Red Cliff: Difference between revisions

[[File:Red_Cliff_3.jpg|thumb|350px]]

 

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[Action Girl]]: Sun Shangxiang; also technically a [[Lady of War]], since she's a princess, if a rather tomboyish one.

** However, averted with infantrymen. And {{spoiler|Gan Xing}}, who's [[Genre Savvy]] enough to know he's pretty much dead, thus goes for the [[Suicide Attack]].

* [[Arrow Cam]]

* [[Audible Gleam]]: The golden shields reflecting sunlight to blind the soldiers and confuse their horses.

* [[Audible Sharpness]]: Zhou Yu's sword.

* [[Deadly Dodging]]: In the second part, Zhao Yun does this against Wei pikemen coming at him from all sides, with predictable results.

* [[Demoted to Extra]]: To a certain extent, Huang Gai. {{spoiler|Historically, one of the reasons the Wu fleet was able to pull off the fire attack was because Cao Cao was expecting Huang Gai's ships from a false surrender ruse. This was expanded in the novel with an elaborate plan known as the "Bitter Meat Scheme" involving a beating and some [[Feed the Mole]]. [[Handwaved]] in the film when Huang suggests the plan to Zhou Yu, but Zhou dismisses it, saying it's unnecessary}}. He still appears in many scenes, often as [[Those Two Guys]] with Lu Su, and still {{spoiler|leads the initial fire attack}}.

* [[Dying Like Animals]]: By the time Zhuge Liang figures out that plague-ridden corpses have been sent across the river, peasants are already looting them...

* [[Ephebophile]]: Cao Cao admits that he was first taken to Xiao Qiao when he visited her father and caught sight of her quite a while back. "So very young, yet already a lady." YMMV on whether this fits the [[Moral Event Horizon]] better than the actual example below.

* [[Evil Is Hammy]]: Cao Cao.

* [[Expository Hairstyle Change]]: At the end of the big battle, an arrow undoes Cao Cao's topknot, and his hair comes undone. It symbolizes his defeat (while paradoxically making him look more badass).

* [[Fastball Special]]: Zhang Fei throws an enemy into a group of others.

* [[A Father to His Men]]: Liu Bei makes straw footwear for his soldiers ''by hand''. Gan Xing too, {{spoiler|till his final moments}}.

* [[Kill It with Fire]]: The famous strategy Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu use to wipe out a navy eight times the size of their own.

* [[Love Ruins the Realm]]: Cao Cao allows himself to be caught flat-footed by the alliance attack because he was engrossed by Xiao Qiao making tea.

** The popularity of ''Red Cliff'' is probably one reason why ''BB Senshi Sangokuden'' got an [[Animated Adaptation]]. Regardless, Sangokuden is awesome in its own right

** Many tropers (including this one) are probably a little more familiar with Koei's ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' series, where Red Cliff is ''The Battle of Chi-Bi'', although the series share little in common with this movie, aside from characters and small tidbits of reference to the ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]''.

* [[Misfit Mobilization Moment]]: And how!

* [[More Dakka]]: An amusing scene where the Gan Xing keeps asking to make the firebombs larger and larger.

* [[Not Even Bothering with the Accent]]: Chang Chen as Sun Quan; his Taiwanese accent is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

** Shidō Nakamura as Gan Xing also has some noticeably Japanese touches to his Mandarin.

* [[Rain of Arrows]]: Played with by the [[Genre Savvy]] Zhuge Liang, who uses the famous straw boat ruse to steal Wei's arrows.

** Seeing how he's the one who [[Ur Example|invented the ruse]]...

* [[Rousseau Was Right]], [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]]: Every faction simply wants to unite China under their respective rule and bring about an era of peace. The fact every faction is willing to kill lots of people to do so...

* [[Scenery Porn]]: The Southlands are described as "paradise on Earth", and the movie makes sure you know it. The scene during the [[Theme Tune Cameo]] is particularly prevalent.

* [[Seven Minute Lull]]: In the spectator stands at a ball game, which leads to everyone hearing [[Oh Crap|the carrier pigeon hidden on Sun Shangxiang's person.]]

* [[Shoot the Messenger]]: Cao Cao orders the execution of a Wu emissary who brings him news that Sun Quan won't surrender.

* [[Shout-Out]]: Zhao Yun fighting while carrying a baby may be a reference to ''[[Hard Boiled]]''.

* [[Signature Style]]: If there's one director in the whole world who could somehow insert a [[Mexican Standoff]] in a ''period movie'', it's John Woo. {{spoiler|You've got Cao Cao and Zhou Yu with swords at each others' throats, Cao Hong with a sword to Zhou's back, then Sun Quan with a bow and arrow aimed at Cao, and just to add flavor, Xiahou Jun holds Xiao Qiao hostage}}.

** John Woo's [[Disturbed Doves|favourite avians]] make an appearance yet again, and this time, they're even plot-important!

* [[Stalker with a Crush]]: Cao Cao for Xiao Qiao, to an eerie degree.

* [[Stealth Hi Bye]]: Zhou Yu.

* [[Suicide Attack]]: {{spoiler|Gan Xing}}, already wounded by a dozen or so arrows, brings down Cao Cao's main gate by charging at it and throwing explosive charges at suicidally close range. He gets killed in the resulting blast.

* [[Sweet Polly Oliver]]: Shangxiang disguises herself as a soldier in order to infiltrate Cao Cao's camp.

* [[Theme Song Power Up]]: Pay attention during Zhang Fei's [[Foe-Tossing Charge]].

* [[Theme Tune Cameo]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWMYaiqmzVg When Wu army drills led by Zhou Yu are interrupted by a peasant boy with a flute.]

* [[Unkempt Beauty]]: Xiao Qiao in her first scene.

* [[Unspoken Plan Guarantee]]: Zhuge Liang's straw boat plan. And done on an even bigger scale with Liu Bei pulling out his forces.

* [[War Is Hell]]: Yes, the fight sequences are awesome, but they're also horrifyingly ''brutal'' and several scenes in the film are used to illustrate the tragedy caused. While the B plot with Shangxiang overly reeks of [[Romantic Plot Tumor]], {{spoiler|seeing the man who befriended her die before her eyes pretty much destroys her initial wide-eyed belief that being in battle is cool}}.

** Lampshaded earlier in Part 1:

{{quote|'''Zhou Yu''': "You talk about peace but you quote from ''[[The Art of War]]''?"

'''Xiao Qiao''': "I've read your strategy books in secret; the better to understand you."}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Epic Movie]]

[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]