Red Cliff 《赤壁》

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Red Cliff 《赤壁》
2008-08-13 9:00PM / 標準BLOG / Asian Movie Review / 會員可以看
13個評論

7/10 Movie: Red Cliff (2008)

Like Mummy 3, I had pretty muted expectations for Red Cliff 《赤壁》. I knew it was going to be long and going to go at a very slow pace, since its the first part of a two parter. And since its based on the 'Three Kingdoms' period of Chinese history and the associated 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' Chinese epic, it would have 900+ characters and a very complicated story....

...and IT WAS ALL THOSE THINGS....

I would recommend before you go see this film that you brush up on your Three Kingdoms... I really only knew the characters of General Guan Yu (because everyone who does wushu knows the Guan Dao) and Zhang Fei (because I visited his tomb when I took a cruise through the three gorges back in 2002 before they finished the dam... here's a REALLY old picture as proof)

So at the start it was a bit confusing figuring out who was who and why some people were battling other people... but eventually the frenetic pace slows down and you can figure out whats going on (mostly). :-P

I won't try too explain the storyline -- its quite complicated... basically the Northern Chinese Army is trying to conquer kingdoms in the southern part of China, and the southern guys have to unite to defend themselves... leading up to a big show down between the armies.

Of course the cast is really all-star... Tony Leung, Kaneshiro Takeshi, Chang Chen, Zhang Fengyi, Zhao Wei, Lin Chi-ling etc. The performances are all pretty good (except Nakamura Shido, is way too obviously a Japanese guy). The sets are nice (and expensive), costumes are nice too of course. the CG is... adequate. :-P

Lin Chi-ling, totally worth it! ;-)

One thing that bothered me a bit was how Zhang Fei and Guan Yu are presented as almost comical exaggerations whereas everyone else is played pretty realistically... I think this mythical exaggeration is from the 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' representation of their characters... but felt a bit out of place next to relatively straight characters everyone else was portraying.

As the movie the movie went on, the tension and drama rise and I found myself enjoying the film more. I particularly enjoyed the discussions of strategy between the warring sides... but maybe that's just me. I guess one other thing that bugged me was that despite all the strategy and all that, it seems like things always end up being about the main guys running around on the battlefield killing 90% of the enemy single handedly... :-P

As you can guess since this is a two parter, the first part is mostly set up and ends in with a bit of a cliff hanger ending (no pun intended).

I'll give it a 7/10 pending how the 2nd part turns out. I suggest seeing it on the big screen if possible though. Its still showing in a lot of theaters. catch it before its gone. ;-)

ps if you want more media:
all the posters for the movie
an insane number of stills from the film

BLOG評論 (13)

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Etchy
留言於2009-06-23 5:05PM

senh - i liked the 2nd part more too.
senhman
留言於2009-06-23 4:46PM [举报]

I actually like the 2nd part more than the first. It was less confusing, and tighter (no extraneous birth of a baby horse or random music scene). The battle scenes are pretty interesting. My only complaint is because there's so many one against many battle scenes, I wish they would have gotten at least one decent martial artist for the role.
JoanneSanderson
留言於2008-08-15 4:25AM [举报]

Ah I see, Yeah i didn't realise it was a collaboration work, that's the reason then. Cheers Etchy.
Etchy
留言於2008-08-14 5:35PM

Joanne - oh thats exactly it... I didn't mention that this film is a collaboration between HK, China, Korean and Japanese companies. The CG is done in Korea, the Music is done in Japan... and for more box office appeal they threw in a few japanese actors. Koyuki is supposed to be in it too, maybe she doesn't come in til the 2nd half. :-P
JoanneSanderson
留言於2008-08-14 3:49PM [举报]

Perhaps Nakamura was brought in to appeal to the Japanese audience when the movie plays there. I like him, good actor, so it's a bonus to know he's in the movie. I think i'll wait to get both parts on DVD, I'm not big on cliff-hangers and waiting.
eyeh
留言於2008-08-14 3:22PM [举报]

A couple of guys running around slaughtering 90% of the opposition? Sounds like somebody's been playing "Dynasty Warriors" just a little *too* much.
Pemapema
留言於2008-08-14 8:15AM [举报]

>Nakamura Shido, is way too obviously a Japanese guy

hahahaha, that's funny. Chang Chen is soooooooo cute;)
pepe
留言於2008-08-14 4:03AM [举报]

Takeshi still handsome..
Wendy Cheng
留言於2008-08-14 12:57AM [举报]

wow, didn't know lin chiling was in this, cool
jasmineT
留言於2008-08-13 10:25PM [举报]

Red Cliff will be screened at the TIFF opening.
AsianChick100
留言於2008-08-13 9:41PM [举报]

yeah, it was a good history lesson for me =)
StarKiss
留言於2008-08-13 9:10PM [举报]

have you played the game romance of three kingdoms
StarKiss
留言於2008-08-13 9:09PM [举报]

I love Tony