DVD Reviews

Red Cliff (Theatrical Version) - Blu-ray Review

By Frankie Dees Apr 5, 2010, 18:45 GMT

Filmmaker John Woo brings RED CLIFF, the epic historical drama based on a legendary 208 A.D. battle that heralded the end of the Han Dynasty, to life in this action-packed U.S. theatrical version. A power-hungry Prime Minister-turned-General Cao Cao seeks permission from the Han Dynasty Emperor to organize a southward-bound mission designed to crush the two troublesome warlords who stand in his way, Liu Bei and Sun Quan. Vastly outnumbered ...more

Magnet releases both the full, whopping 288-minute original cut of ‘Red Cliff’ alongside the cliff notes 158-minute US theatrical cut yet in a perplexing move only provides the abbreviated version to review. Long story short: great film but pick up the original international version. 

After a sixteen-year long hiatus from making his ‘killer’ bullet ballads in his native China (among them modern classics ‘Hard Boiled’ and ‘The Killer’) John Woo returns to China in appropriately ambitious form - via staging the most expensive Asian film ever produced with a Hollywood-threatening eighty million. 

And trust me, that eighty million dollars makes it to the screen in grand fashion with Woo abandoning his previously small-scale, if deliriously awesome, gun battles for the more en vogue epic staging of classic sword and strategy battles.

This isn’t so much a return to form for Woo who hasn’t made a film since the execrable ‘Paycheck’ way back in 2003, but a progression and melding of his Chinese and Hollywood sensibilities. 

Therefore, those expecting the crazy action of ‘Hard Boiled’ will probably leave disappointed despite a few sequences that are obvious tips of the hat including an action scene early in the film where a soldier straps a baby to his back and slice and dices his way to freedom. The pic is loosely based on the historical ‘Records of the Three Kingdoms’, the film basically serving as a prequel to the classic novel ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’. 

It’s 208 AD and the Han dynasty is nearing its end but emperor Xian grants a hesitant approval to his prime minister slash General Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) to lead his 800,000-strong army south to crush rebels Liu Bei (You Young) and Sun Quan (Chang Chen). The pic opens with an impressive action sequence that sees Cao Cao win a battle against Liu’s army who is mostly concerned with making sure innocent civilians escape the warfare. 

After a clear defeat, Lui listens to his strategist Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) about a proposal to ally themselves with Sun Quan and Liang makes the trek to make this proposal to Quan himself and his viceroy Zhou Yu (Tony Leung). With little choice, as they won’t stand a chance alone, they become allies and fortify themselves at the strategically-placed Red Cliff fort. 

But Cao Cao outnumbers their forces almost ten to one with a naval fleet as far as the eye can see. This massive battle will have to be wholly reliant on strategy for Bei and Quan who use Liang and Yu to come up with clever battle plans that will be dependent on weather and location and which might allow them to survive at insurmountable odds. 

Only the broad strokes are captured in the US theatrical cut and while most of the action has been preserved (although notably not all), there’s no denying that the battles suffer when losing that story and character development – crucial components of giving the action something to stand for. That being said, it is cut together fairly well and if one was forced to cut two hours out, they chose wisely. The enjoyment of this version of the film all comes down to if you’re in this just for the action. 

The 2.35:1 1080p AVC encode is great and really makes this expensive production shine in high-def with fine detail and little to no grain. Audio options are presented with both Chinese and English DTS-HD 5.1 Master Aud tracks but needless to say, the English dub is a wash and cheapens the film. 
A meaty making-of that runs over two hours is the main special feature offering and gives an extensive behind-the-scenes look at the film with interviews from all major cast and crew. Good stuff even if it’s presented in 4:3 letterbox. We also get a good interview with John Woo, HDNet featurette and a storyboard gallery.

The full international cut is a rousing, fully-fleshed out spectacle and would rate four and a half stars but that’s unfortunately not the version I’m reviewing. The action is still impressive as are the Blu-ray specs and extras so if you’re hesitant about the length and want a try before you buy scenario then maybe a rental of this abridged version?

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