Metrograph

Woo’s returned to making movies in Greater China after some 15 years in Hollywood with a brawny period epic drawn from the greatest set piece in classical Chinese literature, the Battle of Red Cliff in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, featuring Zhang Fengyi as a Han general who’s fixed his sights on the south, Chen as one of the regional warlords standing in his way, Zhao Wei as his fearless sister who risks her life behind enemy lines, and Takeshi Kaneshiro as a tactical genius who gives the Han a run for their money. Despite its sprawling scale, Red Cliff shows an admirable attention to detail in both production design and clear delineation of battlefield tactics, the too-rare 21st-century action extravaganza where the stakes—and stratagems—remain perfectly clear throughout.

Distributor: Magnolia Pictures