Rating: 8/10

Most people only know John Woo from his American films. This includes movies like FACE/OFF and BROKEN ARROW, which, although they offer plenty of action, don’t do the director justice. If you haven’t seen his pre-Hollywood stuff, do yourself a favor and add A BETTER TOMORROW or HARD BOILED to your Netflix queue.

Inexplicably, when Woo left the wonderful Hong Kong movie scene to work in Hollywood, his movies paid the price. They went from energetic roller coaster rides to generic Hollywood dribble. Maybe it’s because of the convoluted multi-year process that it takes to get a project off the ground in Tinseltown. In 1980s Hong Kong, when Woo was coming up in the business, a movie could go from concept to filming in a couple of weeks, sometimes starting filming without a completed script! Whatever the reason, I do know one thing: John Woo is back. In RED CLIFF he not only returns to the director’s chair China after being absent for 16 years, he also returns to form.

The film is a historical epic that tells the story of the battle of Red Cliff in ancient China. Chancellor Cao Cao of the north has set off on a campaign to take over the two southern regions of the country. He starts with the southwestern side of the country lead by Lie Bei, who suffers a crushing defeat because he used part of his army to escort civilians out of harm’s way.

Knowing that his numbers don’t match Cao’s, who has tens of thousands at his command, Liu Bei sends his advisor Zhuge Liang to the southwestern side of the country to convince Sun Quan that the only way for them to defeat Cao Cao is to unite and fight together. Though he is reluctant to fight, Liang is able to convince Quan’s Grand Viceroy, Zhou Yu (played by the always amazing Tony Leung), that an alliance is necessary. The allied forces unite at the river-side city of Red Cliff and await Cao Cao’s army, which is advancing by land and water.

For someone not familiar with Chinese history, like myself, it was fascinating to watch and keep up with the complex story of the battle, even though it has been watered down a bit for American audiences. The version I watched is only 2½ hours long, versus the original, two-part version from China, which runs a lengthy 4 hours. Still, it didn’t feel like I was missing much of the story and a future DVD and Blu-ray release of the full-cut will fill in anything I missed.

So is this vintage John Woo? Well, yes and no. When compared to one of his older movies, like BULLET IN THE HEAD, the similarities are not apparent. BULLET IN THE HEAD moves at a break-neck speed, fitting into one movie what would be considered two or three different movies by Western standards. RED CLIFF is a different monster all together. It moves fast when it needs to and gently the rest of the time. John Woo still knows how to put together a great action sequence, which are incredibly fun to watch.

To me, though, what was really great was when the movie slowed down and showed the human moments that truly make up a war. The battle between Cao Cao and the united armies play out like a game of chess, each side making a strategic move to counter the other side’s. This is the best movie I’ve seen about the process of battle since MASTER AND COMMANDER. Yes, the explosions are awesome and the sword fighting is top notch, but within these grand moments it is the smallest of choices that define the battle. In the end, the entire war comes down to a cup of tea, and I love that.

In RED CLIFF, the director shows restraint and maturity, while still keeping elements of melodrama and action that made his earlier works so enjoyable to watch. For the first time since I became a movie fanatic, I’m excited to see what John Woo will do next.

Writer: John Woo (screenplay), Khan Chan
(screenplay) (screenplay), Cheng Kuo (screenplay), Heyu Sheng (screenplay), Guanzhong Luo (novel)
Director: John Woo
Cast: Takeshi Kaneshiro, Fengyi Zhang, Chan Cheng, Jun Hu
Studio: Lion Rock Productions