RED CLIFF John Woo, Chinese History War Drama DVD

Based on the events during the Three Kingdoms period in Ancient China in which specifically told in the title, The Battle of Red Cliffs.

John Woo (director)

/ Khan Chan, Cheng Kuo, Heyu Sheng, John Woo (screenplay),

Guanzhong Luo (novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”)

CAST:

Chen Chang … Sun Quan
Yong Hou … Lu Su
Jun Hu … Zhao Zilong
Takeshi Kaneshiro … Zhuge Liang
Tony Leung Chiu Wai … Zhou Yu
Wei Zhao … Sun Shangxiang
Chiling Lin … Xiao Qiao
Shido Nakamura … Gan Xing
Jia Song … Li Ji

The year was 208AD, the Prime Minister Cao Cao (Fengyi Zhang) has taken control of Northern China and made the Emperor a puppet ruler. But the south is defiance. Lord Liu Bei (Yong You) tries to fight and has excellent general, but is hopelessly outnumbered by Cao Cao forces. He sets out to make an alliance with two other Southern Lords, the young Sun Quan (Chen Chang) and military expert Zhou Yu (Tony Leung). Liu Bei uses his chief adviser Kongming (Takeshi Kaneshiro) to negotiate with Lords. Even with this new alliance, Cao Cao still outnumbers the 3 Kingdoms with a force of 800,000 troops. Zhou Yu and Kongming sets out the win the coming battle with strategy, expert military tactics, trickery, the weather and spies. Here the two forces set out for the coming battle.

John Woo is an action director and the martial arts and the battles are well handle, if OTT (but that's what John Woo does). He has flair and the fights are bloody. He has fun with the CGI, from the battles to following arrows and doves when they are in flight. He gets to combine both Asian and Hollywood style of film-making. The music as well combine both Asian and Western styles. The film itself feels like the Chinese Lord of the Rings.