Red Cliff

Synopsis: In 208 A.D., in the final days of the Han Dynasty, shrewd Prime Minster Cao Cao convinced the fickle Emperor Han the only way to unite all of China was to declare war on the kingdoms of Xu in the west and East Wu in the south. Thus began a military campaign of unprecedented scale, led by the Prime Minister, himself. Left with no other hope for survival, the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu formed an unlikely alliance. Numerous battles of strength and wit ensued, both on land and on water, eventually culminating in the battle of Red Cliff. During the battle, two thousand ships were burned, and the course of Chinese history was changed forever.
Director(s): John Woo
Production: Magnolia Pictures
  13 wins & 43 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.4
Metacritic:
73
Rotten Tomatoes:
90%
R
Year:
2008
148 min
$526,841
Website
1,084 Views


Greetings, Your Majesty

Yesterday, I proposed a decree

for war against Liu Bei and Sun Quan

Has Your Majesty approved the decree?

The Prime Minister has just beaten back the Northern Wu Wan

Our troops and people need respite

The insurgents Sun and Liu

are ruling their own regimes down South

They plot against Your Majesty's Court

If they are not eliminated in time,

Your Majesty's Han Court, might well be theirs

Prime Minister,

please let me consider this further

How much further must Your Majesty consider?

I have waged wars across the land

Tens of thousands of soldiers have perished on the battlefields,

all for the sake of The Great Han Empire

Does Your Majesty still remember your exile?

Which, if any, among your Royal relatives rescued You?

I wonder, to this day,

if I had not eliminated the traitors,

how many more would claim the throne for themselves?

I hereby decree that

Prime Minister Cao Cao

be commissioned as the Commander of the Imperial Army

and go forth to pacify the South

Thank you, Your Majesty

Senator Kong Rong wishes to speak

Liu Bei is Your Majesty's uncle,

and Sun Quan is the third-generation heir to the Dukedom of Wu

They have no intent to rebel

Whereas you, Prime Minister,

are not only seizing all the powers of state,

but also intend to mobilize the entire army

There is no justifiable reason for your war!

Though you have solemnly vowed yourself

loyal to His Majesty's Court,

you will not be able to convince everyone!

The next one to put down a rebellion,

may not be you, Prime Minister,

but Liu Bei

and Sun Quan!

He is the first sacrifice

I thank the Prime Minister for this wine

Begin

Form up!

Watch it

My Lord

Zilong!

My Lord

You have returned

Our men made all possible efforts to hold our ground

until the last minute before abandoning the town

Luckily, most of the peasants have already fled

through the valley

My Lord!

The two ladies and the Young Master

are still trapped in the village

My ladies, please be careful

Don't cry

General Zhang

Chief Strategist, how does the situation look?

Cao Cao's pursuing forces are greater than anticipated

The cavalry vanguard will arrive at any moment

The Cao cavalry will use

a wedge formation to attack

We will reflect the light into their eyes to hold them off

Remember, the refugees need

at least an hour to retreat

We need a thousand more soldiers

for the second line of defense!

Leave it to me

Alright

Forward

My Lord

Zhu-ge Liang,

the peasants are moving slowly

It looks like they will need at least another four hours

We urgently need a thousand soldiers from here

Go aid General Zhang

That way Cao Cao cannot chase them

The peasants can be left to themselves

Cao Cao intends to make us surrender

He will not kill them

No! As you can see,

the elderly, the women, and the children all need our help

My Lord,

these peasants are dragging us down

To succeed, you have to set aside these trivial matters

These are Han people

They followed us only to escape from Cao Cao's regime

If we cannot offer protection to the civilians

then what is the meaning of this war?

I will find Guan Yu

Go and help my Lord

Sister!

Quickly! Bring the horse for My Lady

That looks like Liu Bei's family

Go get the baby!

My Lady!

General Zhao,

he is my Lord's only flesh and blood

He must not fall into enemy hands!

Rest assured, My Lady

I will take you and the young Master to my Lord

Let's go! Get on the horse!

My Lady, quickly!

My Lady!

General!

My Lady!

Step apart!

Flip the shields!

Attack!

Let's go!

Bailong!

Chief Strategist,

Where are our reinforcements?

Who is that man?

Zhao Zilong of Changshan

Why is there no such brave warrior under my command?

General Zhao

Zilong

Retreat!

We can still fight!

Why are we giving up so easily?!

We are greatly outnumbered by the enemy

If we can't protect the refugees,

our losses will be worse

Attention!

Protect the refugees!

It's an order!

Brother,

go quickly!

Leave! Protect the refugees!

Zilong, take the Young Master!

Retreat!

Attention, Third Battalion! Hold the line!

Protect the retreating refugees!

Quick!

Charge!

Second battalion, go!

Third battalion, get ready!

My lord

I brought the Young Master back

but the two ladies already...

Zilong

Get up...

Prime Minister!

Liu Bei is vulnerable

Look, the cowards have all fled

Dead bodies lie everywhere

The rest ran for their lives!

There is only one man still fighting

Surrender, and your life will be spared!

Kneel down!

Do not be so rude!

General Guan Yu,

a wise man chooses his Lord carefully

Why do you continue to serve Liu Bei?

You still won't kneel!

Protect the Prime Minster! Kill him!

Nobody move!

Prime Minister, why?

If he wanted to kill me, he already would have

Guan Yu cannot stab a man from behind

Liu Bei has lost many battles,

yet so many talented men remain loyal to him

One day, they will all serve under my command

I have suffered a lifetime of failures

This isn't the worst one

Cao Cao thinks he holds the Dynasty's fate in his hands

So long as I live and breathe

I will fight to end his crimes

against the Han Court

My Lord, I will go to the state of Wu tonight,

to ask for Sun Quan's support

Sun Quan?

Against Cao Cao? I wonder if he is strong enough

to fight an enemy as fierce as Cao Cao

Though Sun Quan is young,

he bears great ambitions within

For generations, the Sun Clan has ruled the South

They have the wealth and strength to fight Cao Cao

Wu needs us just as much as we need Wu

If our alliance succeeds, and we defeat Cao Cao,

then Cao Cao will definitely retreat back North

We can then go West and rebuild our forces

Once we are in control of the West,

Cao Cao will control the North, and Sun Quan, the South

We will form a power triangle

This division of power is the only way to stop Cao Cao

My Lord, please rest assured

Are you confident you can convince him?

Eat some more

The road to Wu is long, and you will need energy

Prime Minister, the surrendered generals,

Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, are here

These two men are untrustworthy

Please be cautious

I trust those who are of use to me

Greetings, Your Highness!

Rise

How many ships and men have you brought with you?

We have with us three hundred thousand naval troops

and more than two thousand

battleships and boats of various sizes

Great!

Now we can be

tigers that swim!

Your Highness,

here is our letter of surrender

General Cai,

I see many grammatical errors here

I hope your military strategies

are not as poor as your command of literature

I hear you have frequent exchanges

with the State of Wu

Your Highness,

I have declared war on Wu many times

These so called exchanges are limited to only this

No need to explain

What is this?

This is a map of Wu that I drew

taking great pains to be precise

General Cai,

you took great pains indeed

Your Highness,

Liu Bei has fled to Xiakou in defeat

If he eventually joins forces

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John Woo

John Woo SBS (Ng Yu-Sum; born 1 May 1946) is a Chinese-born Hong Kong film director, writer, and producer. He is considered a major influence on the action genre, known for his highly chaotic action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and frequent use of slow motion. Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow (1986), The Killer (1989), Hard Boiled (1992), and Red Cliff (2008/2009). more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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