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Red Cliff

Red Cliff

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Summary

Historical action drama from director John Woo, starring Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro. China, AD 208: under threat from Emperor Han's ruthless warlord Cao Cao, the rulers of Xu and East Wu are forced into an alliance. But with an army of a million men against them, the allies will need more than force of arms alone to survive.

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IMDB

Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Trevor Johnston

As his Hollywood career has waned since the lukewarm response to Paycheck in 2003, director John Woo has looked east to resurrect his fortunes. However, his first project to be shot in mainland China is no modest retrenchment. This lavish spectacular re-creates a famous battle of the Han era (208 AD, to be precise), when the clash of three great armies was to shape the course of Chinese history. The scenes of massed warriors and thickets of flying arrows may feel overly familiar in the wake of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it's hard not to be impressed by Woo's blend of widescreen pageantry and up-close martial arts skills. However, while the action on land and sea remains engrossing, it does rather marginalise a strong cast that includes Tony Leung and charismatic co-star Takeshi Kaneshiro. It's undeniably a long haul, but there's enough derring-do and epic sweep here to carry the audience along regardless.

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7.3/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameZhou YuTony Leung (2)Kongming, "Zhuge Liang"Takeshi KaneshiroPrime Minister Cao CaoZhang Fengyi Sun QuanChang Chen Sun Shang XiangZhao Wei Zhao YunHu Jun Gan XingShidou Nakamura

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Crew

rolenameDirectorJohn Woo

Details

Theatrical distributor

Entertainment

Released on

2009-06-12

Languages

Chinese

Guidance

Violence.

Available on

DVD and Blu-ray

Formats

Colour

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