"Red Cliff"
Chris Osterndorf
Issue date: 10/19/09 Section: Entertainment
Kicking off the festival on the first night of films was this martial arts/battle epic from legendary action director John Woo and starring one of Hong Kong's brightest stars, Tony Leung. If you like movies with stellar action and fights and battles of gargantuan proportions, then you'll probably like "Red Cliff." It's hard to deny this film is impressive just for the sheer magnitude and the great look of it. The sweeping landscape is nothing if not breathtaking, and you can tell that Woo, who was in attendance at the festival that night, has a great appreciation for the story he was telling. Woo didn't go into too much detail in his Q & A after the film, but what he did indicate was that "Red Cliff" is a universal story in addition to having important cultural significance. Although "Red Cliff" is two-and-a-half hours long, it is trimmed down from a two part, five-hour version shown in China. Although I was glad I didn't have to mentally prepare myself for a five-hour movie, Red Cliff does feel somewhat unfinished. There are places where the story and character development are lacking, and compared to something like Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Red Cliff "feels fairly surface level. That being said, it is hard not to applaud if nothing else, the sheer stature of this epic story. "Red Cliff" will get a wider release in November.
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