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* CaptainErsatz: Gan Xing, based on the historical Gan Ning, right down to being a former pirate. Nobody knows why it was changed, since everyone else was real.
** Probably because [[spoiler:Gan Xing dies during the movie, while Gan Ning historically survives the battle.]] On the other hand, there's also Xiahou Jun, presumably a stand-in for Xiahou Yuan or Xiahou Dun.
** Probably because [[spoiler:Gan Xing dies during the movie, while Gan Ning historically survives the battle.]] On the other hand, there's also Xiahou Jun, presumably a stand-in for Xiahou Yuan or Xiahou Dun.
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* CaptainErsatz: CaptainErsatz:
** GanXing, Xing is based on the historical Gan Ning, right down to being a former pirate. Nobody knows why it was changed, since everyone else was real.
** Probably[[spoiler:Done because [[spoiler:Gan Gan Xing dies during the movie, in a HeroicSacrifice, while Gan Ning historically survives survived the battle.]] On the other hand, there's ]]
** There's also Xiahou Jun, presumably a stand-in for Xiahou Yuan or Xiahou Dun.
** Gan
** Probably
** There's also Xiahou Jun, presumably a stand-in for Xiahou Yuan or Xiahou Dun.
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* FingerPokeOfDoom: Shangxiang brings down Lu Su's horse with just her thumb.
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* FingerPokeOfDoom: FingerPokeOfDoom:
** Shangxiang brings down Lu Su's horse with just her thumb.
** Shangxiang brings down Lu Su's horse with just her thumb.
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''Red Cliff'' (original title 赤壁) is a film directed by JohnWoo and inspired by a famous battle in ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', based on the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China. The first part was released in 2008 and its second part in 2009; in some countries, only a condensed version was released. It stars Creator/TonyLeung, Creator/TakeshiKaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, ChangChen, Hu Jun, Lin Chiling and ZhaoWei.
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''Red Cliff'' (original title 赤壁) is a film directed by JohnWoo and inspired by a famous battle in ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', based on the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China. The first part was released in 2008 and its second part in 2009; in some countries, only a condensed version was released. It stars Creator/TonyLeung, Creator/TakeshiKaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, ChangChen, Creator/ChangChen, Hu Jun, Lin Chiling and ZhaoWei.
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namespacing
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* MerchandiseDriven: Inverted: Namco Bandai's ''BBSenshiSangokuden'' SD Gundam model kits, also featuring characters from ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', were released with no connection to the film intended, until the rising popularity of the movie in Japan led them to re-release its own versions of Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu ([[http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10083925 Koumei Re-GZ and Shuuyu Hyakushiki]]) in a recolored boxset, including dioramas with screenshots from the movie
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* MerchandiseDriven: Inverted: Namco Bandai's ''BBSenshiSangokuden'' ''Toys/BBSenshiSangokuden'' SD Gundam model kits, also featuring characters from ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', were released with no connection to the film intended, until the rising popularity of the movie in Japan led them to re-release its own versions of Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu ([[http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10083925 Koumei Re-GZ and Shuuyu Hyakushiki]]) in a recolored boxset, including dioramas with screenshots from the movie
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''Red Cliff'' (original title 赤壁) is a film directed by JohnWoo and inspired by a famous battle in ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', based on the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China. The first part was released in 2008 and its second part in 2009; in some countries, only a condensed version was released. It stars TonyLeung, Creator/TakeshiKaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, ChangChen, Hu Jun, Lin Chiling and ZhaoWei.
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''Red Cliff'' (original title 赤壁) is a film directed by JohnWoo and inspired by a famous battle in ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', based on the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China. The first part was released in 2008 and its second part in 2009; in some countries, only a condensed version was released. It stars TonyLeung, Creator/TonyLeung, Creator/TakeshiKaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, ChangChen, Hu Jun, Lin Chiling and ZhaoWei.
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* TheSiege: Cao Cao's forces lay siege to Red Cliff.
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* ActorAllusion:
** Sun Shangxiang dressing as a guy while watching a [[ShaolinSoccer ball game... with martial arts...]]
** Zhao Wei would again dress as a man while playing the titular character [[Disney/{{Mulan}} Hua Mulan]].
** There's a possible jab at Lin Chiling's career in modelling, when Zhou Yu drinks her tea and praises it to her face, like he was in a commercial.
*** Speaking of whom, Zhou Yu interrupts Zhang Fei's calligraphy practice in order to analyse his handwriting. This was actually a plot point when TonyLeung starred in ''{{Hero}}''.
** Sun Shangxiang dressing as a guy while watching a [[ShaolinSoccer ball game... with martial arts...]]
** Zhao Wei would again dress as a man while playing the titular character [[Disney/{{Mulan}} Hua Mulan]].
** There's a possible jab at Lin Chiling's career in modelling, when Zhou Yu drinks her tea and praises it to her face, like he was in a commercial.
