Red Cliff in Asia.

Stefan at Twitch on "John Woo's return to his Asian filmmaking roots following his stint in Hollywood": "Red Cliff is nothing short of spectacular."

"As the first film to re-create the 208 AD Battle of Chibi, the most famous military feat in Chinese history, John Woo's Red Cliff is a Pan-Asian project with the word 'monumental' written all over it," writes Maggie Lee in the Hollywood Reporter. "[H]ardcore disciples of his Hong Kong oeuvre will be straining hard to find the all-stops-out passion and sinewy machismo that ignited his bullet ballets such as A Better Tomorrow or The Killer. Such signature themes as male bonding and David-and-Goliath face-offs still drive the action, but the functional script has dismantled much of the original story's dramatic intricacies and character complexities, then reassembled it into a easy-to-follow three-act structure."

Updated through 7/15.

Variety's Patrick Frater reports that this "most expensive Asian film ever enjoyed a boffo start to its theatrical career across East Asia, where part one of the two-part epic bowed in six territories."

"It's good news for a film that seemed to be doomed from the start - with massive budget overruns, numerous casting changes and, most tragically, the death of a stunt actor during filming of the second installment last month," notes Sky Canaves, blogging for the Wall Street Journal.

Update, 7/15: Via The Visitor at Twitch, Allan Loay's interview with Woo for the Star.

Posted by dwhudson at July 14, 2008 5:16 AM