I hadn't known much about Romance Of The Three Kingdoms then I'm not sure if I'd enjoy it as much.

The American version is obviously a bit choppy, but the action scenes are spectacular in scope....shame about that terrible cgi though.

For a movie with a lot of cool military strategy, it's rather sluggish. Visually just OK.

Zelo zabaven, domiselen film. Škoda za tipične kitajske nadrealistične fight sekvence. Tudi zelo dobri dialogi.

Has merits but mind numbingly slow

This is an odd movie where the pay off is a lot more satisfying than the build up. The film is padded out with a lot of boring drama and at times ham-fisted writing. However, the use of visuals is fantastic and conveys scale in clever ways. The fight scenes are also excellently paced and exciting, even if at times they can be completely stupid like with the sunlight strategy. I could do with less of the quick cuts and shaky camera work, but otherwise this is a solid action flick.

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I saw this one not because I wanted to but because I was forced to. I'm not a fan of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and I do not enjoy war films in general, so I was able to fall asleep pretty fast and have a good nap time. Not going to see it again.

81.500

This is for the cut down Western world version

The good old epic movie, fast paced and funny.

- 3/1/12

Fatuous

[This is for the international two-part version]

"The film's shortcomings have less to do with Woo's orchestration of his ambitious tale and more to do with the Frankenstein hatchet job enacted against it." - Nick Schager

19/10/2011

81.500