*** Speaking of whom, Zhou Yu interrupts Zhang Fei's calligraphy practice in order to analyse his handwriting. This was actually a plot point when TonyLeung starred in ''{{Hero}}''.
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* DuelingMovies: With another Three Kingdoms movie, subtitled ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kingdoms:_Resurrection_of_the_Dragon Resurrection of the Dragon]]'', set several chapters later and starring Creator/AndyLau as Zhao Yun.
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''Red Cliff'' (original title 赤壁) is a film directed by JohnWoo and inspired by a famous battle in ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', based on the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China. The first part was released in 2008 and its second part in 2009; in some countries, only a condensed version was released. It stars TonyLeung, TakeshiKaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, ChangChen, Hu Jun, Lin Chiling and ZhaoWei.
to:
''Red Cliff'' (original title 赤壁) is a film directed by JohnWoo and inspired by a famous battle in ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', based on the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China. The first part was released in 2008 and its second part in 2009; in some countries, only a condensed version was released. It stars TonyLeung, TakeshiKaneshiro, Creator/TakeshiKaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, ChangChen, Hu Jun, Lin Chiling and ZhaoWei.
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* BladeOnAStick: Examples abound throughout the film, with the most notable being the guan dao wielded by Guan Yu (the weapon's namesake).
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* {{Expy}}: Gan Xing is based on Gan Ning (courtesy name Xingba). "based" because the historical Gan Ning didn't die-- much less done a HeroicSacrifice, in the Red Cliffs campaign.
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* {{Expy}}: Gan Xing is based on Gan Ning (courtesy name Xingba). "based" because the historical historical/novel Gan Ning didn't die-- much less done did a HeroicSacrifice, in the Red Cliffs campaign.campaign. Also, he dies at the Battle of Xiaoting in the hands of Shamoke in ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''.
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added tropes.
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* {{Expy}}: Gan Xing is based on Gan Ning (courtesy name Xingba). "based" because the historical Gan Ning didn't die-- much less done a HeroicSacrifice, in the Red Cliffs campaign.
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* MsFanservice: Xiao Qiao stars in a [[CoitusEnsues Gratuitious Sex Scene]] with Zhou Yu to make the audience care about her more, [[spoiler:since she goes to Cao Cao's camp before the actual battle later after in an attempt to get him to throw the fight]]. Also, she is usually the focus of the scenes she's in and the camera also loves to focus whatever part of her skin she has exposed at that time, notably on that BareYourMidriff scene.
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Dying Like Animals was supposed to be cut months ago per TRS, so these examples need to go
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* DyingLikeAnimals: By the time Zhuge Liang figures out that plague-ridden corpses have been sent across the river, peasants are already looting them...
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* SingleMaltVision: After drinking with Zhou Yu, Jiang Gan sees double when he overhears him speaking about borrowing arrows from friends across the river.
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Agreeing with second editor on Shout Out entry; it\'s just something from the source material
* LibationForTheDead: In part 1, the generals of Wu and Shu pout out some wine in memory of the messenger slain by Cao Cao.
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* OneBuwwetWeft: Invoked when Zhou Yu [[SecretTestOfCharacter deliberately leaves Sun Quan with just one arrow on a hunting trip]].
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* OneBuwwetWeft: OneBulletLeft: Invoked when Zhou Yu [[SecretTestOfCharacter deliberately leaves Sun Quan with just one arrow on a hunting trip]].
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* RainOfArrows: Played with by the GenreSavvy Zhuge Liang, who uses the famous straw boat ruse to steal Wei's arrows.
** Seeing how he's the one who [[UrExample invented the ruse]]...
** Seeing how he's the one who [[UrExample invented the ruse]]...
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* RainOfArrows: Played with by the GenreSavvy Zhuge Liang, who uses the his famous straw boat ruse to steal Wei's arrows.
** Seeing how he'sarrows. It works so well, the one who [[UrExample invented the ruse]]...ships start listing before he turns them around.
** Seeing how he's
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* ShoutOut:
** Zhao Yun fighting while carrying a baby may be a reference to ''HardBoiled''.
** Would be an inversion actually, since Zhao Yun historically did it first.
** Zhao Yun fighting while carrying a baby may be a reference to ''HardBoiled''.
** Would be an inversion actually, since Zhao Yun historically did it first.
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** Zhao Wei would again dress as a man while playing the titular character [[{{Mulan}} Hua Mulan]].
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** Zhao Wei would again dress as a man while playing the titular character [[{{Mulan}} [[Disney/{{Mulan}} Hua Mulan]].
