Red Cliff

Just finished watching Red Cliff. I think it's quite a while since I really enjoyed a John Woo film but I did quite like this one. That's probably a lot to do with the fact that it doesn't really feel like one of his films. I suppose bullet ballet and tales of gangland loyalty and betrayal don't fit in the historical epic so well.

The film is based on the ancient Chinese epic the Romance Of The Three Kingdoms which, combined with the many long battle sequences make it seem less like a serious historical drama and more like Dynasty Warriors: The Movie. Sequences that may seem silly to some gained a whole new level of charm for me as they seemed lifted straight out of the games. A lone general charging into the centre of a battle and turning the tide is after all the essence of that series. No I'm not exactly familiar with the original book but all the big names from the game are there, even the annoying girl with the bow.

Ever since Crouching Tiger beautiful looking epics like this seem to be coming out of China pretty regularly these days and this one certainly belongs in the group. A much higher standard of CGI then I've seen in a HK film before.

So anyway, I liked it. Looking forward to the next part of the story (a rather sudden ending and cliffhanger to this one).