Red Cliff

Year: 2009

Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, War

Directed by: John Woo

Written by: Kuo Cheng, Sheng Heyu

Starring: Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Chang Chen, Zhao Wei, Hu Jun

Company: Magnet Releasing (Magnolia Pictures) | Runtime: 148 minutes | Red Cliff on IMDB

Red Cliff opens as power hungry Prime Minister-turned-General Cao Cao seeks permission from the Han dynasty Emperor to organize a southward-bound mission designed to crush the two troublesome warlords who stand in his way, Liu Bei and Sun Quan. As the expedition gets underway, Cao Cao's troops rain destruction on Liu Bei's army, forcing him into retreat. Liu Bei's military strategist Zhuge Liang knows that the rebels only hope for survival is to form an alliance with rival warlord Sun Quan, and reaches out to Sun Quans trusted advisor, war hero Zhou Yu. Vastly outnumbered by Cao Caos brutal, fast-approaching army, the warlords band together to mount a heroic campaign unrivaled in history that changes the face of China forever. A massive hit in Asia and the most expensive Asian film production of all time, Red Cliff is a breathtaking war epic that marks the triumphant return of John Woo. (Magnolia Pictures)

Red Cliff trailer

Scott Foundas

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Red Cliff exudes a physical grandiosity that few movies of the past 20 years have attempted--no matter that Woo, even at his best, is still more at ease with down-and-dirty action than epic pageantry.

Wesley Morris

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Even at 148 minutes (and viewed twice!), you still feel as if youre watching the longest coming attraction ever for a John Woo movie.

Roger J

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Over exaggerated martial art. didn't stick to the history as we know from costume to item.

TDKinDallas

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Major disappointment after waiting for so long for it to come to Dallas! I still recommend seeing it, but it is really only for people who enjoy HK movies. I was expecting a new type of movie by Woo combining the techniques he learned in the US with his HK style. Another notch up in movie making like when he came to the US. Instead, it is as if he changed to someone else HK style devoid of his usual kinetic energy. There was not one moment in this movie that said "John Woo" has been here to me. For a HK movie it is pretty friggin' incredible and I have to admit that my score, instead of being weighted a little higher because it is a HK movie, is weighted a little lower because of my disappointment in the new Woo. Have a Merry Christmas!

Andrew O'Hehir

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It's a movie on the Hollywood scale that has so much of the Asian spirit. It has drawn the Asian audience back to the movie theater.

Marc Savlov

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You may have the biggest flat-screen DLP monitor in the city, but Red Cliff will never look half as spectacular as it will on the big and I mean really big screen.

David Edelstein

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Any war picture in which the heroine stalls the villain with a quiet, painstaking tea ceremony until the wind shifts direction and the good guys can firebomb the bad guys into oblivion is too ineffably Zen not to love.

Amy Biancolli

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Anyone who enjoys stylized hyper-violence should be enthralled by this long, sweeping, murderously vivid dramatization of ancient Chinese warfare, circa A.D. 208.

Ian Nathan

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Camp, over-the-top and entirely unbelievable: in short, the best thing John Woo has made in years.

Kenneth Turan

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Returning to his roots after a stint in Hollywood, Woo has made the most expensive film in mainland Chinese history, a pleasantly traditional picture that marks a new direction for one of the world's premier action maestros.

Lisa Schwarzbaum

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The spectacular battle scenes are the engorged heart of the delirious adventure. But Woo also gets maximum romantic value from Tony Leung as a war hero married to Chiling Lin as the tea-pouring beauty.

Mike Hale

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While handsome and intelligent and perfectly easy to sit through, never really approaches the visceral tug of Mr. Woos Hong Kong hits.

Joshua Rothkopf

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For all his brilliance with choreography, Woo is flummoxed by the thousands of actual human extras, though theres no denying his commitment to the finer points of battle tactics (yawn).

Joe Williams

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We are reminded: War is hell. But at their best, war movies can be cool and beautiful.

Shawn Levy

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Woo's hand is sure and his eye, as ever, finds beauty in everything, even death.

Derek Elley

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Balances character, grit, spectacle and visceral action in a meaty, dramatically satisfying pie that delivers on the hype and will surprise many who felt the Hong Kong helmer progressively lost his mojo during his long years stateside.

Maggie Lee

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A prelude that provides the beams and columns for the narrative framework, but with a few decisive and spot-on action spectacles, it sufficiently kindles expectations for the climactic clash in Part 2.

Scott Tobias

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The film is both traditional and modern: austere in its engagement with history, and insistent in its showy action beats.

Joe Neumaier

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Overlong but ambitious, Woo proves he's as good at tactical maneuvers as he is at close-quarters combat.

Stephen Cole

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As expected, it has gaping holes where back stories used to be. Still, it's a historical war movie with impressive sweep, strong characterizations and the kind of idiosyncratic flourishes that made Woo such an irresistible storyteller.

V.A. Musetto

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A scrumptious war movie.

Linda C

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Bravo John Woo, cast and crew! War can never be made beautiful, romantic though many government and its leaders try to. However, the experience that human beings can have despite war can be beautiful, romantic; John, cast and crew achieve that in a mesmerizing way.

John Anderson

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Red Cliff is a dichotomous beast: The computer-generated imagery that makes so much of it possible is served up in heaping, state-of-the-art portions, but the results occasionally border on the cartoonish. At the same time, Red Cliff is a classic tale that gets a classicist's treatment.

Steven Rea

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This is magnificent filmmaking, and a magnificent film.

Joe Morgenstern

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The immensity encompasses such variety, subtlety and intimacy that you may find yourself yearning for more.