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Image and video hosting by TinyPic Cast: Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro

Director: John Woo

Genre: Action/Adventure

Year: 2010

Rating: R

When a warmongering prime minister (Fengyi Zhang) advances his armies against two rival kingdoms, he unwittingly prompts his adversaries (Chen Chang and Yong You) to work together in this martial arts action-adventure. The ensuing conflict culminates in the epic battle of Red Cliff, a struggle by the sea involving more than one million soldiers.

Director John Woo and action choreographer Corey Yuen take Asian cinema to a new level in this $80 million epic, Red Cliff, based on the historic "Battle of Red Cliff" at the southern bank of the Yangtze River in 208 A.D. This is the most expensive Asian film ever made, most Asian films cost only a fraction of what it cost to produce but you can tell they used the budget wisely with a cast of thousands, CG effects, sweeping vistas and a grand symphonic soundtrack by Taro Iwashiro. The version I received is the U.S. Theatrical version of the film or films since the movie became so long that they decided to split it into two films playing 12 months apart in it's home country. Basically what they did was cut each movie down about half and combined the two to make one 148 minute long movie. It works well for the most part, there are a few scenes here and there that seem disjointed and you can tell there was suppose to be more to it but over-all I thought is was edited pretty well. Where other films such "Three Kingdoms", "Curse of the Golden Flower" and "Hero" were about and sent the message of loyalty to the State Red Cliff avoids that and instead focuses more on the characters which is very refreshing. Like I stated before I think they did a good job editing the films down to one but I do recommend picking up the International version as well to see the film the way the film makers wanted you to see them. This is a breath-taking epic master piece that you just can't take your eyes off of, I highly recommend owning this film to any fan of Asian cinema or even if you are just a fan of action/adventure. Red Cliff is available on DVD and BLU-ray with special features that include making-of featurette; director interview and storyboards.

Magnolia Home Entertainment

***** Out Of *****