John Woo (crap director) might have a hit this time with Red Cliff

[Ron-P]

Looks like it could be good. But I have my doubts, this from one of the worst directors, if not the worst director of this century.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/magnolia/redcliff/

[jon s]

I have the entire movie(s) on Blu-Ray... Was not impressed... The film was released in two parts (Red Cliff 1 and Red Cliff 2) in Asia last year, running over four hours. I think the U.S. release they cut the two films into one cut, but not sure.

The problem with the movie was there was a lot of action with long drawn out scenes and a minimal plot...

[zombie boy 2000]

Hard Boiled and The Killer are awesome...
I have to agree, his North American offerings have been lacking.

[buymesome]

+10 check out all his early offerings

[Skynut]

John Woo was the first director I ever recognized for being really bad.

[buymesome]

The first? thats super weird

[Danny Tse]

Hard Boiled and The Killer are awesome...
I have to agree, his North American offerings have been lacking.

Unfortunately, he isn't given the creative freedom in the States that he had in Hong Kong.

Is "Red Cliff" a movie with Tony Leung? I may get beaten down but the guy is one of the worst actors alive.

[KrazyMofo24]

I liked Face/Off.

[kuntasensei]

I was all over this... until I saw the close-up of the dove. Dammit, John Woo, ENOUGH WITH THE F#@KING DOVES ALREADY! WE GET IT!

[Monster Jam]

I've hated every John Woo movie I've ever seen.

The excessive use of slow mo is just too much for me.

[SivaNevets]

Paycheck wasnt that bad. Redcliff was a shitty interpretation of the original novel.

[kingtut]

I enjoyed both Redcliff 1 & 2.

[kuntasensei]

Hate to dredge up an old thread, but I just watched all 4 hours and 48 minutes of the Blu-ray of Red Cliff: International Version. Freakin' FANTASTIC! Loved every minute of it, and I think it's John Woo's best movie (even over Hard Boiled and The Killer).

It also has some of the best looking video I've seen on BD, and the DTS-MA track is an absolute monster. Totally immersive surround, with some outstanding bass. Definitely one worth owning.

[kuntasensei]

I like me some Ang Lee too... and I'm sure people will try to compare this to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, though they really shouldn't because the two movies are so different in tone. But I still stand by my statement that this is John Woo's best work to date.

[cheddar]

I think western audiences are at a big disadvantage when watching this movie because we don't have any common references for all the Chinese mythology. Imagine seeing a Greek mythology movie without the slightest idea who all the characters and gods are. So it can seem really slow in parts where all the historical stuff is playing itself out.

The first major battle is kind of comical because you've got all these Chinese heros doing their stuff, but western audiences have no idea why these guys are so superhuman. But all this is tamed down for the climactic battle in the end where everything is more conventional. Then you can sit back and enjoy the ride with stellar video and a pounding, immersive lossless (three versions to choose from) 7.1 track. Probably one of the best soundtracks I've heard on blu-ray. I've only seen the hong kong version, so not sure what they cut for the other releases. But IMO, it is very demo worthy.

[kuntasensei]

Yeah, only DTS-MA 5.1 on the US release, but it sounded very solid with DPL-IIz engaged.

[cheddar]

Too bad, nothing like being able to choose TrueHD, DTS-HD MA, or uncompressed LPCM on the same blu-ray all in 7.1. Top tier Chinese disks often offer all three. But they often cut it to one when they bring the disks over. Must be saving some coin on licensing or something.

[cheddar]

Great audio in any case. Sounds like my house is burning down all around me in the final battle. One of the best examples of aggresive surround effects I've found on blu-ray so far.

[jflail2]

I enjoyed both Redcliff 1 & 2.

I second that. Outstanding 2 part story. I'd recommend YesAsia.com for Asian Blu-Rays. Great selection!!

[DeusExa]

Movie was fairly good (then again, I was knowledgeable about the history of the whole Three Kingdoms), but soundtrack was spectacular, just incredible, kudos to Tarō Iwashiro, along with some phenomenal audio mixing.

alan has a beautiful voice (discovered her while watching Red Cliff; she performs the theme track).

