Red Cliff 2 - Guess which scene was my favorite?

[dangermousie]

Yup. I am so predictable.

I finally watched Red Cliff 2, all these years after I watched RC1. I have no idea why it took me this long because I really enjoyed part 1 (I've heard it's really not accurate but one of the benefits of being not too familiar with that particular part of history is that I don't notice that. Though tbh, I a the opposite of historical purist when it comes to fiction).

Anyway, all my fangirling of Three Kingdoms plus a desire to watch something where men settled things by killing everything in 100mi radius instead of talking and scheming through concubines led me to dig this out. Mmmmm, love. Zhou Yu is probably my favorite character in this (I mean, it's Tony Leung! Except this might have wrecked me for whoever plays him in 3K because nobody can compare), with Takeshi Kaneshiro's Zhuge Liang coming second. And Zhou Yu's smart and fearless wife Xiao Qiao is third (please tell me she's at least 1/3 as awesome in 3K). Sadly, whoever portrayed Cao Cao, while good, had not a patch on 3K's Chen Jian Bin (who is definitely my crush of the year, decade, century, what have you).

And also, in the middle of all the fighting,

The allies finally made it on Cao Cao's boat and there is a stalemate of sorts.




Cao Cao's general has got Xiao Qiao, whom he rightly blames for partially losing the battle. The pregnant Xiao Qiao who disappeared earlier to go try to help her husband (and did).















One of Zhou Yu's allies kills he general who was going to kill Xiao Qiao but XQ plummets down from that high platform. Uh-oh.



Note to self, if stuck in the middle of a bloody feudal civil war, make sure to marry a man who's really really good in battle and has practiced his kung fu. Zhou Yu jumps to catch her and they both crash through the floor, with him shielding her and their unborn baby with his body.










Hey, only fair. After all, the baby is probably the result of this in RC1:



Plus, where else will a man find a wife who's (a) smart (b) beautiful (c) is OK with him wrecking their floors through sword practice and instead of yelling about it, calmly making tea and reciting poetry.

Comments

[ji-xiang.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. Don't read my last post then.

But now I must watch this!!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I just read it and was going to comment on the coincidence :)

The movie is, imo, very good, even if I kept missing CJB's Cao Cao (can't help it, I fangirl him too much).

I actually don't mind the looks of the actresses you posted. Do their characters have anything cool to do though? And no, I don't mean sex scenes with Tony Leung :p

[ji-xiang.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping Lady Wu can answer your questions better, since she's actually watched through all of the series (I think).

From what I've seen, not really :-(

I suspect I'll share your views on the movie - since I do adore this Cao Cao. But I'm sure I'll get over my grief with Tony and Takeshi :-D

[lady-wu.livejournal.com]

The short answer is that no, the Qiaos don't really do anything cool in the series (though Xiao has a part to play in this rendition of the Battle of Red Cliff). They're just there because the audience would riot if those characters weren't included, and the next time a smart and cool young woman appears isn't until like ep 54.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh well. Yeah, the only flaw in TK for me is how little there is for female characters to do in it.

[ji-xiang.livejournal.com]

Hm, is that Ruby Lin's character? For some reason I keep on thinking she's in this series...

[lady-wu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Ruby Lin starring as Sun Quan's little sister.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)

I am glad to note that despite their differences, the movie and the drama both agree that the Wu men are the hottest :P

[lady-wu.livejournal.com]

Hehehe.

I quite enjoyed RC even though it's got its share of wtf moments. Basically all retellings of the Battle of Red Cliff story are at least 70% fictional so I'm not even remotely concerned about the historical accuracy. I'm slightly disappointed with the treatment of the Battle of Red Cliff in the TK series, though, as it seems like they're just trying to get it over with since they can't really compete with the movie anyway.

In the storytelling tradition, Zhou Yu was supposed to be immensely jealous of Zhuge Liang's intelligence, and was always looking for ways to off him. Zhou Yu was still supposed to be incredibly smart, but as Zhuge Liang was like the god of intelligence, Zhou Yu just couldn't cope. And poor honest Lu Su was used by both ZY and ZGL in a tug of war for furthering their own motives.

The movie stood that idea on its head, having ZY and ZGL as smart people who respected each other and able to work together as a team. It also rehabilitated ZY to his suave, generous, and musical self that he's supposed to be according to historical records.

The series sticks closer to the novel, but tries to pitch the idea that ZY's animosity towards ZGL was originally due to a sense of loyalty (he believed that ZGL would bring harm to Wu) rather than out of pettiness. So don't expect any chumminess between ZY and ZGL in the series but rather lots of intrigue. I still like the ZY in the series though, and Lu Su positively shines (the series' writer accomplished the impossible---they proved in Lu Su that you can have such a thing as an honest politician!). The aftermath of the battle is also really well depicted in the series, whereas the movie's ending was fairly stupid, IMHO. I was screaming when they decided to let Cao Cao go (did they really think he'd repent and give up world conquest?), and that last scene with ZY/ZGL and the sunshine and rainbow and ponies was... uh... I don't even have the words for that.

Xiao Qiao has a fairly sizable role (as sizable as female roles can get in that drama) in the series, but it's completely different from what you have in the movie. Both are 100% created by the screenwriters.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the explanation.

Yeah, the ending made me lol and boggle (and confirmed that Zhuge Liang might have been interested in more than Zhou Yu's mind :P) And as to the Cao Cao situation - yup.

