This two piece epic by one of the best director of the Asian continent is a wonderful visual achievement. The epic genre, if it can be considered as a genre, has been redefined many times and mostly because of the CGI effects and because of the popularity of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Well, epic movies are costly to the studios and they must bring many $$ to the box office and they must please their crowds. A grand majority of those films have good scripts, that could get positive reviews and broad stories with clear intentions to be appreciated by the regular moviegoer. For example, once again the Lord of the Rings...
Here on the topic of John Woo's Redcliff, the filmmaker hits the spot for a good and efficient epic film. The many characters demonstrate important values, courageous sacrifices, loyalty, etc. The qualities of Redcliff are indeniable. But, it may just the writer of this review here, epic films have become so widely that it kinda fell : not another epic film... And yes that was what your host thaught all along Redcliff!
Moreover, the wire-fu/samurai/asian epic film genre kinda bore me those days, the momentum has passed and even with all the great films it has given us it's like George A. Romero that can't quit doing zombie films. A genre must evolve or stop and pass to something else because except some diehard fans the other cinephiles will let the train pass and wait for the next emerging movie genre...
Redcliff is worth the look especially if the viewer likes grand entertainment and classic stories. It has its many qualities and John Woo still got it but I prefered his Hard Boiled and The Killer way better than this epic film.
A review by Michaël Parent
No comments:
Post a Comment