Red Cliff [Special Edition][Blu-ray] [2008]

I have to start with the fact this blu ray has magnificent quality! it was my first blu ray and i definatly dont regret this buy! But as for the movie! well there isnt a single sentence to sum up this movie! for me this is now right up there in the top 10 movies of all time! definatly around #4! the acting is superb! very believeable! its not often you come across such an epic asian movie but this is beyond my expectations! This movie is based on the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and while it does follow the storyline to the exact detail there are some things that they have changed which i assume is to make it more dramatic and movie like! Tony Leung played his role as Zhou Yu perfectly and caught the very essence of Zhou Yu! and as for Takeshi Kaneshiro playing the great mastermind Zhuge Liang! it was such a delight watching this man in the movie, he is amazingly brilliant and again playing the character perfectly to the last detail! and my last favourite character was Nakamura Shido as Gan Xing! a funny yet hardened character in the movie! also playing the character perfectly! Even if your not a fan of these kinds of movies i would still reccomend it! i would even go as far as to say it is at some points a bit of a tear jerker! It is so fun watching this movie! I didnt even really notice it was a subtitled movie because i was so engrossed by it! it has fighting, gore, romance and intense relationships between friends/brothers/family! i hope John Woo creates another masterpiece such as this based around the warring states period! i simply cant stress this enough, BUY THIS BLUE RAY! YOU WONT REGRET IT! EPIC MOVIE! 10/10 oh and by the way, to those of you against "flying people" ITS A METAPHORE!

This is the Special Edition of "Red Cliff", and by that, read "Extended Edition" - nearly 5 hours! The film is split in two to what I believe is the 2 original Chinese releases of this this, which was eventually contracted into one very long film for a Western audience. The film itself is amazing, with a plethora of varied characters which, to the unobservant Western eye, can be a little confusing to follow sometimes! Who exactly are the lieutenants and who are the generals? A 2nd watch of this film clarified things (but that's no hardship!). And the way the characters interact is great - Sun Shiangxiang and the innocent Piggy being one pairing, and the battle of wits between the two advisors, Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, to out-do eachother is brilliant. The plot follows a bunch of rebels who join together with the Southern king against the Prime Minister of the North, who has plans of his own, aided by the largest army and navy that has ever been assembled. After a few skirmishes and clever planning, all the forces eventually gather at "Red Cliff" for a final showdown. Some may complain that the film is too long (being in two parts and all), but this really means that the film is filled with great depth and characterisation. The importance of the tea ceremony, and the tiger hunt have great symbolism with the actions of the rest of the film. The only negatives I'd have would be the CGI in the second half of the film. I know the battle is meant to be hundreds of thousands big, but Lord of the Rings detail this isn't. You can tell its a bit computer. But don't let that deter you from what is otherwise an amazing film! There is individual warrior scenes a la Crouching Tiger/Hero, but also large battle scenes, so plenty to whet the appetite. A must of Chinese cinema!

This is the best Blu-ray disc I have bought so far as the quality of both the picture and audio I feel is better than Kingdom of Heaven or Troy. Some scenes gave the impression that they were 3D it is that detailed. The story is good and will keep you entertained - even though it is about four and a half hours spread over 2 discs. Don't get the other version of this film as I understand that it is only 2 and a half hours long, so you will miss a lot. This is a John Woo film so plenty of action and all done on a grand scale - some of the overview shots are amazing. Ok the extras are lacking and the subtitles are burnt on, no dubbed English version, but don't let that put you off, if you enjoy epic films like this then don't hesitate - JUST BUY IT. Brilliant. I can only hope John Woo will make another film like this soon.

I 'm not a fan of war movies and I was not a fan of Asian art, but I must say that I discovered beautiful movies and stories lately that has made me changed my mind about Asian art. In truth, Forbidden Kingdom made me curious about John Woo who seems to be an authority in that style and genre and Red Cliff is also describe as one of his best movie. So here we are. And what a beautiful surprise it was. I will not say I enjoyed the battles that much because I still don't like war movies, but the image is so beautiful, the acting so well played, the ingenuity and cleverness of each side so imaginative and intelligent that I was out of breath. And after this movie, now I can say that John Woo won. I already started to follow those kind of movies and I already spotted a couple on which I'm now willing to give a try. Red Cliff is a master piece. The Extended Version worth the buy. You won't regret it.

Datos erróneos e incompletos de la presentación de venta.

Simply beautiful movie....

Ja, ihr habt richtig gehört: Von diesem Film gibt es 2 Versionen, zum einen die etwa 5-stündige, zum anderen die für Europa gekürzte zweistündige Version. Und die durchwachsenen Bewertungen sind der Tatsache geschuldet, dass Amazon nur eine einzigeKommentarsektion für beide Filme hat. Meine Rezension befasst sich nur mit diesem Unterschied. Seit zwei Jahren besitze ich die geschnittene Version, seit wenigen Stunden auch die beiden getrennten Filme. Es ist wahr, als ich nur erstere Version kannte, war ich mit dieser sehr zufrieden. Kleine logischen Schwächen, etwas Verwirrung im Bezug auf die chinesischen Namen, dafür aber massenweise Kämpfe und Action vom feinsten. Als Fan asiatischer Filme lebt man mit diesen Einschränkungen seit Jahren. Die zweiteilige Version hat mir nun die Augen dafür geöffnet, dass diese Einschränkungen völlig unnötig waren. Klar kann ich keine Beziehung zu den Charakteren aufbauen, wenn ihre Einführung einfach geschnitten wird. Kein Wunder, dass ich mir Namen nicht merken kann, wenn ich das Gesicht dazu gar nicht richtig zu sehen bekomme. Man kann lange über die trickreichen Strategien der Hauptpersonen staunen...wenn die Hälfte davon gekürzt wird. In der Langversion gibt es tatsächlich Beziehungen unter den Personen, Geschichten hinter der Geschichte. An der Action wurde ebenfalls ein bisschen gekürzt. Nicht viel. Gerade so viel, um, wie auch in der restlichen Handlung, Zusammenhänge zu verwischen. Nein, die Kürzungen fanden weniger an der Action, sondern in den ruhigen, für die Charaktere wichtigen Episode statt. Was verloren ging ist auch ein Großteil der Stimmung: Großzügige Vorspänne, ruhige Momente, ein toller zweiter Titelsong. Wer von euch also die Kurzversion schon besitzt, sollte nicht zögern, auch noch die Langversion zu kaufen. Zunächst mal reicht diese locker für zwei tolle Kinoabende aus, zum anderen sind, trotz der englischen Untertitel, auch Nicht-Asien-Fans sehr leicht zu überzeugen, dass es sich um ein historisches Meisterwerk handelt (Erfahrungswerte!). Also: Action/Kriegsfilm vs. Historienepos Spannendes Gemetzel vs. logische Geschichte Namenlose Kriegshelden vs. vielschichtige Charaktere Um es mal so auszudrücken: Ong Bak vs. Braveheart Eragon vs. Herr der Ringe Kampf der Titanen vs. Troja 10.000 BC vs. Apocalypto Ich würde sogar so weit gehen, zu behaupten, dass man diesen Film gesehen haben muss, um weiter im Bereich "historische Kriegsfilme" mitreden zu können. Ich kann mir beim besten Willen nicht vorstellen, was in dem Genre jetzt noch kommen soll...

Excelente producto, muy buena película y en blue ray se disfruta mucho más. El producto viene con la parte 1 y 2, el audio es en mandarín y los subtítulos son en inglés. Lo único malo es que no se pueden quitar, pero el resto, todo muy bien