Red Cliff II

The blu-ray came and I got to watch the second part of Red Cliff.  What an amazing finish. There were already so many epic battles in this movie that I wondered how they could possibly top it off in the finale, but they did. I've never seen a military battle filmed so beautifully. And, once again, in the midst of the sweeping grandeur of the movie there are scenes focusing on the individual characters that are so intimate and emotional, and it's all in a stunningly well-balanced combination!

Again, I think this is a martial arts film in a rather loose sense. Certainly there is great fighting and weapons combat, but it is more about armies and strategy and characters than about one-on-one hand-to-hand combat.  The tone of the movie has much in common with most martial arts movies.

Don't watch the short version that was released in the US! Get the full 4-5 hour 2-disc international release version. Kudos to John Woo for an amazing film!