RED CLIFF (review)

Directed by John Woo
Written by John Woo, Chen Han, Sheng Heyu
Based on the novel by Chen Shou
Starring Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi,
Chang Chen, Zhao Wei, Hu Jun, Nakamura Shidō II,
Lin Chi-ling, You Yong

John Woo changed the landscape of modern cinema in the action genre.


“His Hong Kong films of the Eighties, including A Better Tomorrow and The Killer, established a hyperkinetic and hyperbolic new style in action filmmaking, founded on wild extremes of firepower, body counts, camera angles and cutting patterns,” said NY Times critic Dave Kehr.

He is correct in that statement as he qualifies it by saying, “Woo's signatures - the slow-motion amplification of violence, the air thick with wood chips and shattered glass; the impossibly cool hero, who leaps and rolls through a battle with guns blazing in both hands; the intimate stand-offs between antagonists, their gun barrels pressed into each other's foreheads - have been imitated by filmmakers as different as Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg.”

What Mr. Kehr does not mention, and I will not presuppose, is whether that has raised or reduced the quality of action films. For my two cents, Woo’s influence is analogous to the SNL sketch fictionalizing the recording of the song "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult.

You may guess where I’m headed and I will return to this.

My excitement about viewing Woo’s latest film Red Cliff were based largely on some nebulous industry buzz and a trailer; a trailer sufficiently promising that even Josh Tyler (Woo is his bugbear) over at Cinema Blend had this to say, “The first trailer for Red Cliff looks absolutely beautiful. One problem though: It’s a John Woo film. Unless he’s changed his ways you’ll be sick of how beautiful it is by the end, as he pummels you to death in each and every scene with excessive slow motion. Or maybe he’s learned his lesson, once he’d ruined Mission Impossible and suddenly ceased to be relevant. I don’t see any doves in this trailer, that could be a good sign. His latest, Red Cliff, is a historical drama based on a legendary 208 A.D. battle that heralded the end of the Han Dynasty. So at least you know there won’t be a slow motion scene in which a guy flies through the air while firing two guns.”

Josh, your fears were not misplaced.

While some of my peers may think this a bit of a hyperbole, I am going to estimate that 67% of the film was in slow-motion and because the story took place 1,800 years ago Woo just substituted Berettas and bullets for bows and arrows.

There was an epic battle seen with over a thousand extras, strong acting and a compelling plot but that was all lost amidst the clanging of Woo’s cowbell.

For Woo, the “cowbell” is his signature style of filmmaking that Kehr spoke of and just like the real cowbell, one time in a song may be interesting and twice may be nice but more than that and you are on your way to becoming a skit. John Woo is the Bruce Dickinson of film. I can almost hear Woo on set, “Guess what? I got a fever! And the only prescription.. is more slow-mo!”

P.S. The doves were there too.