Fridae

Six months ago, Asian audiences were complaining to newspapers that they had to pay the price of two tickets to watch the entire Red Cliff story, while Americans and Europeans get to enjoy the whole movie (albeit a condensed version) in one sitting. Well, after watching Red Cliff 2, we doubt they are still complaining.

Although this second half is not as good as the first, it does live up to its massive hype. The story is fittingly epic, the characters are as compelling as before, and the battle scenes are triumphantly spectacular. The two parts cost US$80million in total, the highest ever for a Chinese project. And it is, in our opinion, money well-spent.

The second half of the historical Han dynasty tale sees land-hungry Prime Minister Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) readying his massive army for an attack on the South. The South is defended by the small coalition led by Zhou Yu (Tony Leung), aided by master strategist Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro). Cao Cao's army may be bigger, but Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang are more cunning. The chronicles of their complex military strategies and the spectacular battles that follow make for one of the most unforgettable epics in Chinese movie history.

The cast gives uniformly strong performances, with the exception of supermodel-turned-actress Lin Chiling in a dull flower vase role. And though there's a silly flamboyance to certain scenes, we found them forgivable. John Woo largely delivers the goods, even though the film does start to strain towards the end - as if he was running out of stamina.

All in all, the Red Cliff epic is a triumph in filmmaking and, undoubtedly, a source of pride for Asian filmgoers.