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* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao get it on like it's their last time, even though [[ForegoneConclusion it really isn't]]; Cao Cao has a Xiao Qiao stand-in and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything frequent headaches.]]
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* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao get it on like it's their last time, even though [[ForegoneConclusion it really isn't]]; isn't]] (although it might be the one which caused her pregnancy later); Cao Cao has a Xiao Qiao stand-in and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything frequent headaches.]]
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** Particularly, the three Shu generals(Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhaou Yun) are so immensely badass that they turn battles BY THEMSELVES.
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** Particularly, the three Shu generals(Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhaou Zhao Yun) are so immensely badass that they turn battles BY THEMSELVES.
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** [[{{Mythbusters}} "GAN XING WANT BIG BOOM!"]]
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** [[{{Mythbusters}} [[Series/{{Mythbusters}} "GAN XING WANT BIG BOOM!"]]
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* ActorAllusion: Sun Shangxiang dressing as a guy while watching a [[ShaolinSoccer ball game... with martial arts...]]
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* ActorAllusion: ActorAllusion:
** Sun Shangxiang dressing as a guy while watching a [[ShaolinSoccer ball game... with martial arts...]]
** Sun Shangxiang dressing as a guy while watching a [[ShaolinSoccer ball game... with martial arts...]]
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* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Chang Chen as Sun Quan; his Taiwanese accent is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
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* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent:
** Chang Chen as Sun Quan; his Taiwanese accent is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
** Chang Chen as Sun Quan; his Taiwanese accent is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
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* ShoutOut: Zhao Yun fighting while carrying a baby may be a reference to ''HardBoiled''.
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* ShoutOut: ShoutOut:
** Zhao Yun fighting while carrying a baby may be a reference to ''HardBoiled''.
** Zhao Yun fighting while carrying a baby may be a reference to ''HardBoiled''.
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* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Ken Watanabe (of ''TheLastSamurai'' fame) was originally selected to potray Cao Cao, but Chinese audiences were too vocal in protesting having a Japanese actor portray a known Chinese historical figure. JohnWoo wanted to avoid UnfortunateImplications, so went with Zhang Fengyi. Also, Chow Yun-Fat would've been playing Zhou Yu, and was earlier considered to portray Liu Bei, but pulled out following a dispute with the producer for not having enough time to prepare for the script. In fact, Tony Leung was Woo's first choice to play Zhuge Liang, but he turned it down; Leung came back onto the set as Zhou Yu, due to the urgency in being unable to cast Chow.
** They complained about Ken Watanabe but let Takeshi Kaneshiro pass?
*** Kaneshiro is actually half-Taiwanese, and got his big break as a pop idol in Taiwan under the Mandarin translation for his name "Jincheng Wu".
** They complained about Ken Watanabe but let Takeshi Kaneshiro pass?
*** Kaneshiro is actually half-Taiwanese, and got his big break as a pop idol in Taiwan under the Mandarin translation for his name "Jincheng Wu".
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** [[spoiler: Xiao Qiao]] uses this tactic to buy time for the Sun army.
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* AnimalMotifs: Zhuge Liang and Sun Quan compare Cao Cao to a tiger they hunt in the woods. The hunt is really a SecretTestOfCharacter for Sun Quan to decide on whether or not to go to war with Cao Cao.
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** Could be an inversion actually, since Zhao Yun historically did it first.
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** Could Would be an inversion actually, since Zhao Yun historically did it first.
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* {{Kiai}}: "HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" *Zhang Fei ''[[BadAss tackles a fucking horse''*
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* {{Kiai}}: "HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" *Zhang Fei ''[[BadAss tackles a fucking horse''*horse]]''*
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** Particularly, the three Shu generals(Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhaou Yun) are so immensely badass that they turn battles BY THEMSELVES.
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* {{Kiai}}: "HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" *Zhang Fei ''[[BadAss tackles a fucking horse''*
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* YamatoNadeshiko: Xiao Qiao. Lampshaded in the following dialogue:
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* YamatoNadeshiko: Xiao Qiao. (Technically, more like a Zhōnghuá Yěhuā.) Lampshaded in the following dialogue:
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** Similarly, in the first part, Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang play zithers together instead of discussing the potential alliance. They apparently gain an understanding of each other by [[AwesomenessByAnalysis how the other plays]], and thus secure the alliance without actually talking about it at all.
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expunging natter
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*** Amusingly accurate though, at least towards modern-day 'longhaired badasses' of the west. Mad? You've got rock stars, ''ESPECIALLY'' heavy metal. And it seems like every longhair sports star is 20 times as insane as his crewcut or cleanshaven counterparts. Then there's the fact many rockers and programmers started as disaffected youth, ejected from their domiciles by angry traditionalist parents. Poor? Initially. Homeless? Yes. Mad? Well, just look at Ozzy. And hippies badass or not, [[JustifiedTrope tend to pride themselves]] on a certain level of nomadery. And of course, there's bikers, but in recent decades [[BaldOfAwesome they've gone half and half]].
