Red Cliff (Chi Bi) (2009)
86%RT Audience Score: 78%
Awards & Nominations: 14 wins & 44 nominations
Featuring some impressively grand battlefield action, John Woo returns to Asia and returns to form in the process for this lavish and slick historical epic
Red Cliff is like a big, juicy steak – it’s satisfying, grand, and leaves you feeling full. Tony Leung’s performance as the peaceful warrior is worth the price of admission alone, and John Woo’s direction is as masterful as ever. Sure, it may not be the most groundbreaking film out there, but sometimes you just want to sit back, relax, and watch some epic battle scenes. And boy, does Red Cliff deliver on that front. So grab some popcorn, turn off your phone, and get ready for a wild ride.
Production Company(ies)
Paramount Pictures, Georgetown Productions Inc., Sean S. Cunningham Films,
Distributor
Magnolia Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Beijing, China
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for sequences of epic warfare
Year of Release
2009
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby Digital
-
Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
-
Runtime:2h 28m
-
Language(s):Mandarin
-
Country of origin:Japan, Korea (South), China, Hong Kong
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Nov 20, 2009 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 16, 2008
Genre(s)
Action/Adventure
Keyword(s)
Worldwide gross: $129,710,514
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $179,274,292
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 758
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 19,550,086
US/Canada gross: $627,047
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $866,648
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,221
US/Canada opening weekend: $13,104
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $18,111
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,545
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): CN¥553,632,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Tony Leung Chiu Wai – Zhou Yu
Takeshi Kaneshiro – Zhuge Liang
Fengyi Zhang – Cao Cao
Chen Chang – Sun Quan
Wei Zhao – Sun Shangxiang
Jun Hu – Zhao Yun
Director – John Woo
Producers – Terence Chang, Sanping Han, John Woo
Writers – John Woo, Chan Hon, Cheng Kuo, Heyu Sheng
Director(s)
John Woo
Writer(s)
John Woo, Chan Hon, Cheng Kuo, Heyu Sheng
Producer(s)
Terence Chang, Sanping Han, John Woo
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
14 wins & 44 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (116) | Top Critics (48) | Fresh (105) | Rotten (11)
November 18, 2011 | Rating: 3/5
Hank Sartin
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
November 17, 2011 | Rating: 3/5
Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Cleaner and probably more rewatchable than Red Cliff 2.
March 29, 2011
Simon Abrams
House Next Door
TOP CRITIC
The director’s magnum opus.
June 29, 2010
J. Hoberman
Village Voice
TOP CRITIC
You may have the biggest flat-screen DLP monitor in the city, but Red Cliff will never look half as spectacular as it will on the big — and I mean really big — screen.
January 22, 2010 | Rating: 3/5
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
January 1, 2010 | Rating: 3/4
Rene Rodriguez
Miami Herald
TOP CRITIC
Tony Leung is powerful and involving as a sort of peaceful, poetic warrior who largely serves as the film’s heroic figure.
September 21, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4.0
Richard Propes
TheIndependentCritic.com
The star, Tony Leung, isn’t even handsome, but he’s got this wonderful, intelligent, melancholy expression that’s worth more than all the handsome there is.
October 30, 2018
Eileen Jones
The eXile
… its structure and satisfactions are more conventional, but the overall conception is as remarkable.
October 9, 2017
Christoph Huber
Cinema Scope
Thank god that Woo left Hollywood. This is the masterpiece he was destined to make.
July 27, 2012
Louis Proyect
rec.arts.movies.reviews
The art of war done John Woo style, Red Cliff is an entertaining and grandiose return to form by the master of action cinema.
July 6, 2010 | Rating: 4/5
Matthew Pejkovic
Matt’s Movie Reviews
… a magnificent military epic with the scale of Lord of the Rings and the grand visual majesty of the recent wave of Chinese historical epics…
March 30, 2010
Sean Axmaker
Seanax.com…
Plot
In 208 A.D., in the final days of the Han Dynasty, shrewd Prime Minster Cao Cao convinced the fickle Emperor Han the only way to unite all of China was to declare war on the kingdoms of Xu in the west and East Wu in the south. Thus began a military campaign of unprecedented scale, led by the Prime Minister, himself. Left with no other hope for survival, the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu formed an unlikely alliance. Numerous battles of strength and wit ensued, both on land and on water, eventually culminating in the battle of Red Cliff. During the battle, two thousand ships were burned, and the course of Chinese history was changed forever.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
NA
John-Woo.jpg
