Red Cliff 赤壁

Woo’s supporting cast provides a lively backdrop to the furrowed brows of military scheming. Some, like Lin Chi-ling, are merely cinematic window-dressing while others, Liu Bei’s brothers-in-arms in particular, evoke a sense of martial heroism that is trademark Woo.

His themes of fraternal brotherhood from his celebrated earlier works (A Better Tomorrow, Hard-Boiled) shine in the context of warring ancient China; Woo manages to convey the age-old sentiments of chivalry and loyalty without appearing melodramatic, and the result is an emotionally-sweeping sense of brotherhood-in-battle bravado. Ba Sen Zha Bu delivers a particularly sharp performance as the fierce and legendary warrior, Guan Yu.

With a cost exceeding US$80 million, one would expect Woo’s epic to have the rich polish of any big-budget production, but curiously, the film lacks an engaging aesthetic. “Red Cliff” has none of the colourfully-saturated imagery of Zhang Yi-mou’s “Hero,” nor the gritty bleak look of Peter Chan’s “The Warlords.” With the exception of the battle scenes, parts of “Red Cliff” even come out looking a little bland.

Most jarringly, Woo has chosen to employ some rather peculiar visual tropes, at times using wipes to transition between scenes, or quick tracking close-ups reminiscent of old kung fu films. It’s as if, not being able to cinematically date the film back to 200 AD, Woo has settled for circa 1982.

Despite this, Woo has the advantage of one of the most entertaining and engrossing stories in Chinese history at his disposal. The Battle of Red Cliff is a dramatic tale of strategy and wit, and the film serves to fill in the complicated imaginary spaces of the book with vivid, awe-invoking visuals, harrowing battle sequences and stunning scenes of scale. The individual heroics of the characters in battle are depicted with clever and acrobatic choreography, and Woo makes military strategy look aesthetically breath-taking, especially in the film’s big battle finale.

So, though Woo can be accused of throwing all his eggs in one basket, it’s a pretty sturdy basket, and miraculously, it holds. Woo’s ambitious epic ultimately prevails as a vivid and engaging big-screen spectacle of one of China’s most compelling stories.

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