Red Cliff
Legendary director John Woo (A Better Tomorrow, The Killer) returns to Asia after fifteen years in Hollywood with Red Cliff, his adaptation of the Chinese classic, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Woo’s epic is much more faithful and grand than the recent Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon, but the director still puts his own personal stamp on the material, concentrating on his human heroes, their personal relationships, and above all the brotherhood they forge in the heat of battle. The first of two films chronicling the legendary battle, Red Cliff is without doubt the Chinese film event of the year.
In Red Cliff 1:
208 A.D., The Battle of Chang Ban. Liu Bei (You Yong) and his followers narrowly escape the armies of Prime Minister Cao Cao (Zhang Feng Yi), but Cao Cao’s lust for power continues to grow. Fearing that Liu Bei and the Kingdom of Shu cannot oppose Cao Cao, strategist Zhuge Liang (Kaneshiro Takeshi) proposes an alliance with the Kingdom of Wu. However, Wu ruler Sun Quan (Chang Chen) is uncertain on challenging Cao Cao. Zhuge Liang instead looks to persuade Sun Quan’s chief strategist Zhou Yu (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), and discovers in Zhou a kindred spirit versed in the arts as well as battle. The two men form an instant bond, and decide to battle Cao Cao at the water port of Red Cliff. Their alliance comes not a moment too soon, as Cao Cao approaches with an army that vastly outnumbers the combined Wu and Shu forces. But Zhuge Liang has a plan -- one that will hopefully enable the smaller force to emerge victorious.
The battle takes place in Red Cliff 2:
Picking up where the first film left off, Red Cliff 2 finds Wu princess Sun Shang Xiang (Vicki Zhao) behind enemy lines. As she plays spy for Shu strategist Zhuge Liang (Kaneshiro Takeshi), Sun Shang Xiang strikes up an inadvertent friendship with an unknowing enemy (Tong Da Wei). Beset by typhoid, Liu Bei (You Yong) and the Shu forces retreat, leaving only Zhuge Liang to aid the remaining forces of Wu. Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) resort to subterfuge and cunning mindgames, seeking any advantage against the increasingly overconfident Cao Cao (Zhang Feng Yi). However, their forces are still vastly outnumbered by Cao Cao’s, and with the battle fast approaching, victory seems far from assured. In the end, their only hope may by an unexpected plan launched by Zhou Yu’s wife, the beautiful Xiao Qiao (Lin Chi Ling), as well as a surprising change in the wind…
Red Cliff 1 Battle of the 8 Trigram Formation: Zhuge Liang’s plan to entice Cao Cao’s advance guard to chase some skirmishers, and then trap them in a battlefield maze and destroy them.
Part 1 of video:
Part 2 of video:
