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Honor, Betrayal, Sacrifice in Red Cliff II
If you like your epics epic, then look no further
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If you like your epics epic, then look no further.
Red Cliff II picks up where director John Woo left audiences in July last year; in ancient China, with the allied forces of southern warlords pitted against the attacking Imperial army.
The film is the second in the two-part series, which centers on the battle of Red Cliff and the events leading up to it, at the end of the Han Dynasty in third-century China. In Western countries the film is only available as a single two-and-a-half hour version, rather than the two parts, which run at just over four-and-a-half hours in total.
As a result, this second release very much feels like the second in a series rather than a film in its own right, but it serves as a rousing conclusion.
Like with most historical epics, you don't have to go very far for historical inaccuracies. But with many still disputing the exact history of Red Cliff, audiences can still enjoy Woo's theatrical imagination of events.
The director does well to maintain the suspense throughout, highlighting the psychological battle being played out between Zhou Yu and Cao Cao, the leaders of the two warring sides. At over two hours though, it is inevitable you find yourself wishing they'd call a dynasty a dynasty and moves things along a bit.
The film has a dark look to it which sits well with the feel of the story - an ancient struggle imbued with the kind of grand notions that work so well with history. Woo manages to avoid the glitzy look and bloated feeling of the recent batch of Hollywood epics.
The cast is fairly strong, with Chinese actress Vicky Zhao (Zhao Wei) providing lots of spunk as the plucky Sun Shangxiang - in the time-honored plot tradition of having a woman poorly disguise herself as a man, obvious to anyone within a hundred meters looking through a heavy fog with a vision impairment, unless of course they are also in the film.
Famous Taiwanese supermodel Lin Chi Ling also appears, in a not particularly memorable film debut. She mostly poses and serves as another spectacle handed down by Woo for the audience to behold.
Despite their best efforts, the characters are never really able to escape their roles as historical actors, which makes it difficult to find any attachment, but they ably carry the film through to its bloody end.
Woo, who has shown his expert ability to direct explosions, albeit sometimes forgettable (Mission Impossible II), does not disappoint here with an ending battle that would make you think twice about messing with the ancient Chinese. Fire and flying bodies abound in a visceral climax to the film. At some points the action is so blurred that it is hard to tell what exactly is going on, but it doesn't necessarily detract from the experience. The naval battle on the Yangtze is both intricately and disastrously beautiful.
Red Cliff II definitely wears its $80 million budget on its sleeve, like an affront to the international financial crisis, as the most expensive Chinese-language film ever. The costumes, cinematography and art direction are all top-notch and almost worth watching for themselves.
Older audiences will appreciate the film for its historical appeal. The telling of the story reinforces all those themes always embraced so heartily by history and cinema - honor, betrayal, sacrifice. If that's your thing then you'll be rewarded in spades. If not, you might be left thinking of other ways to have spent $80 million, and the better part of two-and-a-half hours.
