The massive battle scene reminded me of the "magnum opus"- Hero directed by Zhang Yimou years ago, and the last "classic lines"( I lost the battle due to the whirl of wind and a cup a tea) by Cao Cao triggered my laughter nerve and Chen Daoming's classic line in Hero "The ideal Realm of Sword is "Peace" immediately emerged in my mind. Unlike the first part, which was permeated by funny dialogues, the second part obviously aims to convey something substantial to the audience. This part barely give rise to laughter and ironically, a man behind me fell into sleep and grunted. But I have to believe the complete Red Cliff, as well as Wu Ji( The Promise), Shi Mian Mai Fu (House of Flying Daggers) etc have been running into the same mode Zhang Yimou created for the first blockbuster in China Hero. And the audience have been more and more tolerant, even numbed with ridiculous plot and stupid dialogue. The military strategies in this film are even far more "romantic" than the Romance of Three Kingdoms and proceed smoothly as a miracle, even we forsake the true history, we still can not explain how it could. The battle scene, rendered by the multi-dimensional technique, seems more cruel and relentless. In a word, i really don't like this kind of "innovative" interpretation of classic works as innovation does not mean distorting common sense.
Review of Red Cliff II
