|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Form tends to overpower content in John Woo’s
Red Cliff, writes Ervell E. Menezes Remember Akira Kurozawa’s Kagemusha (or Shadow Warrior) in which there were lengthy battle scenes and large scale formations of war? Well, John Woo’s Red Cliff aka "Chi Bi" is somewhat similar in its expensive, even majestic scale in its depiction of fall of the Han Dynasty in the second century AD but its unfolding is rather disparate (may be because of the abridgment of the original for the international market) and the 140-minute epic fails to hold one’s attention despite some enlightening and even amusing escapades.
John Woo, who has made his presence felt in Hollywood with his action-heavy films, has returned to China to do this lavish war drama that begins in 208 AD when Gen Cao Cao (Zang Fengyi) seeks the permission of Han dynasty emperor Xian (Wang Ning) to lead an expedition to curtail the rebellion of warlords Liu Bei (You Yong) and Sun Quan (Cheng Chen) and which ends in the battle of Red Cliff on the banks of the Yangzte river. That’s as far as the story goes. But the screenplay by Woo, Khan Chen, Kao Cheng and Shen Heyu tries to encompass too wide a canvas. May he should have been more selective or may be the editing of this edition contributed to its lack of cohesion but the epic war scenes and the different strategies employed in hand-to-hard warfare are worthy going a long way to see. Then there is the seduction scene between the princess and a warlord and other notable anecdotes that bring out the cold-blooded ruthlessness of the Chinese and who but Woo could have better understood the milieu. Spears fly across the frame. Shields come in useful but not always and the war goes on. The locking of the ships in the harbour and the fire that ravages them has to be seen to be believed. Beautifully shot it provides the viewer with a variety of camera angles, aerial as well as close ups it is visually adept. But may be Woo could have been less subjective as he gets lost in the proceedings. Wang Ning, Zhang Fengzi, You Yong and Cheng Shen share the spotlight but it is not always easy to identify them. All in all form tends to overpower content and may be the right pauses would have further enhanced the narrative. The overall result is a graphic, even authentic account of that memorable war but it somehow fails as pure entertainment. Still, for those interested in ancient war skills it is a real learning experience.
|
|||
|
|
|||
