The adventure movie director John Woo has pulled another one and maintained his reputation. If you ever thought that there will be no other as “Mission:Impossible II”, or if you enjoyed the thrill and shrill in “The Killers,” then it is time to move closer to your big screen. The yet to be released “Red Cliff” is an adventure of the year. Filled with suspense, one cannot stop the reels once the show is on.
It is mind boggling, how a trained and equipped military force of nearly one million can get to be beaten by a paltry fifty thousand is a testimony of good strategic thinking. It is not always the mighty that win, but the strategic. The legendry Red Cliff battle is reincarnated in the movie, the theater experience is as good as real.
The setting is 208AD, and a great dynasty in China is about to fall. But there is one crafty man, the Primae Minster Cao Cao. He is smart and selfish. He convinces the almost dying Emperor Han that war would be the best solution in uniting the empire. The war he says would tame the rebellious East and West parts of the kingdom and Wu in the south. The Prime Minister satisfies his ego by leading the assault. The only choice for the Kingdoms of Xu and East Wu is to unite and fight back before its people are completely destroyed.
It is time to test the powers of the newly formed Kingdom against the parent Kingdom. Several ‘test’ battles are staged by the land army and the navy of the two alliances. The mother of all battles takes place at the Red Cliff. So much destruction occur, over 2,000 war ships are destroyed. With this battle, Chinese history is redefined.