Red Cliff

This Chinese battle film was originally released in Asia as a two-part, five-hour epic. That’s how much director John Woo had to say about the 208 AD war that changed China’s history irrevocably.

This English-subtitled version of half that length is no less monumental. The actual battle was a war of over a million men with arrows and heavy armour, and impressive CGI and clever editing give you a good idea of the scale and intensity of the clash. However, as with movies like Braveheart, the battle scenes dominate the two and a half hours, which, for a peace lover like myself, is more than taxing.

If you love battle movies, there’s no doubt you’ll love this. More than that I really cannot say.

Rating: 3 outta 5.