John Woo's Red Cliff

[Drunk Monk]

Awesome, simply awesome. A monstrously huge film that I must see on the big screen. In China, it's being released in two parts. In America, it may be edited to one film. This is classic Woo taking on a pivotal chapter of China's greatest martial epic, Three Kingdoms. There's a bazillion characters so it might be hard to follow if you're not familar. But the battle scenes are glorious. Minimal CGI - some digital blood but so much blood that it doesn't matter. Digital arrows too, but well actualized. Lots of jousting. Lots of flying bodies. Lots of flying battlefield fu. Like the Olympic opening ceremony, it's thousands of extras. My favorite heroes, Guan Gong and Zhuge Liang, are truly honored. Classic Woo singnatures - the doves, the slow mo, even the kill-hordes-w/a-baby-strapped-to-your-back ala Hard Boiled, but with swords not guns. Red Cliff delivers a masterpiece for John Woo fans. This is an epic DOOM flick, but really deserves the big silver screen, not our HD widescreens.

I can't wait for part two.