Sunday, July 20, 2008

The battle of the Red Cliff (part 1) 80% B+ (U)

I think this is one of the better blockbuster chinese movies that I have seen. Very heroic, very historical and shows off the tactical battle strategies of the infamous Three Kingdoms battle.

I am not familiar with Chinese history but this movie brings about patriotism, so much so it inspires one to do great things, be it for the country, for the people, for the brotherhood of men, for women or even for yourself. It gives a new meaning to heroism. "Some people are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them." This Shakespeare quote best describe the characters in this movie. There are quite a number of heros in this movie so it's useful to know them first before watching this movie as John Woo (director) doesn't really introduce the characters, assuming that they are so famous in Chinese history that everyone should know them.

Cao Cao (Zhang FengYi) - Strong warlord/ruler who have conquered North China/Kingdom Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei - sworn brothers who are loyal Generals devoted to serving the emperor and people of the Han Dinasty.
Zhou Zhi Long - skillful general, loyal to Liu Bei
Zhu Ge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) - intelligent and learned military strategist for Liu Bei

Sun Quan (Chang Chen)- Ruler of South China (Wu Kingdom)
Sun Shangxiang (Zhao Wei) - Sister to Sun Quan
Zhou Yu (Tony Leong) and Zhang Zhou - Military advisors loyal to Sun Quan

*note: Although Liu Bei technically doesn't own any land but is an influential general, and is part of the 3 Kingdoms with borrowed land (Qing Jou) from the South.

This is one movie you must catch in theaters to absorb the greatness and be inspired.

Storyboard: 22 of 25
Cinematography: 20 of 25
Issues Discussed (connection with viewers): 18 of 25
Casting: 20 of 25

Total Score : 80 B+

Source: http://www.imdb.com, Wikipedia

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