Red Cliff

Play trailer

Red Cliff

R

2009

2h 28m

History

Drama

Action

Adventure

War

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

89%

Tomatometer

112 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.

Watch on Fandango

Stream Now

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.

Read Critics Reviews

Simon Abrams

House Next Door

03/29/2011

Cleaner and probably more rewatchable than Red Cliff 2.

Go to Full Review

J. Hoberman

Village Voice

06/29/2010

The director's magnum opus.

Go to Full Review

Marc Savlov

Austin Chronicle

01/22/2010

3/5

You may have the biggest flat-screen DLP monitor in the city, but Red Cliff will never look half as spectacular as it will on the big -- and I mean really big -- screen.

Go to Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

08/30/2023

2/4

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.

Go to Full Review

Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

09/21/2020

3.5/4.0

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

Go to Full Review

Eileen Jones

The eXile

10/30/2018

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.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Chao long Y

@533533 May 15

吴宇森绝对是当代伟大的动作电影大师，他的电影影响着后世电影工作者

See more

Santiago R.

@ThePilgrimPadre Jan 10

Amazing cinematography

See more

thiago s

@Thiagostone Sep 4

Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom

See more

Pouria M

@RT54165840 Aug 31

It is a realistic excellent movie from china cinema oppposit of the genre wu xia.

See more

Daniel N

@Hotchopeppa 06/26/2025

Ok. Very long and very slow. Had to watch this over several sittings as it couldn't keep my attention for long. Great battle scenes though with an interesting use of tactics.

See more

PD M

@RT86824119 06/16/2025

I am a bit of a cinemaphile I like a little bit of everything, so believe Me when I say this is absolutely in my top 3 movies of all time. I didn’t mind the subtitles one bit it added more something I can’t name but this is on film I could watch everyday and never get tired of!

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

POST RATING

John Woo

Director

Tony Leung Chiu Wai

Zhou Yu

Takeshi Kaneshiro

Zhuge Liang

Fengyi Zhang

Cao Cao

Chang Chen

Sun Quan

Wei Zhao

Sun Shangxiang

The Warlords

62%

70%

The Warlords

Watchlist

Troy

53%

74%

Troy

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Troy

13 Assassins

95%

88%

13 Assassins

Watchlist

1911

8%

30%

1911

Watchlist

Kingdom of Heaven

39%

72%

Kingdom of Heaven

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Kingdom of Heaven

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

25 Best Action Movies: The Highest-Rated of Each Year Since 1998

View more photos

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: China Film Group Corp., Beijing Film Studio, Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG) [hk], Lion Rock Productions, Shanghai Film Group
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