Red Cliff

Set in 208 AD, as the Han Dynasty nears its end, the film follows the ambitious prime minister Cao Cao, who persuades the young emperor to sanction a campaign against the western kingdom of Xu and the southern kingdom of Wu, presenting it as a way to unite China. Cao Cao's vastly larger army quickly overwhelms Liu Bei's forces, leaving the ruler of Wu, Sun Quan, to weigh whether to submit or resist. He eventually joins with Liu Bei, and the alliance is forged through the envoy Zhuge Liang and Wu's military commander Zhou Yu, who together prepare to face an army many times their own.

John Woo directed and co-wrote the film, his seventeenth of twenty-two features in chronological order, following All the Invisible Children and preceding Red Cliff II the next year. Tony Leung Chiu-wai plays Zhou Yu and Takeshi Kaneshiro plays Zhuge Liang, with Zhang Fengyi as Cao Cao, Chang Chen as Sun Quan, Zhao Wei as Sun Shang Xiang and Hu Jun as Zhao Yun. The production brought together companies from several countries and cost 80 million US dollars, returning 250 million worldwide.

On TMDB the film holds a rating of 7.1 out of 10 from more than 900 votes.