Red Cliff
This is John Woo's failed attempt to make a Chinese war epic in the style of Zhang Yimou. The end result has more in common with Woo's messy action flicks like 'Face/Off 'and 'Mission: Impossible II' than Yimou's majestic 'Hero' and 'House of Flying Daggers'.
Woo has a particular style of film-making - a lot of slow-motion and a lot of fast editing. Like Marmite, you either love it, or hate it. I hate it. So much that I couldn't abide this film.
A couple of other issues: I think the novelty of the Chinese war epic is beginning to wear a bit thin - and the story of 'Red Cliff' is largely incoherent, betraying the fact that this actually a condensed version of TWO films, released separately in the Asian market.
