Its been years since I last watched a great Chinese movie. Growing up in Malaysia, watching many Chinese movies, the one I most fond of was Wong Kar Wai, Tsui Hark, Stanley Tong, Jackie Chan and of course the masterful John Woo. In his movies, the elements he combined made his movie very unique and distinctive from any other Chinese films i've watched. His use of kinetic shots and slow motion gave a fresh look, if not, reinvented the action genre while Hollywood was still producing plain and boring action movies.
After nearly 18 years, John returns to Chinese cinema, with a big present install for all of us. And that is Red Cliff. Beautifully shot, big on scale, action-plenty, great performances and a smart adaptation of the historical epic, The Three kingdom makes this movie one of the best Chinese epics in decades.(with the exception of Hero) True to his style. After his last three films, i began to think whether John's losing his edge already or is it because the Hollywood system that was in the way. In this case, I choose to think the Hollywood system was the cause of it. Red Cliff shows he still have the similar trademark he use in his films. The only difference is that this movie is huge in scale.
The themes he use; brotherhood, humble and honor are one of the driving formulas which made his classic movies a hit with audience is still very visible here. Visuals are breathtaking as this is one of the greatest visual effect shots I ever seen in an Asian movie. For an Asian like me I'm very proud of that. The cinematic shots were stunning and beautiful. One which John's interpretation is still very sharp. The production behind this movie are mind blowing-ly HUGE. With the amount of extras and props used, makes any filmmaker-wannabe to ask "how did he do that?" I couldn't even imagine all the headache he has gone through for this movie.
Now, in terms of story telling, plot and character development, the elements which i mention up there surprisingly fits together. The pacing for each scene has a mind of its own. For action it goes into overdrive. Cleverly building in the battle and action, the scenes were outstanding. It almost has a classic hong kong action feel to it where every action seems to be very unpredictable. The dramatic scenes and character development fits like a shoe, as the acting boost up all the character's emotions. Whether its seriousness, ego, humor, sad or depressed all the characters has it. So, to my surprise I still can't get over the fact that John can still balance both action and drama together like he always did in his films. Two thumbs up for that. The plot came in quite well in timing. With no hesitation except for the small intro, it goes straight into the battle scenes first before any dramatic scenes take place. Slowly it builds up, from the inroduction of characters each revealing themselves in detail, to the forming of strategies to stop the invasion and ends in with an amazing climatic battle scene.
All in all, Red Cliff is one of the best movies in 2008 that I've seen. I'm gonna review Part II later. So to end this review. I gave it A MUST HAVE for people.
8.8 out of 10 ratings.
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