She Said—He Said: Dueling Film Critics Review: “Red Cliff”
Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 11:09AM 
Models. Photos.com.She Said: ******* 7 out of 10
He Said: ********** 10 out of 10
SHE SAID: Epic, yes, but this is purely an epic martial-arts film, with spectacular fight scenes and special effects, and not much thought to the character development. This is John Woo at his best, but…
Is it asking for too much to have at least the most basic character development? Sure, if you get past the horrible narrated introduction, then past the set up for the evil warlord Cao Cao—played by Zhang Fengyi—you’ll find some underdeveloped by nicely done relationship growth, especially when you later discover evil tyrant Cao Cao is going to war for Xiao Qiao (played by Chiling Lin).
In some ways, the movie is stolen by the quiet and laid back master strategist Zhuge Liang, masterfully acted by superstar Takeshi Kaneshiro, and Chiling Lin who plays the “Helen of Troy” character of Xiao Qiao, and that despite the fact they don’t have a relationship. Xiao Qiao is married to Zhou Yu—played by Tony Leung (sexy as always, even in his graceful aging)—and motivation for war for Cao Cao, but Chiling Lin plays her character with similar quiet intensity as Kanishiro’s role in Zhuge Liang.
Putting aside nitpicks with the plot and story—after all, this is a famous and ancient tale told and retold in China of a legendary war in 208 A.D.—John Woo does a wonderful job engaging us in an epic, if simple, tale, and makes these “bigger than life” characters believable somehow. If I was more into war and martial arts, I’d probably have given this a solid eight or nine stars. And the scenery and cinematography are stunning.
HE SAID: Oh come on! This is the best of the best martial arts epics of the year, probably the last ten years. On an $80 million dollar budget, Woo accomplished what Hollywood could never dream of for four times that amount.
This isn’t a love story, even though there’s a near-mythical undertone of passion. True, it’s a “legendary” history of ancient China, that may make it somewhat harder to relate to in North America. But, as a martial arts film, it’s beyond cool. It might not measure up to pure martial arts aficionados who admire “real” feats of physical skill (thinking of Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Tony Jaa and other favorites), but it’s the best legendary kung fu epic in many years, complete with special effects, stunning battle scenes, “lightness kung fu” that borders on fantasy, and feats of chi that are more for the immortals than man. Think a very cool blend of “Lord of the Rings” with “Ong Bak.”
Let’s not muddy this review with irrelevancies. This film is a John Woo film, and is not expected to have a complex plot or rich character development. It’s the coming together of passionate characters who are legendary, spectacular special effects and physicality in the non-stop martial arts. I have to rate this as John Woo’s best film and the best legendary martial arts film in the last decade.
NOTE: This review is based on the Chinese version with subtitles: the entire five hours of film (in China, the film was released in two films of 2.5 hours each. In limited theatrical release in America, the five hours is cut down to a readers-digest version half that length.
Rating—R
Director—John Woo
Producer(s)—Terrence Chang, John Woo
Screenwriter(s)—John Woo, Khan Chan, Kuo Cheng, Sheng Heyu
Cast—Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung, Chiling Lin, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Zhao Wei, Hu Jun, Shidou Nakamura
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