Chi bi (2008)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

John Woo

Writers:

John Woo (screenplay) &
Khan Chan (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

10 July 2008 (China)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History | War

Plot:

Based on the events during the Three Kingdoms period in Ancient China in which specifically told in the title, The Battle of Red Cliffs.

Plot Keywords:

China | Chinese | Chinese History | Ancient China | Alliance

Awards:

7 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Tony Leung Chiu Wai	...	Zhou Yu
Takeshi Kaneshiro	...	Zhuge Liang
Fengyi Zhang	...	Cao Cao
Chen Chang	...	Sun Quan
Wei Zhao	...	Sun Shangxiang
Jun Hu	...	Zhao Yun
Chiling Lin	...	Xiao Qiao
Shido Nakamura	...	Gan Xing
Yong You	...	Liu Bei
Ba Sen Zha Bu	...	Guan Yu
Yong Hou	...	Lu Su
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tong Jiang	...	Li Tong
Jia Song	...	Li Ji
Chun Sun
Dawei Tong	...	Sun Shucai
Qingxiang Wang	...	Kong Rong

Also Known As:

Chek bik (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)
Red Cliff (International: English title)
The Battle of Red Cliff (International: English title) (working title)

Runtime:

Singapore:150 min (PG version) | China:146 min | South Korea:134 min | UK:148 min

Country:

China

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Singapore:PG (edited version) | Malaysia:U | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Belgium:KT | UK:15 (cut) | Norway:15 | Ireland:15A | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-15

Filming Locations:

Beijing, China

Company:

Beijing Film Studio

Trivia:

This movie had been divided in two parts for the theatrical release in the Asian market. The American release will be the condensed version of these two parts. The reason given was that the Asian viewers are more familiar with the characters and their exploits while the western viewers might be confused with the numerous characters and their similar names (therefore keeping it simple for the US market).

Quotes:

Liu Bei: Truth and illusion are often disguised as each other, Cao Cao likes to play this game, both with friends and foes.

Movie Connections:

Version of "San guo yan yi" (1995)

A Chinese epic on the art of war...

As per any film directed by John Woo, you will be getting lots of action from the off, and despite this being set on old traditional epic battles, there is just a refinement to his old style. Big explosions, slow-motion detailed violence, and long drawn out fights are all bundled together as in many of his other movies. However, this film is more than that and is an intelligent look at the machinations of old field battles.

The premise of the movie is of an alliance of clan forces arming and battling against a belligerent megalomaniac who craves to take over the "Southlands" and the wife of one of his opponents. The whole film plays over the strategic plans and tactics each use over each other in graphic detail, be it a giant battlefield attack or navy manoeuvre. It's all a literary take on the art of war.

Some comic moments and characters release tensions at points, but the whole movie is a set of giant bonfires with the action ruthless in scale once it begins (as expected with John Woo).

Aside from the action, the scenery and direction is wonderful, and the acting very good from the multitude of characters (and there are many to get to grips with!). Add in some great set-pieces in the direction (the "tortoise" piece) and you don't get just some gung-ho blood fest as some battle movies have become.

Yet after all those positives, there's still something missing. There have been many great Chinese epics over the past ten years, and this is not amongst the lower rungs. However, it seems to have a gap in what it's trying to achieve.

The story was good but at the end not gripping and the length of the film made it at times feel to drag on. Was the film meant to be maybe just an action movie? I doubt it, but with the way the story was going you just wanted the action to get going to get it over with at times. That is the disappointing point. It was aiming to be greater than sadly it finally was. Not by any means a bad film, but it has a likely lot to live up to with its budget, star names and director.

Overall though, an enjoyable movie which most will find was worth it.