Red Cliff (2009)

After spending the better part of the past two decades making Hollywood thrillers such as Broken Arrow, Face/Off, and Hostage, Chinese director John Woo has returned to his native land to create Red Cliff. This epic tale, condensed to a single film of nearly two and a half hours from its original two-part release in China, is a well-crafted and intriguing war movie.

Based on a widely popular Chinese novel, Red Cliff is set in the year 208 A.D. The Han dynasty rules the empire by name, but the Emperor’s real power lies in the hands of Prime Minister Cao Cao (Fengyi Zhang), who has ruthlessly subjugated the Northern areas into peace after years of civil war. Cao Cao still faces resistance from two warlords: the aging Liu Bei (Yong You) to the West, and the young but inexperienced Sun Quan (Chen Chang) governing the Southlands.

Just as the Emperor has his Prime Minister, a supposed underling, calling the shots, so does each of the rebellious warlords. After Liu Bei suffers defeat while trying to protect refugees fleeing from Cao Cao’s attacks, he sends his chief strategist Yongming (Takeshi Kaneshiro) south to try and arrange an alliance with Sun Quan. But Yongming knows that to do so, he must win over not only the warlord but also his viceroy Zhou Yu (Tony Leung), who is camped with his forces at a riverside fortress known as Red Cliff. These two men share a talent for music — illustrated in a wonderful scene where they duet on stringed instruments almost like two dueling guitarists — and a propensity for brilliant strategy on the battlefield. Together, they craft a series of clever attacks and defenses that give their forces advantages against the overwhelming numbers of their mutual enemy. They also receive valuable assistance from two women: Sun Quan’s sister Shang Xiang (Wei Zhao), who leads a diversionary attack that draws the enemy into a trap and then later infiltrates the enemy’s camp as a spy; and Zhou Yu’s legendarily beautiful wife Xiao Qiao (newcomer Chiling Lin), who is coveted as a war trophy by the Prime Minister and plays a significant role in his downfall.

In crafting this version for English-speaking audiences, director Woo has added narration at the beginning and captions identifying the main characters, which are helpful to some extent, especially in setting up the exposition more quickly. As the film progresses, however, the main characters, though well-acted by all, tend to remain shallow and nearly caricatures, rather than deeply detailed people we can relate to or empathize with. Perhaps much of the character development fell by the wayside while editing the epic down to a single film. Fortunately, it isn’t a terribly significant flaw, as Red Cliff focuses more on the war than the warriors.

The battle scenes are where the film really stands out. One thing I’ve always liked about the great war movie Patton is how the lead character — himself a brilliant strategist — frequently expresses his admiration for the strategies and tactics of the Romans, the Carthaginians, and other ancient cultures. Some of these were later depicted in Gladiator and the HBO series Rome. Here, we get to witness the equally formidable battle techniques and deceptive, deadly tactics of another ancient culture, and the results are as spectacular as they are bloody.

An impressive sequence midway through the film demonstrates a well-choreographed and devastatingly effective battle plan known as the “tortoise formation.” In fact, this movie gave me a better appreciation of the warrior’s shield, as its versatility is prominently displayed not just in this formation but in many ways and scenes throughout. Yongming also leads a clever, stealthy “attack” with a small flotilla of straw-covered boats that results in a disadvantage to Cao Cao’s vastly superior navy, which they don’t realize until it’s far too late.

Sun Tzu’s famous work The Art Of War is quoted within the screenplay, and its tenets are observed and studied throughout. And, as one might expect from Chinese and Asian cultures in general, there are numerous allusions to nature and natural forces such as wind, thunder, and fire.

For instance, Yongming uses a single blade of grass, compared to many blades held together, to illustrate the need for an alliance against oppression. What surprised me was how these natural forces — sunlight, dust, fog, wind, fire, and water — weren’t merely fodder for allusional dialogue, but vitally significant factors actively employed by these warriors in their battle strategies.

Woo’s penchant for bloody, in-your-face violence is frequently on display, though not quite as luridly depicted as some Hollywood fare. Despite some attention-grabbing showboating like following spears and arrows in extreme close-up as they fly toward their targets, there are some impressive visual effects shots that successfully blur the line between what’s really on the screen and what’s manufactured by CGI.

And, of course, Woo has a sequel already in the works. Perhaps the characters will have more dimension in future installments. At least with its no-nonsense story and thrilling war sequences, Red Cliff gives the series a rousing start.