dangermousie | Red Cliff 2 - Guess which scene was my favorite?

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.