What I loved most: Exciting Battle Scenes

What I really hated: Wrong Cast for Zhu Geliang

The movie was captivating right from the start. I thought Hu Jun was unstoppable as Zhao Yun in the Battle of Changban, and stole the limelight from veterans like Tony Leung and Zhang Fengyi (Cao Cao). As usual, his acting and fighting skills are impressive. All the battle scenes were realistic and well-shot; with the battle that made use of formation tactics most awe-inspiring. Tony Leung is a great actor, but somewhat not a winner in periodic costume and sword wielding epics. Spiritually I see Zhou Yu in him, but physically, he lacks the height and the suaveness of the heroic version that one would tend to associate with Zhou after reading San Guo Zhi. But because he is Tony Leung, he has made the part somewhat tolerable and believable. But Takeshi Kaneshiro is another story. Takeshi is a looker and is extremely adorable, but unconvincing as Zhu Geliang. His features are too cosmopolitan, and he fails to portray the depth that one tend to associate with a figure of wisdom like Zhu. It's unfair to say this, but, Tony Leung would play a better Zhu Geliang; and yes, the original cast of Chow Yun Fatt would do very well for Zhou Yu. Lin Chilin is beautiful, but smiles too much in the movie. A little more seriousness at scenes (especially the one with her bandaging Zhou Yu) would render her less airhead, and more substance. She could definitely act, if only given better direction. But of course, as a movie just to entertain, I think Red Cliff Part 1 is worth watching. You'll get your ticket's worth just by feasting on the breath-taking scenery and the rather creative battle scenes.

What I loved most: Excellent dialogue

What I really hated: Too draggy

With a stellar cast like acclaimed director John Woo, multiple award winner Tony Leung, dashing Takeshi Kaneshiro, versatile actors from China and the gorgeous Lin Chiling, the movie could well be one of Asia's best movies. And after watching it myself, I can safely say it did not disappoint. I feel the first 2/3 of the movie is pretty entertaining as there were quite a number of funny conversations between the actors. But the final 1/3 of the show prevented me from giving it a Five-Star rating. The battle scenes were too draggy. Some of them were unnecessary in my opinion. As usual, Tony Leung gave an assured performance as always and Takeshi showed the funny side of Zhuge Liang. Lin Chiling performed relatively well considering this was her first foray into acting. I was quite annoyed when I the love scene involving Tony Leung and Lin Chiling was cut halfway. I think it was censored for this movie to be rated PG, instead of maybe NC-16. It is disrespectful not only to us audience, but also to the actors, especially Lin Chiling. Overall, the movie could be better if it was to be 10-15min shorter. I hope the 2nd part of the movie slated to be released early next year would be a grandstand finish to an exceptional good movie.

What I loved most: The scene when Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang played the guqin

What I really hated: lots of horses falling over and bloodshed..as usual in battlescenes

John Woo's adaption of the classic story of the epic battle of the 3 kingdoms history is good enough to make me stay seated throughout the 2.5 hours. The battle scences are grand and the formations tactics are impressive. Finally some reowned chinese military strategies will be portrayed on screen. Personally i find the movie balanced in the macho scenes of killings and battles, and the quieter scenes where actors and actresses moved the plot ahead. i particularly like the part when the 2 main roles played gu qin to convey their thoughts and sounded each other out. The character shown here for Zhou Yu is not exactly like in the books, but well, movie should be allowed different viewpoints like those old textbooks too. =) The role of Xiao Qiao is nicely acted out by model actress Lin Chiling , no need to be too critical of her lack of acting chops, since anyone in this role of a beauty will appear just like a..well.. beauty.What do you expect right? Vicki Zhao brought lightness to the macho scene, and i like the way comical relief is provided in the movie, not too much and enough to exercise the audience's facial muscles other then tensed up over the battles... Overall, worth watching.

What I loved most: There's part 2

What I really hated: Waste my time watching part 1

As a fan of 3 kingdom, I have great expectation for the movie that use 80 millions in it. So sad that the movie plot did not go the same way as history. The characters in the movies are so wrong as well. Zhou Yu is actually scheming general who actually setup a trap to kill Liu Bei (the invitation to Zhou Yu camp) and Zhuge Liang (making of 100 thousands arrows), so how is it possible Zhao Yu be such a nice guy and friendly with Zhuge Liang in the movie? Liu bei's generals never fight side by side with Sun army, simply becoz Liu army is too small. They just station a distance from Yu's camp, so they won't wipe out by Yu first. Calling Takeshi to play Liang is another casting error. Takeshi simply can't act out the intelligence Liang have, with Liang easily out-smart Yu. I like 'black hawk down' better, as it's plot a true war movie feel with no bed scene, no buffalo and baby horse scene. The formation war scene is too draggy and unreal. Would you continue to run forward in the fog if you see your soldier been shoot to death in front? Would any army chase into a fog from nowhere in the first place? And the real Cao Cao attacking south is never for a woman, not 5%. I thought I can see Yun's fast and flexible spear, Fei's powerful snake spear wipe and Guan's Green Dragon Blade skill, but all I see is they killing the opponents the same way. Never mind the history is, it's what the (movie) fan want to see. So sad…..