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* BromanticFoil: Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, natch.
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** As Lady Sun prepares to give her prospective fiancee Liu Bei a TapOnTheHead, Lu Su (who'd suffered from the same technique earlier, albeit via his horse) realizes just beforehand and is this ''personified.''
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* DuelingMovies: With another Three Kingdoms movie, subtitled ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kingdoms:_Resurrection_of_the_Dragon Resurrection of the Dragon]]'', set several chapters later and starring AndyLau as Zhao Yun.
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* DuelingMovies: With another Three Kingdoms movie, subtitled ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kingdoms:_Resurrection_of_the_Dragon Resurrection of the Dragon]]'', set several chapters later and starring AndyLau Creator/AndyLau as Zhao Yun.
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Red_Cliff_3.jpg]]
''Red Cliff'' (original title 赤壁) is a film directed by JohnWoo and inspired by a famous battle in ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', based on the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China. The first part was released in 2008 and its second part in 2009; in some countries, only a condensed version was released. It stars TonyLeung, TakeshiKaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, ChangChen, Hu Jun, Lin Chiling and ZhaoWei.
In 208 CE, the centuries-old Han Dynasty is crumbling. To the South, warlords Sun Quan and Liu Bei have set up the independent kingdoms of Wu and Shu, respectively, while the scheming Prime Minister Cao Cao obtains from the young, naive Emperor leadership of a huge army to be sent to crush Sun and Liu's "rebellions". Cao Cao's Wei forces swiftly advance into the Kingdom of Shu and face Liu Bei's army at the Battle of Changban, where Liu's sworn brothers Zhang Fei and Guan Yu (who will later be deified as the Chinese God of War) successfully hold back the attackers, giving civilians enough time to evacuate. However, despite Zhao Yun's bravery, Liu's wife is killed by Wei soldiers, and only his infant son can be saved.
After the battle, Liu's master strategist Zhuge Liang is sent to the Kingdom of Wu to talk Sun Quan into an alliance against the Wei threat. Zhuge, who finds in Sun's general Zhou Yu a kindred spirit, convinces Sun to fight rather than surrender. The decision is taken to face Cao's army at the strategic stronghold of [[TitleDrop Red Cliff]]. During a first skirmish, Sun Quan's sister Sun Shangxiang's [[AmazonBrigade all-women cavalry force]] lures Cao's vanguard into a trap, and with the clever use of the Eight Trigrams Formation, Wu and Shu's forces defeats the enemy.
Cao's forces set up camp on the opposite riverbank to Red Cliff, and begins to plan for a large-scale naval attack. However, Shangxiang infiltrates the camp and provides Sun and Liu with valuable reconnaisance. An outbreak of typhoid fever weakens Wei forces, but Cao cunningly sends contaminated corpses to Red Cliff, resulting in Wu and Shu soldiers strickened with the deadly infection. Disheartened by the epidemic, Liu Bei pulls out of the alliance, although Zhuge stays behind out of personal loyalty to Zhou Yu. In order to remedy Wu's lack of arrows, Zhuge sends straw boats within range of Wei forces, and [[TheThirtySixStratagems the latter unleash thousands of arrows into the boats]].
Shangxiang returns from Cao's camp with a map of his army's formation. In order to buy time for a southeastern wind to be used as a fire attack in Wu's preemptive, Zhou's wife Xiao Qiao personally goes to Cao, knowing he has long since been infatuated with her, with the intent to distract him while Wu attacks. As the wind turns in the middle of the night, Wu send fireships to destroy Cao's navy, while Liu Bei, who had only faked defection, strikes Cao's camp from land. With the Battle of Red Cliff finished, Cao finds himself defeated and retreats to the North.
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!!Contains examples of:
* ActionGirl: Sun Shangxiang; also technically a LadyOfWar, since she's a princess, if a rather tomboyish one.
* ActorAllusion: Sun Shangxiang dressing as a guy while watching a [[ShaolinSoccer ball game... with martial arts...]]
** Zhao Wei would again dress as a man while playing the titular character [[{{Mulan}} Hua Mulan]].
** There's a possible jab at Lin Chiling's career in modelling, when Zhou Yu drinks her tea and praises it to her face, like he was in a commercial.
*** Speaking of whom, Zhou Yu interrupts Zhang Fei's calligraphy practice in order to analyse his handwriting. This was actually a plot point when TonyLeung starred in ''{{Hero}}''.
