Has there been a film more anticipated by Asian film fans over the past five years? John Woo's Hollywood sojourn started reasonably well, the Hong Kong icon being one of very few HK film makers to do anything but straight to video junk after arriving on these shores and, even moreso, for a while there he appeared on the verge of breaking into Hollywood's a-list. But then the much hyped Windtalkers flopped miserably and Paycheck was just plain bad, and before long Woo became a bit of a punchline for announcing stacks of projects that never went much of anywhere. Hollywood had obviously gone a little sour for Woo.

And so word that he was returning to China for his next film had fans excited. Word that he was making a very well budgeted - the most expensive production in Chinese history, by some reports - historical epic ratcheted the excitement up a little higher. And then word that Chow Yun Fat was to star sent people into a tizzy. Sure, Chow's now out after a rapid fire on-again, off-again dance but it's still got Tony Leung in the lead and everything to release so far from the film oozes quality.

The film is Battle of Red Cliff and the first trailer has just arrived. Video quality is disappointingly low - why on earth would anyone release something like this in such a poor format? - but what you can see looks absolutely fantastic. You'll find it below the break in the Twitch Player.