Red Cliff. A trifle overrated. The general cast is fine from Kaneshiro to Leung, but the love interest Lin-Chi Ling was nothing but eye candy. I did not believe her determination for a second.
The production values are lofty and ambitious with location shots, pyrotechnics, well-constructed sets and costumes, but sometimes the texture was just not there a picture that doesn't look old, or people come straight from the battlefield without any dirt on them. Overtime this can make the movie feel fake.
While the explosions and chase sequences are all technically sound, its not done in a suspenseful way. I texted through most of the movie without looking up--you know how it is going to turn out, there was not one surprise. Problems are solved way too easily. It was a war where nobody you knew got hurt. Your enemies will fall for anything in this movie.
This wasn't a bad movie exactly, I just thought it was weak after seeing what I thought was a great film not long before it--The Warlords which also starred Takeshi Kaneshiro. The Warlords had it all, everyone acted great, the battle sequences were much more dynamic and gruelling, the score was intense and there were no cliche characters. The story was dramatic and went to some unexpectedly dark places, I was riveted from start to finish. I especially liked Andy Lau.
The first film felt like real war to me, the second one felt more like fairytale war. Obviously the second one with the happy ending was the one that made all the money, but the first one was the good movie :P
