John Woo's New Film, "Red Cliff"

If you're a fan of war battles, Chinese history lessons, romance - oozing of love, jealousy and redemption, Takeshi Kaneshiro and/or Tony Leung and pretty Chinese actresses, then you'll get all that and more from John Woo's new movie, 'Red Cliff.'

John Woo and his team have been said to have spent $80 million USD on this two-part Han-dynasty period Chinese historical movie. Similar to "Hero" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," 'Red Cliff' also brings to the big screen a well-known cast with equal degrees of fame and teenage heartthrob factors (see: Takeshi Kaneshiro). Fortunately for me, there were English subtitles that accompanied the Mandarin, spoken by mainland Chinese actors, Hong Kong and Taiwanese superstars and even Japanese stars.

'Red Cliff' depicts battle scenes, love affairs and political turmoil during the end of the Han Dynasty - around the year 200. Epic battles entwined with strategy, fancy footwork and sword-fighting and sensational cinematography keep you at the edge of your seat. Of course, it's not flawless; some say the action scenes were anticlimactic while others say the dialogue was a bit too sparse. Impatient others say that splitting the story into a two-part movie is unnecessary. Regardless, I was still thoroughly awed and entertained.

But the exact date when 'Red Cliff' is coming to the international market is still to be determined. Woo has definitely mentioned an international version is in-the-works; the Chinese version is a two-part, of which the second premiers this December. In any case, I am almost certain that it will join the U.S. markets just as 'Hero' and 'Crouching Tiger' did. And it will likely be just as - if not more - successful.