Red Cliff

Amazingly it’s 20 years now since John Woo was wowing Eastern audiences (and, when we eventually got them over here, Western audiences as well) with his hyper-kinetic and stylised shoot em ups. After a few half decent US films, the quality and quantity of his output declined pretty quickly. For his new film Woo has returned to Asia, and though it’s nothing like a return to peak form, it’s definitely a step in right direction. First of all, when I say “film”, I mean that this review is of the Europe/US release. Within Asia Red Cliff was released in two parts, with a total four hours plus running time. Over here we get a condensed version of the two films, with a 2 hour 30 minute running time. The film itself its set during the end of the Han Dynasty and is based on the Battle of the Red Cliffs (see internet for further details!). As this is an epic (of sorts) I’d be here for hours if I was to explain the storyline further. Also, whether what’s being portrayed is historically accurate or not is an argument for another time. What we do have, at least in this version, is a war film. Generals, arrow-fodder, spies, battles, boats, horses, blood, swords, even the weather. It’s all thrown into the mix. The overall result is enjoyable with Woo’s approach giving a fresh feeling to a number of battle scenes. In addition, at times, Woo stretches into the realms of fantasy fighting and just about pulls it off. The downside of these battle scenes though is the overuse of CGI to once again show off scale. Scale is impressive when you’re watching real actors / extras (Ghandi, Lawrence etc). Not so impressive when you know you’re watching an image rustled up on a computer somewhere. On a side issue here there has been some controversy regarding the welfare of the horses used in the film (It’s already been well documented that a stuntman was sadly killed during filming). There are a lot of scenes of horses being “tripped” in the film, with some reports stating that a number of horses were injured. I had a look on the BBFC website for their opinion and they state “During the battle scenes, some horses are shown falling awkwardly. With one exception, which has been cut from the film, the BBFC is satisfied with the company's reassurances that no horses were injured and that various provisions were made to ensure their safety during the making of the film”. Make of that what you will.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Hard to give a definitive review, particularly in terms of the acting and screenplay, due to the two films being filed down. However, Woo directs with a flourish and some original battle sequences mean that cinema seat shouldn’t chafe too much during the lengthy running time. Rating: 6/10