Red Cliff, which also known as The Battle of Red Cliff, is a John Woo’s film based on the Three Kingdoms starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Zhao Wei and Lin Chi-Ling.
SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The movie begins with a scene in the Imperial Court of the Han Dynasty in AD 208 where the Prime Minister Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) requests Emperor Xian’s permission to start a war against the warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan in southern China, whom he perceived to be rebels against the Han Dynasty. He manages to get the Emperor to issue a decree for permission to launch an attack against Liu Bei who has fled southwards and Sun Quan.
Cao Cao’s strong forces of army easily conquers the southern lands while Liu Bei has abandoned the city of Xinye and is leading his army and the civilians. Unfortunately, Cao Cao’s calvary manages to catch up with Liu Bei (You Yong) and the great battle of Changban ensues. Zhang Fei, sworn brother of Liu Bei, has personally led a small group of soldiers armed with reflective shields to hold off the enemy in order to buy time for the civilians to escape. As the enemy soldiers approached, Zhang’s troops used their shields to reflect sunlight into the eyes of the enemy’s horses, creating chaos and seizing the opportunity to strike back.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yun (Hu Jun) desperately searches for Liu Bei’s wives and son, whom were separated amidst the chaos. Zhao Yun found Lady Mi, who was desperately trying to protect the infant Liu Shan from being captured by enemy soldiers. She was severely wounded and committed suicide by jumping into a well after entrusting Liu Shan to Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun manages to bring Liu Shan back to Liu Bei after fighting off many soldiers.
At the same time, Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro), Liu Bei’s chief advisor, managed to bring Guan Yu, sworn brother of Liu Bei, to assist Zhang Fei. Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu bravely held off the enemy until the last group of civilians has evacuated. Guan Yu stayed on alone to hold off the enemy and was surrounded by several enemy soldiers. In his last attempt, he throws his halberd towards Cao Cao, barely missing the latter by an inch. Later, Cao Cao decides to let Guan Yu off, saying that Guan Yu could have killed him earlier but decided to spare him.
After the battle at Changban, Zhuge Liang set forth for Wu on a diplomatic mission to negotiate for an alliance between Liu Bei and Sun Quan (Chang Chen). Sun Quan was in the midst of a dilemma, unsure whether to oppose Cao Cao or surrender. While, his advisers have been desperately trying to persuade him to surrender, his military officers, on the other hand are advocating war. Zhuge Liang urges Sun Quan to form the alliance with Liu Bei against Cao Cao, but Sun Quan replies that he needed more time to think about it. Lu Su then brings Zhuge Liang to meet Wu’s great viceroy and chief commander of Wu’s army Zhou Yu (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai).
Although the discussion with Zhou Yu about war is brief, both of them manage to express their thoughts through music. Zhou Yu’s music shows that he wants to start a war while Zhuge Liang’s music indicates that he needs a friend.
Meanwhile in Cao Cao’s camp, he has recruited two new generals named Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, both of whom were surrendered generals and well-versed in naval warfare. Cao Cao finally expresses his desire to possess the beautiful Xiao Qiao (Lin Chi-Ling), the wife of Viceroy Zhou Yu. After having much thoughts, Sun Quan has finally made up his mind to form an alliance with Liu Bei and declare war against Cao Cao.
The alliance of Sun Quan and Liu Bei has managed to defeat Cao Cao’s army in the first battle after Sun Shangxiang (Zhao Wei) manages to lure Cao Cao’s army into Zhuge Liang’s "Ba Gua" (the Eight Stratagems Formation). While Cao Cao has learnt of the defeat, he shows no disappointment at all. At the same time, the allied forces are celebrating their victory.
Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang has another discussion on the new plan to combat Cao Cao’s forces. Zhou Yu stated that Cao Cao’s next move was still unclear although they have scored a victory against Cao Cao’s vanguard army. Zhou Yu then says to Zhuge Liang that he has hoped they would not become enemies in the future, and if that is so, they would each serve their respective lords. Zhuge Liang then send a pigeon to scout Cao Cao’s army and discover the enemy’s formation. The film ends with Zhou Yu lighting his minatured-sized ships on a map based on the battle formation with a torch.
The film continues in the second episode which is slated to release in January 2009, which will make the entire sage at least four hours long. The movie will be shortened to a total of 2 and a half hour for showing outside Asia.
Overall, John Woo manages to weave his magic again on this epic Chinese movie. With brilliant war strategies to the great fighting scenes, Red Cliff is an extraordinary film that really depicts the epic battle of Red Cliff.
My ratings: 7 out of 10.
Popularity: 2%
Like this story? Subscribe to my feed!
Related posts
4 comments ↓
This film looks interesting. I didn’t read all the way down to to the spoilers, but I plan to pick this one up. Thanks.
@trench: Unfortunately, it will only be released outside Asia in January next year after they merge both the first and second films.
[...] movie. The film continues from where it left and shows flashes of important occurrences from the first Red Cliff movie (shown in July [...]
I’ve been watching this movie, part 1 and part 2. Recomended for someone who love chinese history.
Leave a Comment