Red Cliff 2

Genre: Drama, Action
Language: Mandarin
Director: John Woo
Cast: Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Lin Chi-ling
Runtime: 142 min

Official Website: http://yule.sohu.com/s2007/chibi_22/
Trailer URL: http://th.foxmovies.com.tw/redcliff/

Plot:

The continuation of 2008 mega production, Red Cliff, that used the historical record from the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms as a blueprint and events during the end of the Han Dynasty and immediately prior to the period of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China for the movie - Red Cliffs 2.


I watched the Part 1 last July and finally the sequel opened this week. Although I could not manage to get tickets to watch it on the 1st day of release, I still managed to do so on Sunday 11 Jan @ The Grand Cathay afternoon.

I know very little about the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms. All i know is a few infamous characters and thanks to John Woo, I get to know more of them other than Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun & Zhe Ge Liang. Watching such genres tends to be dry and boring due to the ancient way of speaking and usage of words that were hard to understand. However, all these points were overlooked as the actors who portrayed all these heroes overcame these issues with their talented acting skills and interesting dialogues.

Everyone knows that Kong Ming was a knowledgeable man, but John Woo made this teacher a humorous one. Takeshi portrayed this role in a more witty way as based on the story, he was supposed to be much younger than most of the rest.... His analysis often brings out the laughter of the audiences, that lighten the movie's atmosphere.

Another character, Xiao Qiao, wife of Zhou Yu, starring model turns actress Lin Chiling. John Woo used his view to capture the beauty of the legend and Chiling did a passable performance. She tried hard to portray her role, showing support to whatever her husband wished to do, which all ancient Chinese women had to fulfill. For someone new to movie-making, Chiling did a good job.

Also from the movie, we learned that, what we use in the modern days, they were used back in the old days, thanks to the ideas from the crews from creativity team. Arrows as bullets, fish oil in egg shells as bombs, even armors acted as tankers with human legs. People of the old days fought the war with blood and sweat. Unlike now, young boys still worried about serving the military.

Overall, the movie was indeed a true blockbuster of Asia that roped in many talents from production to performing staff especially they comprise crews from the East and West. Although there were many negative reports during the production of the movie, it still makes a big impact to the audiences who are very familiar with the original novel. However, i felt that the length of the movie is too long. Audiences may not be able to engage to the movie after 6 months apart. It is more suitable to be make into drama format so that all the heroes are able to tell their own story... Maybe Mr Woo can consider making a movie solely for Kong Ming or Zhao Yun, on how they grew and become someone people can look up to.

ah-deng says: 4 / 5 - Entertaining, star-struck movie.