Artist Red Cliff

Originally released as a two-part five-hour opus in China—where it surpassed Titanic’s record for domestic box office—Red Cliff has been cut in half for America and other territories. Beyond the forbidding length, director John Woo didn’t want to confuse audiences unfamiliar with the story, so it's been slimmed down to bullet points and mass impalings. In essence, the Battle Of The Red Cliffs in 208 A.D. is the culmination of a fight between Prime Minister Cao Cao, a powerful leader intent on uniting the country by the force of his million-plus army, and smaller rivals from the Kingdoms of Xu who form an alliance to turn him back. Vastly outnumbered, the rebel forces devise clever gambits to leverage the seemingly impossible situation to their advantage. 

Updated 02/25/2010