* AdaptationalBadass: Xiao Qiao. No, really. From a side character most people with passing knowlege of ''Three Kingdoms'' have never heard of, to someone who walks right into enemy territory and calmly has tea with the MagnificentBastard, it's safe to say JohnWoo has done for Xiao Qiao what [[TransformersFilmSeries Michael Bay did for Bumblebee.]] It's not hard to see how rumors that she would get a fight scene as well would come about.
* AdaptationDistillation: The film combines some of the elements from ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' and the historical fiction ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''.
* AnAesop: Zhou Yu demonstrates one by snapping a single straw, then trying and failing with a whole handful to illustrate the point of the alliance. Also:
--> '''Children''': "What use is reading if we're hardly able to eat?"
--> '''Guan Yu''': "When you have mastered reading, you will have much to eat. You'll learn in time."
* AFatherToHisMen: Liu Bei makes straw footwear for his soldiers ''by hand''. Gan Xing too, [[spoiler:till his final moments]]
* AmazonBrigade: Sun Shangxiang's all-women cavalry archers.
* AngryEyebrows: Gan Xing's give him a perpetual scowl similar to Japanese woodblock prints of ancient samurai (appropriate since his actor is Japanese).
* AnnoyingArrows: Most of the characters shrug off up to half a dozen arrows
** However, averted with infantrymen. And [[spoiler:Gan Xing]], who's GenreSavvy enough to know he's pretty much dead, thus goes for the SuicideAttack.
* ArrowCam
* ArrowsOnFire: Used during the climatic battle to set off explosives, or just take down unfortunate mooks.
* AudibleGleam: The golden shields reflecting sunlight to blind the soldiers and confuse their horses.
* AudibleSharpness: Zhou Yu's sword.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking
* AutomaticCrossbows: Historically Zhuge Liang [[UrExample invented them]]. China used them in battle up until the mid 1800's.
* BattleChant: Cao Cao's troops are dying of typhoid. Then, in a rare, villainous example of this trope, he gives a rallying speech to his men, who gather around him and together with the rest of his troops begin chanting 'Victory!' over and over again.
* BackToBackBadasses: Zhou Yu and Zhao Yun
* BadAss: Pretty much the entire cast. One of them is so badass, he'll actually be [[MemeticBadass worshipped as a god in the following centuries]]
* BerserkButton: Do NOT interrupt Zhang Fei's calligraphy practice! [[FridgeBrilliance It's supposed to cultivate DISCIPLINE!!]]
* BigBadassBattleSequence: Three in total:
** The opening where Liu Bei's army is on the retreat.
** The climax of Part One, [[spoiler: where the allies ambush Cao Cao's cavalry using the tortoise formation]].
** The climax of Part Two, perhaps one of the purest examples of this trope ''ever,'' running over half an hour of unbroken screen time in which [[spoiler: the allies launch their full-blown assault on Cao Cao's camp, complete with catapults, hails of arrows, exploding fire ships, bombs, cavalry charges, and much more]].
* BittersweetEnding: Cao Cao is defeated, but at great cost to both sides. It's worse for those who know what happened next between the Shu and Wu alliance.
* BoisterousBruiser: Zhang Fei
* CannotSpitItOut: Xiao Qiao can't bring herself to tell Zhou Yu that [[spoiler:she's pregnant until she pretends to defect to Cao Cao]], however she all but spells it out for him before that.
** Actually, [[spoiler:she spells it out much earlier, when he asks her why she keeps writing the same Chinese characters for "peace" over and over again, and she puts his head to her stomach, asking if he can hear anything.]] Zhou Yu was apparently holding the IdiotBall at the time.
*** He seems like less of an idiot in the full version. [[spoiler: They had been trying to name a foal that Zhuge Liang helped birth recently.]]
* CaptainErsatz: Gan Xing, based on the historical Gan Ning, right down to being a former pirate. Nobody knows why it was changed, since everyone else was real.
** Probably because [[spoiler:Gan Xing dies during the movie, while Gan Ning historically survives the battle.]] On the other hand, there's also Xiahou Jun, presumably a stand-in for Xiahou Yuan or Xiahou Dun.
* CasualDangerDialogue: During the straw boat scheme, along with a cup of tea. Turns out they merely ''collect'' the arrows and don't provide much ''defense'' against them...
* CloseCallHaircut: Achieved by an arrow through the topknot.
* CoolOldGuy: Huang Gai and Guan Yu
* CulturedBadass: Guan Yu combines this with FriendToAllChildren as he spends his offtime as a schoolteacher. Whereas Zhang Fei has yet to master calligraphy.
** Zhou Yu, too. The northerners know him more for being a great musician, and their southern allies have to warn him that he has been their deadliest foe for years.
* DeadlyDodging: In the second part, Zhao Yun does this against Wei pikemen coming at him from all sides, with predictable results.
* DemotedToExtra: 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 FeedTheMole. 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 ThoseTwoGuys with Lu Su, and still [[spoiler: leads the initial fire attack]].
