John Woo’s Red Cliff Trailer
After years of making American action movies like Hard Target, Broken Arrow, Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2, John Woo has finally returned home to China, determined to make an epic two-part film based on the The Battle of Red Cliffs, a pivotal war in Ancient Chinese history. The movie was to reteam Woo with his old buddy Chow Yun-Fat, unfortunately Fat pulled out on the first day of production, citing unapproved script changes as the reason. He was replaced by Tony Leung Chiu Wai (Lust, Caution, 2046, Hero).
I know a lot of people have been anxiously awaiting this movie, which is supposedly the most expensive Asian film ever made. Finally the first trailer for Red Cliff has arrived online, and although it is lacking English subtitles, there’s not much need to understand the dialogue anyway. It certainly looks like a massive production, and in some ways you can’t help but be reminded of recent movies like Hero and Seven Swords and wonder if Woo is looking for some critical respect. The problem, as I see it, is that this movie goes against many of the things that we know and love John Woo for. There’s plenty of slo-mo (and yes, there is a CG white dove) but I think I’d rather see gun fights in alleyways rather than sword fights on horseback. Wouldn’t you? Check out the trailer below and see what you think.
Comments (7)
well, I’m excited about this movie even if no one else is.
Posted by Rusty James on February 4th, 2008This certainly looks quite spectacular.
I’d rather have swords than guns. However, I just don’t find anything romantic about the asian aesthetic. Maybe it’s just the fact that it’s not my culture? But I don’t enjoy their armor, weapons or tactics. I also think that this will be obnoxious, because already in the trailer everybody is shouting, which is a major issue for me in asiatic film (even the disguised american ones directed by Clint Eastwood) – people shout and scream constantly.
Posted by Henrik on February 4th, 2008I found this trailer on another site last night and found it too boring to sit through. I doubt I’ll be sitting through the full movie either.
Posted by Rian on February 4th, 2008I think the movie is soo bad ass!! probably best chinese old time war movie ever, it has some cheesy shots like the girl is dancing etc..but overall looks really cool ! Thumbs way up !!
Posted by Chris Yao on March 11th, 2008You cannot speak Chinese. How can I expect you to understand anything about Asia? I love the western culture and eastern too. Some American understand none of them. Being arrogant and ignorent about the other parts of the world, they have no history and lost their origin. That’s why the European people dislike American.
Posted by Lena on March 28th, 2008If this is the most expensive Asian production ever made, then Woo has a lot on his shoulders. He screws this up and his career is over.
btw, I think they’re shouting because they’re fighting a war and people are getting their heads chopped off.
Posted by Alvin molea on May 30th, 2008So I saw this the other day.
There are cape flourishes and doves, so as Jay would say, John Woo’s directorial style is evident.
There’s a lot of carnage with spears and arrows. With CGI, it’s easy to make spears go through people.
Calligraphy and playing musical instruments are standard thematic elements in these historical Chinese war epics, and this movie is no different.
As usual, the dialog is somewhat stilted.
I saw Three Kingdoms earlier this year, and the first half hour of An Empress and the Warriors without English subtitles. I guess these types of films are becoming repetitious.
There is some interesting tactical warfare in Red Cliff that I’ve never seen before.
John Woo handles the love scene very tastefully and artistically. I don’t think I’ve seen him do this before.
I think it’s common knowledge that this movie is the first part of a duology. The naval warfare is set up for the second part.
I’m guessing this movie won’t appeal to American / European audiences. But then again, I found the Lord of the Rings trilogy boring.
As for Henrik’s comment that “people shout and scream constantly,” I’ve never really noticed or been bothered by this. I’ll have to check out Braveheart to see how silent the Caucasians are in face-to-face battle. (I have noticed the difference in noise level between Caucasian and Asian restaurants.
)
Posted by Reed Farrington on July 25th, 2008Leave a Reply