YouTube - alan Red Cliff: Shin Sen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4tNgFS-vbc)

YouTube - alan - Kuon no Kawa (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Oc0tBsc91s)

[Ron-P]

I completely forgot about this, it's out on Blu-ray I take it?

[concealer404]

Is this REALLY almost 5 hours long?

[kingtut]

2 parts, which are over 5 hrs.

[cheddar]

There is a cut 'theatrical' version available that clocks in at 148 min. But the full two parter is 288 min long.

[kingtut]

I watched the Asia DVD version, which was in Madarin Chinese. I relied on the subtitle.

[cheddar]

Think of it sort of like a Chinese Lord of the Rings where you couldn't possibly fit the entire story in a two hour movie even with the liberties they took in rewriting it. From the interplay of the characters, it's pretty obvious that there was a lot more story to tell as Red Cliff is just one battle in what appears to be a much longer historical epic where eventual alignments and loyalties look nothing like what's shown in this 'short' 5 hour snapshot.

[cheddar]

I watched the Asia DVD version, which was in Madarin Chinese. I relied on the subtitle.

I'm happy with my hong kong blu-ray version. Although 10 bucks or so more at places like yesasia.com, at least it has the original 7.1 audio track in all three lossless formats. As good as this one sounds, I'd hate to think I was missing something that they cut for the 5.1 DTS-HD MA version available here.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

I'm shocked at the worst director of the century comment. I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but thought that people generally respected his work for what it is.

[kuntasensei]

I'm shocked at the worst director of the century comment. I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but thought that people generally respected his work for what it is.

Those people clearly haven't seen an Uwe Boll movie. :D

[Danny Tse]

I was knowledgeable about the history of the whole Three Kingdoms

I think it's almost required to have some knowledge to the original written epic, Romance of the Three Kingdoms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_of_the_Three_Kingdoms) (wikipedia entry). "Red Cliffs" is only one portion of the entire story. As a child, I watched one of the 70s Hong Kong TV production of "Three Kingdoms" and it was easily 150 hours long (150 hour-long episodes), which is also why no one will ever attempt to make the novel into a TV production anymore....especially with the (lack of) attention span in TV audiences nowadays. Many of the characters in "Three Kingdoms" also found themselves used in other stories as well.

[DMara]

I will be glad when people finally realize the language wars are over, and English won. :rolleyes:

Well why don't you go preach that to the Chinese? :D

[DeusExa]

Those people clearly haven't seen an Uwe Boll movie. :D

Touché. Thankfully enough, I'd played Dungeon Siege before watching the Boll production..
@Danny, which version did you watch?

Who saw Red Cliff on an LSi system? =0

[DMara]

Touché. Thankfully enough, I'd played Dungeon Siege before watching the Boll production..
@Danny, which version did you watch?

Who saw Red Cliff on an LSi system? =0

I did. Unfortunately I can't comment on the audio since it was a bootlegged DVD-9, not Bluray. To me, this movie sucked at both storyline and acting.

[Ron-P]

I was fooled by the trailers. I rented part 1 and could not make it through the first 30 minutes, what a steaming pile of John Woo crap. I should have known better.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

So there's not an English audio track at all? I don't care if it's poorly dubbed as long as it's there...I just can't do subtitles

[cheddar]

I was fooled by the trailers. I rented part 1 and could not make it through the first 30 minutes, what a steaming pile of John Woo crap. I should have known better.

If you really hate John Woo so much, I'm not sure it's worth your time to spend any more time on this movie. But the first 30 minutes is all character introduction based on a historical Chinese epic. Looks like you didn't even make it to the demo worthy scenes, and the best ones, IMO, are in the second half anyways.

[cheddar]

So there's not an English audio track at all? I don't care if it's poorly dubbed as long as it's there...I just can't do subtitles

I don't think the two part international version has a dub. But the cut 'theatrical' version does. It's also DTS-HD MA.