[Our thanks go out to regular reader James Marsh - last seen in these parts with his review of Ong Bak 2 - for this review of John Woo's Red Cliff 2 - the conclusion of Woo's massive military spectacle.]
After a rather helpful and stylishly executed recap of the events of part one, we are thrown immediately back into the thick of the action, or rather, into the middle of a game of football. Cao Cao’s troops are killing time with a little competitive Cuju as they wait for the real battle of Red Cliff to kick off. While Sun Quan (Chang Chen) and his coalition forces formulate their plan of action across the bay, his sister, the plucky Shang Xiang (Zhao Wei) is seen masquerading as an enemy soldier, intermittently sending updates to Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) via carrier pigeon of the state of the enemy’s superior forces. And the news is encouraging. A typhoid epidemic is sweeping through the camp yielding heavy casualties. While some of the allied generals see this as an opportune moment to strike, noble Zhou Yu (Tony Leung) sees this as a dishonourable tactic. It is not beneath Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) to use this viral outbreak to his advantage and loads his infected dead onto rafts and sends them over to his enemies’ camp. This act of germ warfare has a crippling effect on the already far weaker coalition, and causes a number of the generals to pull their troops out and head for home.
Both sides are drawn into a tactical battle of wits, reluctant to mount a full scale assault while their forces are so ravaged by illness. Cao Cao sends an old student friend of Zhou Yu’s, to persuade him into surrendering. His wife Xiao Qiao (Lin Chi Ling) meanwhile, believes her perfected tea ceremony skills may have diplomatic skills and is prepared to go to unparalleled lengths to prove her point. Zhou Yu is only too aware of Cao Cao’s reputation for wooing his enemies’ wives and has no intention of letting Xiao Qiao out of his sight. Zhuge, meanwhile, applies his tactical expertise and almost godlike understanding of meteorology to not only sap vital ammunition from the Han troops, but also facilitate a devious plot to spread paranoia and distrust through the enemy camp.
To say that John Woo has delivered on the promise of Red Cliff part one is to understate the obvious. This second half is a master class in ratcheting up tension, before unleashing a furious fireball of a finale. The battle sequences are expertly handled, showcasing an epic spectacle, while remembering to hone in on the plethora of individuals Woo has spent the last 4+ hours establishing. Everyone is given their moment in the sun, from Nakamura Shido’s grenade testing to Zhao Wei’s, quite literal, big reveal.
There are moments of exuberant bombast which verge on the ridiculous – a stirring speech by Cao Cao seemingly curing typhoid for one – but fans of John Woo will find many of his usual signature themes and devices in attendance. An abundance of white doves throughout, borderline homoerotic declarations of loyalty, brotherhood and mutual admiration (Takeshi and Tony even get to reprise their guzheng duet) and a climactic five-way standoff that would make Tarantino go weak at the knees.
Zhang Fengyi makes Cao Cao a complex and charismatic villain, more than simply a power-hungry politician whose motives can be easily swept aside. Takeshi Kaneshiro is in his element, wrapping his silken tongue around Zhuge’s poetic musings and meditations, and Tony Leung is dependable as ever as the unflappable Zhou Yu. The real revelation in part two is Lin Chi-Ling, who easily eschews those early fears that she may not be robust enough to carry the part of Xiao Qiao – the trophy wife with a lot more gumption than her mantra of “make tea not war” conveys.
Sadly, Chang Chen is again criminally underused, arguably given even less to do this time round than in part one, but the film’s biggest crime is the sidelining of Hu Jun as Zhao Yun. Admittedly his character is “injured” for much of this second half, but the image of him in battle, baby wrapped tightly to his back in a wonderful homage to Hard Boiled, remains one of Red Cliff’s enduring images. He manages to briefly claw his way on screen during the big finale but it was shame after his iconic role in the preceding film.
