With a cast including Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhao Wei, Zhang Fengyi and Chen Chang, Red Cliff looks like a real return to form for director John Woo, whose last Chinese movie was Hard Boiled. Originally released in China as two movies, the Western version has been edited down into a more concise, two and a half hour version that hopefully gets rid of the slow start to the original without losing integral plots or characterisation (here’s hoping!).

Red Cliff is released by Entertainment Films at the Vue West End and nationwide around the UK on 12 June 2009.

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