Blue Munchkin

Movie review: Red Cliff (Chibi, 2008).

Synopsis:
Prime Minister Cao Cao (Zhang Feng Yi) sees Liu Bei and Sun Quan as a possible treat to the Han Dynasty, 208 AD. He requests for the Emperor's permission to tackle this problem and fight against the two warlords. After hesitating, Cao Cao convinces the Emperor by reminding the Emperor of his previous contributions and he is granted permission to lead the Imperial Army. Cao Cao soon sets out to fight against Liu Bei (You Yong), a relative of the Emperor, and Sun Quan.

After leaving Xinye and escaping Cao Cao's armies in a battle, Liu Bei's chief advisor Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) proposes to form an alliance with Sun Quan. Zhuge Liang isn't the only one who thinks of an alliance. In the meantime Cao Cao's advisors are concerned and mention a possible alliance between Liu Bei and Sun Quan.

Zhuge Liang's arrival in Wu doesn't seem to help Sun Quan (Chang Chen). In the middle of a dilemma, unsure whether to surrender or not, Liang uses 'clever' words to convince Sun Quan to form an alliance with Liu Bei. But Sun Quan needs more time.
At first Liang doesn't seem to be impressed with Wu's war strategist Zhou Yu (Tony Leung) and even calls him "outdated" at one point. But soon Zhou Yu manages to impress Liang with the way he trains his soldiers.

Together with Zhou Yu and his sister, Sun Quan finally decides to form an alliance with Liu Bei. Both Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu let each other know that they are ready to fight Cao Cao. Clearly knowing that they are outnumbered by Cao Cao's army, can they come up with a plan to defeat Cao Cao?

My thoughts:
In Hollywood he is mainly known for Face/Off, Mission Impossible II and Paycheck. So who doesn't know John Woo? But it's Asia who vaguely remembers Woo and his efforts such as The Killer (1989) that were mainly made for the Asian cinema. After more than a decade, Woo finally returns to Asian cinema with Red Cliff. Based on an historic event in Ancient China, Red Cliff is a big production with Chinese A-listers. The movie got released in July 2008.

Blockbuster Red Cliff has many well-known faces such as Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhao Wei and Chang Chen. The movie also marks Taiwanese supermodel Lin Chi Ling's first role.
Takeshi Kaneshiro plays Zhuge Liang, a famous strategist known for his intelligence. Waving with his feather fan, Kaneshiro tries to portray a clever person. With his gestures Kaneshiro somehow manages to be somewhat believable as Zhuge Liang and yes that charming smile on his face helps. But there is a slight problem with Kaneshiro's age, he looks too young to be convincing as Zhuge Liang. Not a major flaw though.
They tried to make Zhou Yu charming by instantly adding elements such as likeable characteristics and flute music when he showed up. But Tony Leung doesn't really need these elements to make his character work. Introduction to this character Zhou seemed rather rushed, putting all his (favourable) characteristics in a couple of scenes.
Chang Chen usually picks roles that belong in arthouse movies or movies in that direction (Leung and Chang both starred in Wong Kar Wai's 2046). It was nice to hear Chang Chen talking (he didn't say a thing in Breath). Chang this time plays Wu's emperor Sun Quan. Ruler of Wu is uncertain of his own achievements and it seems he isn't good at making decisions. Chen is aware of this by giving us a slightly insecure Sun Quan. Sun Quan's bold sister Sun Shang Xiang, played by Zhao Wei, seems to be the opposite of Sun Quan. Zhao looked a little rough in the movie, like Shang Xiang is supposed to be.
Zhang Feng Yi plays Cao Cao, the villian in the movie. Zhang even made his character somewhat likeable (as a villian of course). His love for Xiao Qiao is made clear at one point in the movie and he almost seemed obessed to me.
Lin Chi Ling's first role ever, she's more known for her supermodel career. While many said she didn't serve a purpose at all and some even called her a incompetent "vase". But her character Xiao Qiao is important to Cao Cao, she's supposed to be the prettiest women and he started the war just to get her. People shouldn't expect too much from Lin Chi Ling and critise her, as a beginner she has room for improvement. Not that bad for a first attempt, I've seen worse from beginning actors and 'experienced' ones.
The performances were likeable. One thing about the cast is that I don't really understand why they put Nakamura Shido as General Gan in Red Cliff. It seemed he had some difficulty saying his text. When he delivered his lines, his face moved in such a way that you don't know if you should focus on the dialogue or his rather overreacted expressions. This is relieving knowing that they didn't pick Ken Watanabe for Cao Cao's character. Don't get me wrong, Watanabe is a good actor, but I don't think he'll suit that role.

The war between Liu Bei, Sun Quan and Cao Cao take place in ancient China, where the battles take place on land. We mainly see the generals interacting with their followers and army in their camps. It's mentioned that Cao Cao's army is big and it indeed looked huge, the many battle ships from Cao Cao looked impressive.
Settings are fitting for this ancient time and not too complicated because unnecessary items were avoided. But this doesn't mean there were no details at all. Details were added here and there throughout the movie (notice the tiny details when the palaces were shown).
Emphasis is put on the characters and events, not on the costumes. Red Cliff takes place in an old period and for this time period everyone seemed to be wearing the right costumes. What I like is that the right shades and colours were used, definitely not too vibrant or rich (unlike in the Curse of the Golden Flower).

Red Cliff is based on the battle of the Red Cliffs, considered to be a huge event. I don't know much of that event, but the battle scenes in Red Cliff look great and impressive. The nice background music had a supporting role, ending theme by Alan suits the movie as well.
Woo never forgets to add pigeons to his movies, no exception this time as he lets Zhuge Liang sending a pigeon to Cao Cao's camp.
The whole story takes place in more than two hours, but this is not the complete picture yet. Yes, there is a second part where the events continue. Not many things happen in Red Cliff to be honest, considering the runtime. Knowing its long runtime and that there is a second part, now the boring-factor is threathing the movie. I admit that some scenes were a little bit boring, but Red Cliff isn't doing bad. We get to see some action and attractive characters.
The characters are likeable and even villian Cao Cao is almost likeable. A little humor is added to the movie with Sun Shang Xiang's actions. But it seems that there is no room for a little character development.

Red Cliff sounds promising: John Woo, the Battle of the Red Cliffs, many famous actors, action and more. After more than ten years, Woo's name already attracts a lot of attention in Asia.
The acting was not outstanding, but likeable in general with some little forgivable flaws. Keeping in mind that all this happen in a particular time period, the settings were nicely done and overall convincing. Just like the costumes they were not too complicated. Due to its long runtime, this piece seems to be getting a little bit boring at certain points. But it's acceptable as many things compensate for this tiny thing. This movie is definitely one of the better movies from Asia that got released in 2008. After the many disappointing movies such as An Empress and The Warriors earlier in 2008, it seems Red Cliff is the winner of 2008. Looking forward to part 2!

Written by Mialee L. aka Sukachu.

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