The Battle of Red Cliff (First Print Edition) DVD
Based on the events during the Three Kingdoms period in Ancient China in which specifically told in the title, The Battle of Red Cliffs.
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Last updated: October 22, 2009, 9:25 pm
The Battle of Red Cliff (First Print Edition) DVD Cusomter reviews:
Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 15
(B. M. Galla, 2009-06-09) This DVD is definitely the first-print edition of RED CLIFF, but it is also through a duplication service. The DVD I received actually is entitled "Fist of Legend Español" but it's Red Cliff. So if you don't mind a little sub-par subtitles, and a duped copy, it's not too shabby. PROS: Great Movie depicting 2nd/3rd Century China. CONS: Mexican Duplicated Movie (Has the Flag of Mexico right in the middle of the background!)
(aiya, 2009-05-24) Those people who said this is a movie that rivals Lord of the Ring simply have no idea! If Woo had Tolkien writing the script, yes, but Woo relied on mediocre writing talents, and himself, which on a film with this kind of budget, is criminally inadequate. ( and Woo's own invention and addition to history, eg hanging the plot on a love triangle to create drama, is both unnecessary unconvincing and uninformed), I hope Woo reads this review because this very talented director always insists on infusing his work with sentimental male comradie crap masquerading as character and depth, thus ruining them! Its about time he rise above all that, ( after 20 years his work person and art should have matured!) , find in himself the ability to identify other great talents, perhaps work with a new team with fresh ideas, definitely find some decent writers, more highly evolved ones with spiritual dimension who can bring his talent to a new level. Ironic that Woo preaches in all his films how men must stick by each other, in order to get ahead, and well, sticking with the same team and sentiments, his art fail to progress. The film starts out with great acting, and even greater dialogues, and just as I was thinking, wow, the director's finally got his act together, then these two aspects went steadily downhill as the film moves on, and they become' yes another JOHN WOO PRODUCTION' ie full of wooden actors with few stock facial expressions mouthing stuff about how men should treat each other, ie with gangster style devotion. Woo makes the same chinese language film over and over again, only with different costumes and sets and ever bigger budgets. There is no excuse with this film because the events are historical, he didn't have to make anything up and the characters and events are so mega interesting and larger than life they are mythic, and he has a budget that is more than any other asian film in history, if he were Kurozawa, or a truly masterful director he could have produced something not just spectacular, but mythic in its own right. This films shows why Woo always choose B scripts, ( nothing to do with contraints of budget or having to work in the US) he simply fail to understand LIFE in a more profound way, on a more energetic, spiritual level thus his take on China's early history here reads like bad TV and 60's film, informed by the conclusions about survival he formed based on the hardships of his childhood in HK; and his battle scenes too are somewhat superficial , like boy playing with battle toys though well directed and with lots of money thrown at it. Peter Jackson made battle the climax of Two towers, JOhn woo made it his film's raison d'etre without being able to transcend it or make it symbolic. What a pity. The cast were workman like, none were terribly inspired, and Lin chi ling though pretty, is cringingly bad at moving or acting. Whole experience was like watching chinese TV with big budget. Hair and make up, ( esp the use of eyebrows and facial hair to carve out characters) is however noteworthy.
(J. Caulfield, 2009-05-11) This is an excellent movie. It's a great interpretation of the romance of 3 kingdoms saga. The acting and movie itself are great, well done, high budget, nice special effects and computer images without going over the top or getting too obviously digital. I was very pleased. You kind of need to enjoy kung fu movies though to really enjoy this. DVD quality is solid. There are a few jumps, that are editng things. I don't know if that was done in studio or to get onto the dvd or something else. One suggestion, if you are purchasing this, I encourage you to consider getting part II at the same time. The movie breaks in a nice spot, but personally I hate waiting.
(R. Snook, 2009-04-21) I'll be honest, at first I didn't think I would like this movie. Most of the Chinese movies I watch are martial arts films starring Jet Li, but I'm branching out. After sitting down and watching this I was totally blown away. I wasn't familiar with the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," which I imagine its intended (Chinese) audience is. They know who the major players are; I didn't. Despite the number of characters involved it's not really very difficult to keep them all straight. Red Cliff was released in two parts, kind of like "Lord of the Rings." I've heard that for the international version it would be condensed into a 2 1/2 hour movie, which annoys me. Actually, I don't know what annoys me more, that the Chinese creators and distributors would think that Americans (and others) are too impatient, too distracted by blood and fire and too unappreciative of Chinese history, culture and film to enjoy this movie, or that they seem to be more or less correct. I'll put it simply. If you're looking for a kung-fu epic, find something by Jet Li. If you're looking for all-out war, go for "300." If you're looking for high-speed action, try Jackie Chan. Though Red Cliff contains martial arts action, large-scale warfare, sex, death and explosions, this is just as easily a drama. This is a subtle movie. The strategy and intrigue employed by the characters is one of the better aspects, I think. All in all, a beautiful, flavorful, fun and engaging movie. I recommend it to anyone who has a taste for Chinese films, and who has the patience to sit through this one. It's well worth it.
(Anthony Lee Warner, 2009-04-20) I got my movie very fast and i will be buying movies soon. Thank you for great service.