Les 3 royaumes

In 208 A.D., in the Han Dinasty of China, the tyrannic and greedy Prime Minster Cao Cao (Fengyi Zhang) forces the reluctant Emperor Han to declare war against the kingdoms of Liu Bei (Yong You) and Sun Quan (Chen Chang) in the South of China. Cao Cao heads with a mighty army of one million soldiers and attacks Liu Bei. His adviser and war strategist Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) heads to South in a diplomatic mission trying to convince Sun Quan to join force with Liu Bei against the powerful warlord. When Zhuge Liang meets the viceroy Zhou Yu (Tony Leung), he succeeds in his assignment with the alliance of the two kingdoms against Cao Cao. The armies fight against each other in many battles until the final one in Red Cliff where guile, knowledge and strategy prevail.

"Chi Bi" is visually spectacular with magnificent cinematography, art direction, set decoration and costumes. The story is based on a true milestone in the Han Dinasty in China and the screenplay is engaging, using lessons of "The Art of the War". Once again John Woo makes a fantastic work and I am looking forward to see the sequel of this stunning film on DVD that has not been released in Brazil yet. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Batalha dos 3 Reinos" ("The Battle of the 3 Kingdoms")

To be honest, I don't really know about the Romance of the three kingdom so I will start my review about the movie with no reference to the Chinese history. I have watched Daniel Lee's Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon and it is just average. I have only seen one movie based on the Romance of the three kingdom. John Woo makes his comeback as a director after so many years. I think it is worth the wait for his highly anticipated movie.

The story: In Singapore, the movie is split into two parts. The second part will be shown next year. This movie is an introduction to the Romance of the three kingdom. The first war starts when the movie starts to hype up those craving to see some good war battles. After the first war, you will get introduction of the characters slowly. After the slightly slow pace, you are treated to another war. The acting is good with the humour. I think model Lin Chiling should be given some credit as she marks the first acting debut in a Chinese blockbuster.

Overall: It has both the talk and the action. I must say that it is one of the recently interesting war movies with extended war battle unlike the other recent war movies. It should be good to watch it in cinema. This movie is good for those who want to know about the Chinese history or those who want to see the Chinese history in action.

The Battle of Red Cliffs holds a special place in Chinese history and mythology. It was a decisive conflict which occurred at the end of the Han Dynasty, immediately prior to the period of the Three Kingdoms, and it was fought in the winter of 208/209 between the allied forces of the southern warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan and the numerically superior forces of the northern warlord Cao Cao.

The 2008 film, titled simply "Red Cliff", was deliberately timed for release in China in the lead up to the 2008 Summer Olympics and was a great success with Chinese audiences. One year later, the movie has a limited release in the West where the selling point is not so much the history (which is largely unknown outside China) as the director (Hong Kong's John Woo who is known for such Hollywood work as "Broken Arrow", "Face/Off" and "Mission: Impossible 2").

It has to be said that the Mandarin dialogue is leaden and much of the acting somewhat exaggerated, but a huge cast and considerable special effects - allied with the director's trademark style - makes the movie visually stunning with clever tactical manoeuvres, multiple battle scenes and considerable blood.

If it all seems a little confused to Western audiences, this is probably because we are seeing it in a rather different version to the original. In Asia, "Red Cliff" was released in two parts, totalling over four hours in length, whereas outside of Asia, the release is a single film of 'only' two and a half hours. For me, it's not up there with "Hero" or "House of Flying Daggers" but it is well-worth seeing and a pictorial treat.

After several years away from Hong Kong (and mainland China,as well), John Woo has returned,with a vengeance,to direct perhaps one of the finest films of his career. 'Chi bi' (or as it is being distributed in English speaking countries as 'Red Cliff')tells the tale of two warlords locked in battle mode for the control of the south of China, in the fourteenth century,during the Han dynasty. Tony Leung Chiu Wau stars as Zhou Yu,while Fengyi Zhang just absolutely reeks of bad guy as war lord,Cao Cao. The rest of the cast turn in outstanding acting jobs,as well. Originally,this film was released in Asia as a two part,five hour blockbuster that went through the roof as one of the most successful films from mainland China (but is cut by half it's original running time to just under 150 minutes). Along the way,we are witness to several full pitched battle scenes,but features some nice locale shots of the Chinese countryside,as well during the non battle scenes (filmed in wide screen by Yue Lu & Li Zhang). The razor sharp editing is by Hongyu Yang,with assistance by Angie Lam & Robert Ferretti,for the American version). This is taut,nail biting entertainment for the thinking person who is sick to death of most of what passes for films from the Hollywood sausage grinder of the same old,same old. Spoken in Mandarin with English subtitles. Rated 'R' by the MPAA,this film serves up some fierce, intense battle scenes,with graphic bloody violence,as well as some mild adult situations.

I first saw the 148 mins version in 2009 on a dvd which I own.

Saw the 288 minutes version few days back.

I liked the 148 mins version but i liked the 288 mins version even more n inspite of the runtime, i never felt like fiddling with my phone. In fact, i found the film very captivating.

The film has tons of action. A true old school war with tons of bows n arrows, spears, swords, horses, ships, etc.

Apart from the battlefield action sequences, all the characters are awesomely developed, the cinematography is lovely n some of the scenes are picturesque.

There is absolutely no shaky cam or fast cut editing. One can easily make out what is going on during the war scenes. None of the scenes is shot in too much darkness.

We have a daring character Gan Ning (Nakamura Shido II) who does a stint like Steve McQueen's character from Hell is for Heroes. I love both the scenes.

The hand chopping scene, the sword slashings n the spears piercing, are all brutal.

After finishing the film, rice flour and sugar stayed on my mind. I tried the recipe on YouTube.

Some drawbacks - The initial scene with the baby on the back n running n fighting is lol n far fetched.

John Woo had already done this mistake in Hard Boiled with the baby peeing n all.

Another far fetched n lol scene in this movie is that of catching a woman in midair.

The msg in the end about nobody a victor is so anti war.