Friday, January 15, 2010

RED CLIFF

Pared down from two feature-length halves, the composite edition of RED CLIFF is 148 minutes, and something awesome happens in every one of them. Having pursued the project for many years, John Woo invests care in every scene, and the thing plays like a highlight reel containing all of his favorite tropes and motifs: you have a lone fighter squaring off against a platoon of oncoming bad guys with a child in his arms; you have a Mexican standoff (with swords instead of the usual .45s); and, of course, you have a superabundance of doves (particularly in a spectacular flying cam shot that Woo must have wanted to put in a movie for decades).

Adapted from the history and the folklore surrounding a famous battle toward the end of the Han Dynasty, the composite film doesn't feel like a compromise. The battle scenes are lengthy and downright awe-inspiring, but there's plenty of breathing space for Woo's talented cast to create vivid but quieter character moments, from Takeshi Kaneshiro's quiet scheming as consigliere Zhuge Liang to the perfect romantic equilibrium between Xiao Qiao (newcomer Chi-Ling Lin) and Zhou Yu (Tony Leung). The key love scene of the latter two perfectly meshes the romantic and martial themes that Woo has pursued across his career; if nothing else it delivers lines from Sun Tzu with a no doubt unprecedented passion.

1 comment:

  1. WEB SHERIFF
    Who You Gonna Call
    Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013
    Fax 44-(0)208 323 8080
    websheriff@websheriff.com
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    Hi ROBSON,

    On behalf of Magnolia Pictures and the movie’s producers, many thanks for plugging "Red Cliff" ... .. thanks also, on behalf of the distributors and producers, for not posting any pirate copies or non-trailer clips of “Red Cliff” and if you / your readers want good quality, non-pirated, previews, then the official trailer for “Red Cliff” is available for fans and bloggers to post/ host / share etc at http://www.apple.com/trailers/magnolia/redcliff/ ... .. for further details of on-line promotions for this movie and Magnolia releases generally, check-out www.magpictures.com and their official YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/MagnoliaPictures .

    Thanks again for your plug.

    Regards,

    WEB SHERIFF

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