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Reviews Counted:94
Fresh:83
Rotten:11
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: Featuring some impressively grand battlefield action, John Woo returns to Asia and returns to form in the process for this lavish and slick historical epic.
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What remains on screen is impressive -- grand battles, dazzling action, sumptuous sets, magnificent panoramas. What's lost in the abbreviation is the emotional element as Woo chronicles an epic clash of warriors in the 3rd century.
Top CriticThe decision to release only an ‘international’ cut-down version, combining the two original films and almost halving the running time is a terrible one -- it’s akin to screening half of Lawrence of Arabia.
The film is both traditional and modern: austere in its engagement with history, and insistent in its showy action beats.
It's almost 2 1/2 hours, and too much is corny, cramped, and vague.
Top Critic... a triumph [that] demands to be seen on the biggest possible screen.
A user-friendly spectacle of warriors and weapons, Red Cliff is a majestic motion picture that returns Woo to the sort of whirlwind screen restlessness he built his legendary name upon.
A highly impressive historical epic, Red Cliff shows just how John Woo got his mojo back after a bumpy ride in Hollywood. Full of stunning action sequences, the only shame is how the international version leaves westerners wanting more.
Many people see Red Cliff as Hong Kong actioneer John Woo's return to form. I'm not one of them. John Woo has never once made a film I've liked. Until now.
It's all about the action.
The film's countless canned platitudes aside, an intriguing plot unfolds wherein intellect and brute strength play against one another...
John Woo fulfills on "Red Cliff's" reputation as the most expensive Chinese-language film ever made with a mesmerizing war epic that concentrates on ancient techniques of war strategy as played out on a grand stage.
Hard not to be impressed by the spectacular way Woo gives Western audiences an Asian history lesson that's thoroughly entertaining at the same time.
It reminded me of a Road Runner cartoon. The battlefield violence is essentially repetitious, but Woo -- the auteur as Wile E. Coyote -- introduces gimmicks ('the tortoise formation'), tricks and variations to keep things interesting.
As impressively mounted as Braveheart and Gladiator, but as directed by Hong Kong action master John Woo, it easily surpasses them in terms of style and grace, action and cinematography
The mix of real history and imagined events results in filmmaking of high quality, despite the gaps and possible confusion of the foreign story.
The characters function less as flesh-and-blood figures than obtuse archetypes. They look and act as if they know they belong in an epic.
The drama tends to be pitched over the top %u2026 Before, Woo could pull off such extremes because he did it in an operatic fashion of gonzo emotion, but here it often comes off as inadvertently hokey.
The script is leaden but the action speaks volumes as Woo delivers an efficient spectacle of naval battles, slow-motion combat, death-defying stunt work, daredevil espionage, noble deeds, self-sacrifice and more plotting than a Labour Cabinet meeting.
A bloodthirsty costume epic directed for maximum gruesomeness.
His period war spectacular Red Cliff may be better than several of his American blockbusters, but it falls some way below the absurdly entertaining Face/Off.
November 19, 2009:
Critics Consensus: New Moon Wanes
This week at the movies, we've got hot teen vampires (The Twilight Saga: New Moon, starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson); a football family (The Blind Side, starring... More...
October 16, 2009:
John Woo Prepares to Unleash Flying Tigers 
His "Red Cliff" is finally reaching American theaters next month, but John Woo is already on to his next project, a war drama to be titled "Flying Tigers." More...
October 04, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review
More...
May 19, 2009:
Sydney Film Festival Gets Wooed
Hong Kong action maestro John Woo will appear at this year's Sydney Film Festival to present his latest epic, Red Cliff, which has its Australian premiere on June 9. The... More...
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