* DistractedByTheSexy: Most of the male characters become visibly flustered when Shangxiang takes her enemy uniform off in front of them, before Xiao Qiao makes them turn away.
* DuelingMovies: With another Three Kingdoms movie, subtitled ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kingdoms:_Resurrection_of_the_Dragon Resurrection of the Dragon]]'', set several chapters later and starring AndyLau as Zhao Yun.
* DueToTheDead: Zhou Yu decides to give the bodies of soldiers Cao Cao sent across the river a proper funeral, despite them being enemies.
* DyingLikeAnimals: 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 MoralEventHorizon better than the actual example below.
** It is also debatable whether he is an ephebophile or he suffers from SingleTargetSexuality. Insofar as the movie is concerned, he is only interested in women that at least resemble of Xiao Qiao. He certainly does not lose interest in her when she becomes an adult. This is a plot point.
* EpicFlail: In the first part, a ''huge'' chain of spiked rods is used to break a seemingly-impassable shield barrier. In the second part, Zhao Yun rips the ropes off a burning barricade with his spear and uses it ([[IncendiaryExponent still burning too]]) like this.
* EpicMovie: This is big for China, a big place we're talking about, and one of the most famous Chinese historical dramas.
* EverythingsBetterWithRainbows: A rainbow appears over the mountains as Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu part.
* EvilChancellor: Cao Cao's transparent ambition is to usurp the imperial throne once he's done with the southern rebellions.
* EvilIsHammy: Cao Cao
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: 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)
** Long, unfastened hair on men would only be considered badass to Western audiences. To the Chinese, only the mad, the homeless, and/or the poorest of the poor would wear their hair that way -- emphasizing Cao Cao's defeat.
*** Amusingly accurate though, at least towards modern-day 'longhaired badasses' of the west. Mad? You've got rock stars, ''ESPECIALLY'' heavy metal. And it seems like every longhair sports star is 20 times as insane as his crewcut or cleanshaven counterparts. Then there's the fact many rockers and programmers started as disaffected youth, ejected from their domiciles by angry traditionalist parents. Poor? Initially. Homeless? Yes. Mad? Well, just look at Ozzy. And hippies badass or not, [[JustifiedTrope tend to pride themselves]] on a certain level of nomadery. And of course, there's bikers, but in recent decades [[BaldOfAwesome they've gone half and half]].
* FastballSpecial: Zhang Fei throws an enemy into a group of others.
* FingerPokeOfDoom: Shangxiang brings down Lu Su's horse with just her thumb.
** And then [[spoiler:she does the same thing to ''Liu Bei''. The OhCrap looks on Zhuge Liang and Lu Su's faces when they realize what she's up to are priceless]]
* FirstLove : Sun Shangxiang, the princess of Wu, forcibly rejects any proposal ideas her brother makes [[spoiler:including knocking out Liu Bei with a punch]], and [[spoiler:falls in love with a soldier from Wei who also happens to be the star athlete. The first time she saw him, he single-handidly dominated a soccer-esque game]].
** [[spoiler: The athlete also happens to be dumb--and strong--as an ox. And she was masquerading as a man at the time. So whether this constitutes love or friendship is open to interpretation.]]
* FoeTossingCharge: A few, but [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4qbQCJ9QKs&t=6m50s a particularly epic one]] courtesy of [[ImplacableMan Zhang Fei]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the second part, Zhou Yu reminisces about his school days with his old friend Jiang Gan, bringing up how [[ChekhovsSkill he faked his handwriting and got him in trouble.]] This is ''exactly'' how he manages to con Cao Cao and screw over Jiang Gan in what turns out to be the very last time...
** Xiao Qiao asks Zhou Yu whether the bloodshed could have been avoided if they simply sat down with Cao Cao and discussed it over tea. Towards the end of the movie, that's pretty much what she does.
** Not a foreshadowing of anything in the film, but the exchange between Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang about the possibility of them ending up on opposite sides of a battle in the future is precisely what happens a little while later.
* GenghisGambit: The alliance between the Shu and Wu is very much the result of them facing a common threat
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao get it on like it's their last time, even though [[ForegoneConclusion it really isn't]]; Cao Cao has a Xiao Qiao stand-in and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything frequent headaches.]]
* HeroicBSOD: Sun Shangxiang [[spoiler:when her friend in the Wei Army is killed before her eyes]]. She doesn't move until after the battle is over.
* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: The biggest examples are probably heart-throbs Takeshi Kaneshiro and Chang Chen as Zhuge Liang and Sun Quan, respectively. Tony Leung as Zhou Yu may be an exception, as Zhou Yu was actually considered very handsome by his contemporaries.
