Red Cliff

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Red Cliff

R

Released Nov 20, 2009

2h 28m

History

Drama

Action

Adventure

War

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

89%

Tomatometer

114 Reviews

78%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

In ancient China, the emperor of the Han Dynasty allows General Cao Cao (Fengyi Zhang) to declare war against the rebellious southern provinces, with the intention of unifying the entire country. Cao's large army quickly advances, killing civilians and soldiers alike. To resist Cao, the southern warlords form an alliance led by Viceroy Zhou Yu (Tony Leung). Outnumbered, Zhou relies upon elaborate formations and unorthodox strategies to fight against Cao's overwhelming forces.

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Critics Consensus

Featuring some impressively grand battlefield action, John Woo returns to Asia and returns to form in the process for this lavish and slick historical epic.

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Hank Sartin

Time Out

Rated: 3/5

Nov 18, 2011

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Joshua Rothkopf

Time Out

Rated: 3/5

Nov 17, 2011

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Simon Abrams

House Next Door

Cleaner and probably more rewatchable than Red Cliff 2.

Mar 29, 2011

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

The prestige of the story doesn’t forgive the fact that John Woo lost his edge years ago, and that’s fully evident in every frame of this overlong epic.

Rated: 2/4

Aug 30, 2023

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

Tony Leung is powerful and involving as a sort of peaceful, poetic warrior who largely serves as the film's heroic figure.

Rated: 3.5/4.0

Sep 21, 2020

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Eileen Jones

The eXile

The star, Tony Leung, isn't even handsome, but he's got this wonderful, intelligent, melancholy expression that's worth more than all the handsome there is.

Oct 30, 2018

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Liam D

John Woo’s return to Chinese cinema isn’t one of his greatest movies but it’s still very solid

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

12/16/24

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Korra N

Arguably John Woo's best film (easily the two-part uncut version), Red Cliff is a dazzling and gripping historical epic chock full of captivating performances, stunning cinematography and pulse-pounding action sequences.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/11/24

Full Review

Good B

The panning of the camera every second is distracting. Not only was it hard to be in the moment but it actually made me dizzy. Not to mention , you tripped a horse to get a shot for your terrible movie. John Woo reminds me of the film students at the Art Institute. Worth a skip, how does it have 90%? I really think the people that are writing good reviews are just as pretentious as this film.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

04/16/24

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Alec B

There's a lot of set-up for the main action set pieces of the second film but there are still compelling character dynamics and battles. Woo is mythmaking here, so it is best to view the movie in that vein.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/10/24

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Jimmy P

this is part one of two but should be seen as a whole. Watch part one and two together and it is a wonderful experience.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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William L

"He knows how to lead an army, but he has no friends." Okay, I'm sure Cao Cao would be real embarassed if he was hanging out in the high school cafeteria commanding the imperial forces of 3rd century China. Red Cliff feels like John Woo was given a big budget but no real creative freedom; you've got his trademark doves and slow motion but they're each used in such strange ways, almost like they're obligatory to match audience expectations rather than genuinely interesting or fun. An enormous scale, impressive battle scenes, and fun fight choreography are strangely offset by weird character interactions and a plot that you could put on autopilot for long stretches. There are so many scenes intended to give off this sense of impressive military strategy or combat ability (observing changes in the wind, practicing swordplay, lots of strategy maps, whatever), enough that they run into each other and lose all signficance and begin to feel satirical. While the money seems to have flowed like a river on this project, it's massively bloated and uninspired, though there is still plenty of entertainment in the swordplay. This movie ends with a double rainbow for some reason. (2/5)

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

05/25/22

Full Review

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Synopsis

In ancient China, the emperor of the Han Dynasty allows General Cao Cao (Fengyi Zhang) to declare war against the rebellious southern provinces, with the intention of unifying the entire country. Cao's large army quickly advances, killing civilians and soldiers alike. To resist Cao, the southern warlords form an alliance led by Viceroy Zhou Yu (Tony Leung). Outnumbered, Zhou relies upon elaborate formations and unorthodox strategies to fight against Cao's overwhelming forces.

Director: John Woo
Producer: Terence Chang, Sanping Han, John Woo
Screenwriter: John Woo, Chan Hon, Cheng Kuo, Heyu Sheng
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: Shanghai Film Group, Beijing Film Studio, Lion Rock Productions, China Film Group Corp., Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG) [hk]
Rating: R (Sequences of Epic Warfare)
Genre: History, Drama, Action, Adventure, War
Original Language: Chinese
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 20, 2009, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 24, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA): $626.8K
Runtime: 2h 28m

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