The criticisms, however, are far outweighed by the praise. Red Cliff achieves where other recent Chinese epics have failed – less melodramatic than The Warlords, more exciting than Battle of Wits - staging grandiose battle sequences that are coherent and genuinely exciting while simultaneously developing numerous characters beyond simply their job description. John Woo should have his passport confiscated immediately and never be allowed to leave Hong Kong again, Red Cliff is undeniable proof that the man can still rock our world, but really should work from home.
Review by James Marsh
That is good news if I ever heard any
I haven't even seen the first part. For shame! Although I must admit this whole project never really appealed to me (seen too many of these by now), but I will watch it, that's for sure.
Can't wait to see this! I hope he can continue his streak with 1949.
Nice review James...am counting the days this gets put out on a Region 3 dvd.
Loved the first one, can't wait to see this one.
And Yes, 1949 is onother chinese Production, hope he still continue to work there.
Seems it doesn't hurt him, as he was afraid back in 1992.
iamsheep i feel ya!!!!!!! Yea this movie sucked i was kinda disappointed because i really enjoyed the first one. But i have to say, the production values the direction and acting were all on point i just felt that the story was too silly. If this were a regular action movie i wouldn't really care about what they were saying but the reason i wanted to see this movie is for the story i didnt care much for the action even though the battles in this movie were spectacular.
Basically this is an uneven movie but i was entertained so i guess that is all that matters, just dont expect too much and you will enjoy it.
damnnnnn marshy when u gonna get a review right!!!!!!!!
Well, i'm neither a history geek or a nerd of the books, i liked the first part a lot, it had interesting characters and good pacing. If the second part keeps the same flow then i have nothing to worry about.
Marshy you make a good point.
However, all the media attention surrounding these two films before its release was that John Woo set out to make a more historically accurate Three Kingdoms film. Instead he basically made a Chinese version of Troy (and i mean the Wolfgang Peterson film).
The ending of this film basically became Zhou Yu trying to rescue his wife culminating in a sword and spear standoff...Even if I didn't know about the history I still would have found this hilarious cause its basically how John Woo resolves every single action movie he makes. One guy does a distraction move while the other guy sacrifices himself to save to kill the bad guy and in the end narrowly saving the day in slow motion and possibly the flight of a few doves. The fact that he just tacked this onto a real historic event that he supposed respects is pretty insulting.
Fair enough - but it makes for an exciting finale!
Exciting if this is the first time you see a mexican standoff, by the time you see it for the 10th time all from the same director exchanging the guns with swords, I pretty much want to throw up. I am seeing flashback of Windtalkers when the character Zhao Yun and Zhou Yu fights together. Its possible John Woo have a dvd of Windtalkers handy to look as inspiration during the shooting of the final battle scenes. Yes I am not kidding it is that bad.
I am in agreement with iamsheep, this is a very disappointing second part. Every scene with Lin Chi Ling is teeth grindingly awful. Every Zhao Wei scene is unnecessary and should exists only in the cutting room floor. The final battle is prolonged to try to add some drama and excitement but all it does is destroy the continuity and logic of the battle. First the good guys are attacking from the front and rear suddenly in the next scene they are surrounded in the middle and in ultra defensive turtle mode....come on John Woo you cant see that its strange in editing?
The only exciting parts are parts that are taken from the novel, this happens both in the first and the second parts. If only Mr. Woo would just swallow his pride and desire of more paycheck from being credited in the screenplay and just follow the novel this could have been some movie.
Even my wife who never reads the novel and a big fan of the first movie finds this second part very2 disappointing. People started leaving before the movie is finished, so certainly this is not a good sign.
Overall, although the production values and some of the performances from the male stars are strong. The storyline really brings down this second part so much so that I am reconsidering whether I'm gonna buy the first part.
How did so many people see Red Cliff II a month before the first camrip hit the net? Do you all live in HK?
Anyway...
I think Indoclone nailed it exactly. Chinese classical literature is notoriously hard on female characters, and the man who brought us Plain Jane is not the one who should be trying to rectify that. The result is embarrassing, and it puts the brakes on an otherwise exciting and engaging action flick. John Woo should have kept a copy of Brothers Five handy to remind himself how a Chinese heroine comports herself.