* HonorBeforeReason: Why Guan Yu didn't kill Cao Cao when he had the chance.
* IdiosyncraticWipes: The second part begins with a ClipShow of the first, punctuated by sword slashes. They're maintained for the rest of the movie
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Guan Yu does this to Wei pikemen ''with their own pikes''. Also see DeadlyDodging above.
* IncendiaryExponent: The fireship attack.
* KillItWithFire: The famous strategy Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu use to wipe out a navy eight times the size of their own.
* LoveRuinsTheRealm: Cao Cao allows himself to be caught flat-footed by the alliance attack because he was engrossed by Xiao Qiao making tea.
* MerchandiseDriven: Inverted: Namco Bandai's ''BBSenshiSangokuden'' SD Gundam model kits, also featuring characters from ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', were released with no connection to the film intended, until the rising popularity of the movie in Japan led them to re-release its own versions of Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu ([[http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10083925 Koumei Re-GZ and Shuuyu Hyakushiki]]) in a recolored boxset, including dioramas with screenshots from the movie
** The popularity of ''Red Cliff'' is probably one reason why BB Senshi Sangokuden got an AnimatedAdaptation. Regardless, Sangokuden is awesome in its own right
** Many tropers (including this one) are probably a little more familiar with Koei's DynastyWarriors 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 ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''
* MisfitMobilizationMoment: And how!
* MoreDakka: An amusing scene where the Gan Xing keeps asking to make the firebombs larger and larger.
** [[{{Mythbusters}} "GAN XING WANT BIG BOOM!"]]
* MundaneMadeAwesome: In the second part. Watch as Zhou Yu practices with his sword while Xiao Qiao quotes ''TheArtOfWar'' (see below) and brews the ''CRAP'' out of her tea.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: 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.
* OhCrap: Cao Cao's tricked into believing his two surrendered fleet admirals are traitors, and realizes he's being duped at the last possible second. "My Lord, if you kill them, who will lead the navy?" "...HALT!" *slice* He stands there paralyzed with anger
** Also when [[spoiler: he looks on with shocked disbelief as the wind changes direction and Huang Gai commences the fire attack]].
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Zhuge Liang, on top of being a brilliant strategist, is also something of an expert in music, medicine, meteorology, midwifery and rearing pigeons. The movie itself hangs a lampshade on this.
* OneBuwwetWeft: Invoked when Zhou Yu [[SecretTestOfCharacter deliberately leaves Sun Quan with just one arrow on a hunting trip]].
* PetTheDog: Cao Cao's speech to his sick troops, which galvanizes his entire army behind him.
** AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Cao Cao is just showing how charismatic he is to manipulate his soldiers into fighting for him. It's actually more likely an accurate interpretation considering it's ''Cao Cao''.
* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: When Shangxiang strips to her undergarments to unroll the map of Cao Cao's camp she had smuggled out under her clothes, Xiao Qiao repeatedly tries to get her to put her robe back on.
* RainOfArrows: Played with by the GenreSavvy Zhuge Liang, who uses the famous straw boat ruse to steal Wei's arrows.
** Seeing how he's the one who [[UrExample invented the ruse]]...
* RasputinianDeath: It takes a ''lot'' to kill those guys, especially if they're generals.
* ReformedCriminal: Gan Xing and his men are former pirates.
* RousseauWasRight, HumansAreBastards: 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...
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Both Liu Bei and Sun Quan lead their respective forces to battle. Then there's [[RebelliousPrincess Shangxiang]].
* RuleOfCool: Each and every battle sequence. Gold-plated shields, people catching a spear in mid-air and throwing it at somebody else before landing, generals running around ''on top of'' shields...
* SceneryPorn: The Southlands are described as "paradise on Earth", and the movie makes sure you know it. The scene during the ThemeTuneCameo is particularly prevalent.
** Geographically, the South was full of fertile, lush river valleys, while the flatlands of the North were too cold and dry to sustain agriculture.
* SevenMinuteLull: In the spectator stands at a ball game, which leads to everyone hearing [[OhCrap the carrier pigeon hidden on Sun Shangxiang's person.]]
* ShootTheMessenger: Cao Cao orders the execution of a Wu emissary who brings him news that Sun Quan won't surrender.
* ShoutOut: Zhao Yun fighting while carrying a baby may be a reference to ''HardBoiled''.
** Could be an inversion actually, since Zhao Yun historically did it first.
* SignatureStyle: If there's one director in the whole world who could somehow insert a MexicanStandoff in a ''period movie'', it's John Woo. [[spoiler:You've got Cao Cao and Zhou Yu with swords at each other's 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 [[DisturbedDoves favourite avians]] make an appearance yet again, and this time, they're even plot-important!
* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Invoked. Zhou Yu's fake letters even mimic the Wei generals' ''writing errors''.
