Saturday 4 June 2011

Red Cliff 2

2009 by John Woo

Rafeeq managed to find the part 2 and thanks to him I was able to watch it yesterday itself.

Based on the Battle of the red cliffs in 208 - 209 AD, at the end of the Han dynasty, with the emperor on one side and two local war lord who have formed an alliance, not against the empire actually, but against his war mongering chancellor. Part two is the final part of this war at the red cliff.

I have nothing more to say from what I did yesterday. As an out and out war movie, this is brilliant. I cannot remember a single movie in which the war strategy is so much detailed and executed with lots of details for the viewers.

And it is brilliant. Each and every aspect is brilliant. It is just a bit disappointing that the music is slightly western influenced. The same too, if it was purely Chinese, it would have been even better.

The end of the movie claims there are no winners. How true. Nobody wins at the end of a war.  And most wars are unnecessary. Here too, it is frightening to know that all this was actually for a woman.

John Woo should be a proud man. He must have taken a bit of fictionalised history for the script, but still.
I had rather measure it on what I get to see and how it is told. There are moments which can only be told poetic. This is an epic war movie in all its sense and am sure many directors must be jealous of him.