It’s just too long, Woo

RED Cliff — the Tony Leung-Takeshi Kaneshiro starring vehicle — marks John Woo’s return to his Asian film-making roots following his stint in Hollywood.

Eighteen years in the making, Red Cliff took a budget of US$80 million (about RM240 million) to be filmed.

When Red Cliff was being made, many fans had hoped that this would finally be the big screen adaptation of Romance Of The Three Kingdoms (the source material for Red Cliff) that would do all Asians proud.

Woo, a big fan of the book, even declared that the themes of friendship, honour, bravery and sacrifice — particularly evident in the Red Cliff chapter of the series — formed the inspirations for the heroic leads in his earlier action classics like Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow and The Killer.

So it would only be logical to expect that Red Cliff, (based on a historical battle at Crow Forest from the book) would be Woo’s magnum opus. But here lies the problem: Woo tries too hard.

Red Cliff is actually a 330-minute film in two parts. What the masses don’t know is that the Red Cliff in cinemas now, is actually “Red Cliff-Episode One” with the finale coming in December.

In other words, if the book is like Lord Of The Rings, then Red Cliff is like “Two Towers”.

But can you imagine the frustration of watching “Two Towers” in two parts, separated by a six-month waiting period? Can you imagine watching an extended two-and-a-half hour depiction of the formation of an alliance against the orcs: And then, waiting half a year to watch the battle of Helms Deep?

If you can, then you will enjoy Red Cliff.

The film, or the first part at least, stays true to the source material while infusing it with some slight humour, some fiction and actual historical and archeological accounts.

Those familiar with the book would appreciate Woo cramming in every detail from this little chapter of Romance Of Three Kingdoms into the film.

The epic opens with ambitious Prime Minister Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) browbeating the Han emperor into authorising a campaign to crush his enemies, Liu Bei and Sun Quan (Chang Chen) in their southern strongholds.

The middle act focusses on Liu’s strategist Zhu-ge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) persuading Sun Quan to team up with Liu as well as the meeting with Sun’s viceroy, Zhou Yu (Tony Leung).

Most of this section lacks a gripping atmosphere. The modernised dialogue is accessible but lacks eloquence and gravity.

At moments like this, one can’t help but recall the original casting of Chow Yun-Fatt as Zhou Yu and Tony Leung as Zhu Ge-Liang, and wonder if the film might have been more enjoyable if Chow had not left the project.

I think Chow would have made a more impressive general and Leung a more convincing scholar. Kaneshiro just seemed a bit too pretty to play the role of an experienced strategist who eventually turns the tide of the battle.

Speaking of battles, the main battle in Episode One although impressive in its scope is hampered by bad choreography.

In the battle, Cao Cao’s cavalry forces were led into a dust-covered valley where phalanxes of alliance troops have formed a human maze. But Woo spent too much effort showing the formation of the turtle-shaped maze and too little attention to directing.

There were no expressions of panic and fear which should grip the cavalry as they realise too late that they have charged into their doom.

Instead, the whole affair looked like an elaborately choreographed pony show, with uninspired extras on horsebacks galloping obediently along human walls played by many even more uninspired extras.

Oh, in case you were wondering whether Woo included his signature white doves in the film? Yes, he did. In fact, there’s even a 30-second “dove’s eye view”.

So, you need to be a totally hard-core fan of Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro or Lin Chi-Ling to watch Red Cliff.