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" Red Cliff " John Woo does it again with a classic that's more than what many would expected
Red cliff is an epic John Woo masterpiece. The movie is in two parts, it is five hours long, but never during any part of the movie was I bored. Huge intense battle scenes are broken up by wide beautiful shots, interesting characters, and compelling plot lines. It is a Chinese historical action the size of a Lord of the Rings movie. In the beginning of the third century AD, during the Han dynasty, Prime Minister Cao Cao convinces the Emperor to allow him to conquer the two warlords in the south, Sun Quan and Liu Bei. After the Battle of Changban between Cao and Liu, Liu and his advisor Zhuge Liang persuade Sun and his eastern Wu forces to join him against Cao. 
At the same time, Cao forms alliances of his own with naval commanders Cai Mao and Zhang Yun. Cao’s army is lured into a Eight Trigrams formation, and a huge battle plays out. Afterwards, Cao continues on and makes camp right on the riverbank opposite the allies camp. A plague infects Cao’s army, and then the allied forces. Liu is disheartened and leaves with his soldiers, but his advisor Zhuge remains to assist the Eastern Wu. Using cunning tactics, the allies acquire arrows, and weaken Cao alliance with his naval commanders. Anticipating a change in the wind, the Easter Wu attacks Cao’s navy, Liu attacks Cao by land, and the epic Battle of Red Cliffs ensues… Red cliff explores large-scale martial arts, not just individual martial arts. Instead of portraying the different moves and styles of a battle between two men, this movie explores the different tactics and maneuvers of a battle between two armies.
Red Cliff effectively shows the art and spirit of martial arts, not only in fights between two men, but in wars between two armies. This movie is epic. The story’s bigness is not at the expense of its characters. I loved Zhou Yun, a heavy hitter who takes out enemies by the dozen. And Zhuge Liang, a composed strategist whose wisdom is as important as Zhou Yun’s strength. 
And Sun Shagxiang, beautiful and brave, who infiltrates Cao’s camp to acquire intelligence on the enemy. The story is told from the highest warlord, down to the lower ranks of soldier. It is rich in, but not drowned by, romantic and political intrigue. You always understand exactly what is happening and the motivations of every character.Red Cliff contains everything that you like in a Chinese martial arts action movie, but amplified. It is John woo firing on all cylinders. I hope that the commercial success of this film leads to a trend of Chinese movies with American sized budgets.
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I love big war movies, so I watch a lot of them both Chinese and Western. But I have never seen some of the tactics that the armies in this movies use. They use interesting soldier formations, old strategies such as biological warfare and espionage, and original strategies such as interlocking battleships to steady the fleet and straw dummies on ships in order to acquire arrows.