[hollyxu.livejournal.com]

Xiao Qiao is the perfect wife, like, that's her thing. I think what amused me so much with those two was when she kept on writing 'child' in Chinese calligraphy all over the place and he just couldn't figure out that she was pregnant. Oh Zhou Yu.

I love the movie, and now I want to watch it again. Thanks, Mousie!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I think it's wuxia law that being good at fighting = brought up by wolves as far as human interaction skills go :)

[hollyxu.livejournal.com]

Aw, yeah, you're right. I mean, Guo Jing was a lot worse, ehehe.

To be honest, QoR gets good at about the 20 episode mark, which is when they stop giving so much attention to bitchy second lead and weaksauce husband. (I would feel better if they're well-written cliches, but yeesh.)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

That is because Guo Jing's kung fu was correspondingly better :P

Re: QoR. Which ep do you rec me to start with, assuming I am in it for PSH/lead female and want to see as little of secondary lady/annoying husband as possible?

[hollyxu.livejournal.com]

I like your meterstick! As for QoR, I'd say start at 16, and if you feel confused, work backwards. (Then again, I'm fine with watching stuff out of ordre if I know what happens, so, uh.)

[hollyxu.livejournal.com]

Order, not ordre! Too much French today, sorry!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks!!

[mookiehyun.livejournal.com]

I dun see much smarts in Tony's ZY nor Takeshi's Zhuge, petty jealousy and playing intruments to an obsession yes, more so wanting to get their 'ohnoes I want to get into his pants' frustrations out rather than real brainy war heros, nope, I totally see more sexing btn the slashy intruments/cockfight btn Tony and Takeshi than Tony/LCL. Sorry other than showing of skins I cringed thro that non-sexy chemistry-less sex scene btn Tony and LCL. This is my worst Tony Leung role in terms of acting and I dun see the awesomeness of the movie's RC battle scene, it drags, get me very bratty and totally suck out any drama and reduce it to a lump of sticky romantic goo. I totally prefer the 3K drama RC war to this RPG CGI cartoon.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Don't hold back and tell us how you really feel :)

I did like the movie a lot but MMV and all that :P

[mookiehyun.livejournal.com]

I love my strong smart ladies saving the day, but here in such an expansive battle, for it to boil down to all the big shots fail/r saved because of a woman is a cop out, for me at least. And...the sharpest weapon XQ had is her superficial gorgeous looks, I don't see her allowed to dissolute the thick of things with her smarts. Just my peeves, esp when juxtaposed to Huang Rong.

It's just every version/adaptation of RC/climax of 3Kingdom, the guys manage to outsmart each other and get a slight upper hand, however transient and I'm all for competent heroes may it be male or female. I'm used to ZGL/ZY being portrayed as superhumans with such a masterful calculated brain for war and strategy that when I can clearly see shiz coming and they still remain clueless in the movie...I'm appalled, go onto headdesking myself to a stupor and start my own drinking game XD

[your-insomnia.livejournal.com]

Wah, what a coincidence! I just finished downloading Red Cliff 1 and wanted to watch it with my boyfriend. But do you think this movie would appeal to guys? Like is it epic/action-packed enough?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Despite this post, the movie is 90% battle, so yeah :)

[yuran3.livejournal.com]

Red Cliff is one of my favorites!

Zhou Yu is probably my favorite character in this (I mean, it's Tony Leung! Except this might have wrecked me for whoever plays him in 3K because nobody can compare), with Takeshi Kaneshiro's Zhuge Liang coming second. And Zhou Yu's smart and fearless wife Xiao Qiao is third

Yes! Yes! I can't agree more :D

Although in history, Zhuge Liang is still my no 1 favorite hero. I can't wait when Hu Ge is going to film "Zhuge Liang" *fingers crossed*

Plus, where else will a man find a wife who's (a) smart (b) beautiful (c) is OK with him wrecking their floors through sword practice and instead of yelling about it, calmly making tea and reciting poetry.

I suspect, Huang Rong from Legend of Condor Heroes could do this.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am a firm believer that Huang Rong can do anything so yes, I am going to agree with you :P

Hu Ge is going to be playing Zhuge Liang? *insert incoherent fangirl scream here* Oh my God.

I can see why Zhuge Liang is cooler in history than Zhou Yu but much as I adore Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung >>>>> everyone so in RC I am a Zhou Yu girl all the way.

[yuran3.livejournal.com]

Hu Ge is going to be playing Zhuge Liang?

Yes, I hear it would be a movie. It is about Zhuge Liang's love story, which I can't wait. *g*

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

OMG

OMG

OMG

OMG.

[er-mused.livejournal.com]

OMG EXACTLY!!!

WHEN IS THIS HAPPENING???? WHY HAVEN'T I HEARD OF IT????

[rectherapyfreak.livejournal.com]

Someone else just recommended this 2 part film to me!! Going to watch it with the husband through netflix! I'll have to come back to this post after I watch it!!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It's good, I hope you like it.

[karened.livejournal.com]

My ultimate character in Red Cliff would be Zhuge Liang. I can never resist good wit paired with loyalty (thankfully not blind in this case). Plus, it's TAKESHI KANESHIRO.

I didn't notice Zhou Yu as much because of his other half. =X

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, Takeshi.