Red Cliff II 赤壁 II by John Woo (2009)
13 April 2009After waiting on the first one and loving it, I rushed to see the second, and saw it on Blu-Ray, and it was well worth it, because no only is the movie as good as the incredible first, but the transfer is reference quality. This film proves Woo still has it, and Hollywood would just not let him do what he did best. Of course it also brings Chow Yun Fat further down after turning down a role in this film, and doing Dragonball, which now has a rotten tomatoes rating of 13, that guy is only out for money obviously, and should have done this amazing film. This film is of course the direct sequel to the previous film and could into stand without it, and my only complaint is the annoying page ripping transistion that is used way too much, other than that this film is near perfect, and the additions to the story all work incredibly well. This is a fantastic adaption and an incredible film, and Tony Leung Chu Wai and Kaneshiro Takeshi both outdo themselves, which is saying allot. The action is top notch, the effects are great. Everything about this is amazing. And a much faster pace than the first film, which has more discussion and setup. This is an absolute must see!!!
The film starts with the people of the Red Cliff and Liu Bei’s (You Yong) men awaiting the attack of Cao Cao (Zhang Fengi) from across the river. Zhuge Liang (Kaneshiro Takeshi) and Zhou Yu (Tony Leung Chu Wai) plot their attack on Cao Cao’s forces. Sun Quan’s (Chang Chen) sister Sun Xiang-Shang (Zhao Wei) has infiltrated Cao Cao’s camp as a male soldier, and is sending messages back to Zhuge Liang. Cao Cao has the superior force, so he is confident, and has his troops train in kick ball, and has his admirals strap the ships together with iron beams so that the ground troops won’t get sea sick on the crossing. He does have some sickness in camp, and uses it to play dirty, sending the corpses over to Red Hill, where soldiers and townspeople are exposed. The sickness is weakening the side badly, and causes Liu Bei and his troops to pack up and leave, though Zhuge Liang stays back to keep his promise to Zhou Yu and help in the fight. Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang compete to each fulfill a seemingly impossible task in the help of the battle against Cao Cao, each if they lose agreeing to give up their heads. Zhuge Liang agrees to get 100,000 arrows in 3 days, and Zhou Yu promisses to get the heads of Cao Cao’s two admirals Cai Mao (Yi ZHao) and Zhang Yun (Jia Hongwei). Meanwhile Sun Xiang-Shang befriends a enemy soldier (Tong Dawei) who is good at kickball, and is made a troop leader of arrow men, the two play together, and Xiang-Shang uses him to help finish her map of the enemy camp, but does start to truly like him as well.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Neither seems worried by there bet and don’t do much of anything about it for days.
Finally on the last day Zhuge Liang goes out in a fleet of boats, having predicted the fog, and has his boats covered in straw and when Cai Mao and ZHang Yun attack, his boats get so filled with arrows they must turn around so the other sides can get filled up or they will tip over.
Zhou Yu hosts an old friend for drinks, but the friend works for Cao Cao and was always getting tricked by Zhou Yu as a child, so Zhao Yu lets him have a note that is purportedly from Zai Mao and ZHang Yun saying they will deliver Cao Cao’s head, and he lets the man go with it.
Cao Cao is incensed, and when the admirals return saying they have been in battle with the enemy, and find one stray ship which is fake and covered in arrows, and with the note, has them beheaded without thinking about the fact that he will have no admirals anymore.
Both men have completed their tasks, and become even closer friends.
Zhuge Liang then predicts that their will be a weather change with the wind heading back to Cao Cao, while Cao Cao plans to attack with the good wind.
Sun Xiang-Shang returns from the camp, almost getting her friend in trouble when she leaves, and gets help to leave.
Zhao Yu’s gorgeous wife Lady Mi (the lovely He Yin) learns that Cao Cao started the war because he wanted her, so she sets off on her own to try and slow down Cao Cao until the wind changes, not worrying about herself or her unborn sun. And she does manage to bewitch Cao Cao and delay him until the wind shifts.
Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu set off lanterns as they ready to attack, and send fire ships into Cao Cao’s fleet. The wind shifts and they attack with fireboats, starting the locked together fleet into an inferno.
And the lanterns have their effect, and Liu Bei and his army who are waiting on all sides of Cao Cao, so his troops are surrounded. The Navy is decimated, and the loyal troops go in, using shield tactics to get through, and decimate Cao Cao’s forces.
Sun Xiang-Shang sees her friend killed trying to defend Cao Cao and is crushed.
They go in and fight the leaders of Cao Cao’s army, though they have taken Lady Mi hostage. They manage to save Lady Mi, and take out all of Cao Cao’s men, letting only him go, completely defeated.
Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu have a final conversation about them being such good friends, and not wanting to ever be on opposite sides. Lady Mi gives ZHuge Liang the foal he helped to birth, but makes him promise to never use it as a warhorse, and he agrees.
••••
Really a fantastic film all the way around, with great action, directing, cinematography, acting and effects. IN fact it is great all the way around. Sure it is not 100% accurate to the book, but it is a good adaption, and captures the spirit very well. A very enjoyable film.
Well Red Cliff just lost to Ip Man for best film in Hong Kong, but it did manage to pick up best visuals, art direction, costume and make-up, sound effects, and score. I think John Woo was ripped off, as this is such a better film than IP MAN!
Feedback
You must be logged in to post a comment.