Red Cliff II

Directed by John Woo (M:I 2, Hostage). Starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Wei Zhao and Shido Nakamura.

This sequel to Red Cliff picked up where the first one left off, continuing the story of the three kingdoms. In this installment, both Sun Quan and Liu Bei continued to try defeating Cao Cao's army forces. Things twisted when Liu Bei, pessimistic about the war's outcome considering the limited number of people and ammunition that they had got, decided to draw back from the alliance. Liu Bei's chief advisor, Zhuge Liang, stayed with Sun Quan to help him with his war strategies. At Cao Cao's army, Sun Quan's sister, Sun Shangxiang disguised herself as a member of Cao Cao's army, to gain information which she sent back to his brother's side.

Definitely bigger than its prequel, Red Cliff II offered huge battle sequences, great performances by some of Asia's finest actors, choreographed war strategies that were just too cool. Whether you're looking for a historical piece or just a Hollywood-ish epic blockbuster, Red Cliff II is sure going to entertain you. Tony Leung, certainly one of the finest actors working today, could just do no wrong. I don't know what critics say about Takeshi Kaneshiro, but you can't blame the guy for being effortlessly good looking and great in what he does. This guy is able to so ably hop around between Chinese, Taiwanese, Hong Kong and Japanese film industries, you can't help but, at least, respect him. Shido Nakamura, one of my favourite Japanese actors, was given a very little part in the film, but nevertheless was able to steal scenes. I wonder if he really did speak his own Chinese lines.. it didn't sound much like him. This colossal piece of work is definitely one of those epic movies that you'll be able to enjoy and be entertained with, on a big screen in a well-equipped theatre. I personally don't care with how historically inaccurate it was. It's the movies.

8 / 10.