Disappointing.

Before I went into the show, I already knew that the show is only the first half - where the climatic events will only occur in the second - but I nevertheless gave it a go. Having read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I must say I have enough background information, and lots of expectation going into the movie. And perhaps, this was why I felt that disappointed!

The Battles at Red Cliff was certainly one of the many climatic moments in the novel and hence having it being brought to the big screen was definitely great! It’s also one of the many parts of the novel where strategies were played out at their greatest. Heck, I didn’t see any of them - okay, there was one single battle formation though.

This episode after all focused on introducing all the characters and their alliances and their skills. However, I think it was a bit too much trying to build the background. I don’t believe that by watching Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Zhou Yu (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) build up such a strong relationship going to increase the viewers’ affection. Why? For I believe many of us are a familiar enough with part of the history - fictional or not - and for those that are unfamiliar, think they would have gone home more bewildered on what was happening. Truth be told, when the credit rolled, the whole cinema was mumbling away.

The second thing which I found disturbing (that’s more than disappointing) is the portrayal of the heroes being super gung-ho! I always knew they’re heroes, but they ain’t your comic super heroes for goodness sake!

Anyway, to have such a lengthy introduction in trying to build onto the finale battle, think it’s definitely over killed. 4.0/10.0 from me.