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. )

btw, I think they’re shouting because they’re fighting a war and people are getting their heads chopped off.

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.