A quote extracted from the novel in Romance of Three Kingdoms: ' An alliance will be formed after a long separation, and a separation will begin after a long alliance.' And this is the point the audience will receive at the end of Red Cliff 2.
While it seems to make sense for John Woo to come with an American edit version (which concentrates the story in two hours) out of Red Cliff Part 1 and 2 (total of five hours), sometimes, it is much more better to see whole picture, than to force a chunk of concentration. This explains why some Asians grumbled that they have to pay for the price of 2 tickets to see a whole story.
Red Cliff 2 continues from where it ended in Part 1: The Battle of Sanjiangkou. After the alliance between the Kingdom of Xu, led by Liu Bei, and East Wu, led by Sun Quan, has defeated Cao Cao's army, Cao Cao has suffered a major setback.
While the battle is fight with honor, Cao Cao's plot of spreading typhoid using the dead soldier's body to Red Cliff, causing an outbreak of typhoid among the soldiers of Xu and East Wu. And so it forces Viceroy Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang, the military strategist of Liu Bei, to come out with plans to paralyze Cao Cao's army. Eventually, the whole story ends with a hour of the battle of Red Cliff, which makes the movie the main highlight.
To avoid twisting the historical facts for commercial purpose, John Woo has ensured that sufficient time is given to tell the story. This can be explained by the 5 hour duration for the whole story to be told.
More feelings of emotions were focused in Part 2, compared to Part 1. Sun Shangxiang (Vicki Zhao Wei), the Princess of East Wu, falls in love with a soldier from Cao Cao's army. Their affection was displayed thru a very simple piggyback ride, which enables Shangxiang to draw a map of Cao's formation when infiltrating herself into Cao's army. Compared to the much hyped and unnecessary physical intimacy between Zhou Yu (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and his wife, Xiao Qiao (Chiling Lin), the former seems to fit in much more better to the war epic.
For those who are expecting more wit in Part 2, they will be rewarded with the psychological tactic and the famous 'Borrowing the arrows using the scarecrows', which was one of the main highlight in Three Kingdoms. Reprising his role as Zhuge Liang, Takeshi Kaneshiro displays the wit of Zhuge and his ability of forecasting the weather to trick Cao's navy into shooting arrows to them when they are lack of arrows.
The much talked about battle of Rec Cliff is the main reason why one should pay for two tickets to see them. The battle begins with the most frequently used quote: 'Everything is ready, except the east wind.' Here, Zhou Yu and Sun Quan's navy are using the fire to burn Cao Cao's navy, which combines the two main highlights of the novel: Borrowing the East Wind and The Burning of Battleships. It seems that the breathtaking battle was presented in about 15 minutes, which could have been longer.
The battle also shows the downfall of Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi), which started with his fascination of Xiao Qiao, and seeing her in person.
Readers of Three Kingdoms will know that the battle of Red Cliff will ended with the formation of three kingdoms. However, John Woo ends the story with the quote from Zhou Yu: 'no one won in the battle.' Thus, the story ends in a very simple presentation, with Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang bidding farewell to each others. What has happened to the rest? With the ending wraps with slight disappointment, fans of Three Kingdoms might expect more more. Nevertheless, John Woo has created one of the best historical war epic in the history of Hong Kong cinema.
It is worth 5 hours your time, if Peter Jackson's big screen creation of J R R Tolken's The Lord of the Rings is your cup of tea.
While it seems to make sense for John Woo to come with an American edit version (which concentrates the story in two hours) out of Red Cliff Part 1 and 2 (total of five hours), sometimes, it is much more better to see whole picture, than to force a chunk of concentration. This explains why some Asians grumbled that they have to pay for the price of 2 tickets to see a whole story.
Red Cliff 2 continues from where it ended in Part 1: The Battle of Sanjiangkou. After the alliance between the Kingdom of Xu, led by Liu Bei, and East Wu, led by Sun Quan, has defeated Cao Cao's army, Cao Cao has suffered a major setback.
While the battle is fight with honor, Cao Cao's plot of spreading typhoid using the dead soldier's body to Red Cliff, causing an outbreak of typhoid among the soldiers of Xu and East Wu. And so it forces Viceroy Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang, the military strategist of Liu Bei, to come out with plans to paralyze Cao Cao's army. Eventually, the whole story ends with a hour of the battle of Red Cliff, which makes the movie the main highlight.
To avoid twisting the historical facts for commercial purpose, John Woo has ensured that sufficient time is given to tell the story. This can be explained by the 5 hour duration for the whole story to be told.
More feelings of emotions were focused in Part 2, compared to Part 1. Sun Shangxiang (Vicki Zhao Wei), the Princess of East Wu, falls in love with a soldier from Cao Cao's army. Their affection was displayed thru a very simple piggyback ride, which enables Shangxiang to draw a map of Cao's formation when infiltrating herself into Cao's army. Compared to the much hyped and unnecessary physical intimacy between Zhou Yu (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and his wife, Xiao Qiao (Chiling Lin), the former seems to fit in much more better to the war epic.
For those who are expecting more wit in Part 2, they will be rewarded with the psychological tactic and the famous 'Borrowing the arrows using the scarecrows', which was one of the main highlight in Three Kingdoms. Reprising his role as Zhuge Liang, Takeshi Kaneshiro displays the wit of Zhuge and his ability of forecasting the weather to trick Cao's navy into shooting arrows to them when they are lack of arrows.
The much talked about battle of Rec Cliff is the main reason why one should pay for two tickets to see them. The battle begins with the most frequently used quote: 'Everything is ready, except the east wind.' Here, Zhou Yu and Sun Quan's navy are using the fire to burn Cao Cao's navy, which combines the two main highlights of the novel: Borrowing the East Wind and The Burning of Battleships. It seems that the breathtaking battle was presented in about 15 minutes, which could have been longer.
The battle also shows the downfall of Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi), which started with his fascination of Xiao Qiao, and seeing her in person.
Readers of Three Kingdoms will know that the battle of Red Cliff will ended with the formation of three kingdoms. However, John Woo ends the story with the quote from Zhou Yu: 'no one won in the battle.' Thus, the story ends in a very simple presentation, with Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang bidding farewell to each others. What has happened to the rest? With the ending wraps with slight disappointment, fans of Three Kingdoms might expect more more. Nevertheless, John Woo has created one of the best historical war epic in the history of Hong Kong cinema.
It is worth 5 hours your time, if Peter Jackson's big screen creation of J R R Tolken's The Lord of the Rings is your cup of tea.