Red Cliff

I never say no to free movie... at least most of the time. This afternoon I watched Red Cliff (Part I). The blockbuster movie is the latest of John Woo's film. It is a rather ambitious movie as it tried to emulate the grandiosity of Lord of the Ring, in terms of CGI animation.

The story of the Three Kingdom is fascinating as there is already a well developed depth and personality to each of the key character in the original story. The movie has an easy job of just adopting and scripting the important scenes to make the complete movie. However, I feel that the director focused too much on the costumes and martial arts effect, which I do agree that it is rather excellent. You can feel the war and you can feel the characters while watching the movie.

Though it is an entertaining movie, I'm disappointed with the animation. It is just too reelistic, failing to demonstrated the real natural beauty of those supposed landscape. A bad CGI animation is still capable of destroying a good movie, which is what I feel towards Red Cliff.

Only one complain, I understand many feel that Tony Leung has a sexy appeal. But please spare me and try not to overdo on the seduction scene between him and Lin Chi Ling. I felt rather turn-off by two intimate scenes between these 2 actors as it is simply nothing more than just a brainless teaser that doesn't add any value to the movie.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 fairy cloud. A decent movie to watch if you are a fan of the Three Kingdom. Otherwise, nothing much to miss about this film. There are many other more well-done films like The Last Emperor which has wonderfully weaved art and film-making into one solid end product.