In his first film since 2003's Paycheck, and his first Chinese film since 1992's Hard Boiled, John Woo recounts, in grand, old silver-screen style, an episode from ancient Chinese history, relatively unknown in the West (if I'm any barometer) but as celebrated in the Far East as Washington's winter at Valley Forge or Robin Hood's struggles against Prince John.
In the early third century, the great Han Dynasty is in decline, and the tyrannical prime minister Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) effectively rules in the emperor's name. In southern China, numerous warlords have risen up to resist him, including Liu Bei (You Yong), who struggles to shelter refugees fleeing from Cao Cao's forces. Hope for resistance lies in Sun Quan (Chang Chen), the most powerful warlord but inexperienced, who hasn't yet openly breached with Cao Cao. To bring Sun Quan into alliance against Cao Cao, Liu Bei sends his brilliant strategist and diplomat Zhuge Liang (Kaneshiro Takeshi) to Sun Quan's court; he succeeds, and Zhuge Liang joins Sun Quan's great lieutenant, Viceroy Zhou Yu (Tony Leung), at his encampment at Red Cliff, strategically guarding the Yangtze River, to defend the south against Cao Cao's vast advancing army and navy. Complicating matters is the fact that Cao Cao harbors a love for Zhou Yu's beautiful wife, Xiao Qiao (Lin Chi-ling), and may be using the war to obtain her at last. (Hope you're paying attention, because this will be on the final. Seriously, though, it makes a lot more sense while you're watching it.)
All this just sets the stage for the main body of the story, Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang's defence of Red Cliff against Cao Cao's approaching army and his navy sailing down the Yangtze. Amidst this, there is a multitude of strategies, counter-strategies, personality clashes, and setbacks over the film's two and a half hours. (The version of Red Cliff released in Asia was released in two installments totalling four hours and forty minutes.) Basing his account on the third-century Records of the Three Kingdoms, Woo has created an epic historical romance with sweeping scope, intense action, and enough room left over for tender moments shared by Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao, the growing respect and friendship between the brawn of Zhou Yu and the brains of Zhuge Liang, and even a little humor. The first comparison that came to mind watching this was Peter Jackon's The Lord of the Rings; both have huge scope but keep the focus on the individuals bringing all of it about, while doing so in a grand, old-fashioned, ripping-yarn way. Zhou Yu is Aragorn, the noble-hearted hero fighting for country and love; Zhuge Liang is a younger, less magical Gandalf, the strategic mastermind uniting all the forces of good; Sun Quan's sister Sun Shangxiang (Zhao Wei) is Éowyn, the man-hearted princess who insists on joining the fight. Basically, if you liked The Lord of the Rings and aren't adverse to reading subtitles or learning a little about Chinese history along the way, Red Cliff should be a good time.
(The story is told in media res, covering only a few months in late A.D. 208 and early 209, so you don't really find out what happens after the Battle of Red Cliff. Zhou Yu died of natural causes about a year after the battle; unfortunately, the Latin-alphabet Wikipedias don't say anything about Xiao Qiao's fate. Cao Cao returned to the north, where he continued to rule until his death in 220; his son Cao Pi succeeded to his position, forced the last Han emperor to abdicate, and became the first emperor of the Wei Dynasty in northern China. Liu Bei, as a distant relative of the deposed Han, then declared himself emperor as well, founding the Shu Dynasty in southwestern China's Sichuan Basin; he died in 223. Zhuge Liang continued to serve Liu Bei and his new dynasty as chancellor, waging several wars against Cao Cao and his successors before dying in 234. After wavering between allying with and fighting Cao Cao and the Wei, in 229 Sun Quan declared himself emperor of the Wu Dynasty—the third of the "three kingdoms"—in most of southern China; he ruled, first as warlord and then as emperor, for more than a half-century, dying in 252. Eventually, the Wei defeated Liu Bei's son and conquered the Shu, then the Wei were deposed by the Jin Dynasty, which then conquered the Wu and reunited China in 280 after sixty years of division. Thank you, Wikipedia.)
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By an interesting coincidence, the discovery by Chinese archeologists of the tomb of the film's villain, Cao Cao, was just announced. Excavations have been going on since last year on the partially subterranean mausoleum in the village of Xigaoxue, in the Province of Henan. According to tradition, Cao Cao wished to be buried very simply, which reportedly is borne out by the fact that the tomb contains little in the way of precious artifacts. However, tradition also tells that Cao Cao had seventy-two tombs built in order to thwart robbers, so hopefully they have the right one.
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