* StalkerWithACrush: Cao Cao for Xiao Qiao, to an eerie degree.
* StealthHiBye: Zhou Yu
* TheStrategist: Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang.
* SuicideAttack: [[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.
* SweetPollyOliver: Shangxiang disguises herself as a soldier in order to infiltrate Cao Cao's camp.
* TapOnTheHead: Shangxiang has a talent for these. First, she uses it on Lu Su's horse in response to his StayInTheKitchen attitude. Then gets spun into a BrickJoke when she uses it on ''Liu Bei'', and [[OhCrap Lu Su is the first to see it coming...]]
* ThemeSongPowerUp: Pay attention during Zhang Fei's FoeTossingCharge.
* ThemeTuneCameo: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWMYaiqmzVg When Wu army drills led by Zhou Yu are interrupted by a peasant boy with a flute.]]
* {{Understatement}}: When Zhou Yu asks Zhuge Liang whether he knows strategy, the latter replies "A little".
* UnkemptBeauty: Xiao Qiao in her first scene.
* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Zhuge Liang's straw boat plan. And done on an even bigger scale with Liu Bei pulling out his forces.
* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Shangxiang hides the map of Cao Cao's camp wrapped around her torso, and [[FanService casually undresses to remove it]].
* WarIsHell: 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 RomanticPlotTumor, [[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:
--> '''Zhuge Liang''': "Princess, have you ever fought in a war?"
--> '''Sun Shangxiang''': "There's always a first time!"
--> '''Zhou Yu''': "The first time I fought, I wished there was never a second."
* WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife: A statement echoed when the alliance finally defeats the Wei forces.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Ken Watanabe (of ''TheLastSamurai'' fame) was originally selected to potray Cao Cao, but Chinese audiences were too vocal in protesting having a Japanese actor portray a known Chinese historical figure. JohnWoo wanted to avoid UnfortunateImplications, so went with Zhang Fengyi. Also, Chow Yun-Fat would've been playing Zhou Yu, and was earlier considered to portray Liu Bei, but pulled out following a dispute with the producer for not having enough time to prepare for the script. In fact, Tony Leung was Woo's first choice to play Zhuge Liang, but he turned it down; Leung came back onto the set as Zhou Yu, due to the urgency in being unable to cast Chow.
** They complained about Ken Watanabe but let Takeshi Kaneshiro pass?
*** Kaneshiro is actually half-Taiwanese, and got his big break as a pop idol in Taiwan under the Mandarin translation for his name "Jincheng Wu".
* WickedCultured: Cao Cao
* WomenInRefrigerators: Liu Bei's wives in the beginning.
* YamatoNadeshiko: Xiao Qiao. Lampshaded in the following dialogue:
--> '''Zhou Yu''': "You talk about peace but you quote from ''TheArtOfWar''?"
--> '''Xiao Qiao''': "I've read your strategy books in secret; the better to understand you."
* YouHaveFailedMe: Cao Cao executes his admirals for falling for Zhuge Liang's aforementioned ruse. To be fair, it's also because he'd been given false information about their being on the other side's payroll
----
''Red Cliff'' (original title 赤壁) is a film directed by JohnWoo and inspired by a famous battle in ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', based on the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China. The first part was released in 2008 and its second part in 2009; in some countries, only a condensed version was released. It stars TonyLeung, TakeshiKaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, ChangChen, Hu Jun, Lin Chiling and ZhaoWei.
In 208 CE, the centuries-old Han Dynasty is crumbling. To the South, warlords Sun Quan and Liu Bei have set up the independent kingdoms of Wu and Shu, respectively, while the scheming Prime Minister Cao Cao obtains from the young, naive Emperor leadership of a huge army to be sent to crush Sun and Liu's "rebellions". Cao Cao's Wei forces swiftly advance into the Kingdom of Shu and face Liu Bei's army at the Battle of Changban, where Liu's sworn brothers Zhang Fei and Guan Yu (who will later be deified as the Chinese God of War) successfully hold back the attackers, giving civilians enough time to evacuate. However, despite Zhao Yun's bravery, Liu's wife is killed by Wei soldiers, and only his infant son can be saved.
After the battle, Liu's master strategist Zhuge Liang is sent to the Kingdom of Wu to talk Sun Quan into an alliance against the Wei threat. Zhuge, who finds in Sun's general Zhou Yu a kindred spirit, convinces Sun to fight rather than surrender. The decision is taken to face Cao's army at the strategic stronghold of [[TitleDrop Red Cliff]]. During a first skirmish, Sun Quan's sister Sun Shangxiang's [[AmazonBrigade all-women cavalry force]] lures Cao's vanguard into a trap, and with the clever use of the Eight Trigrams Formation, Wu and Shu's forces defeats the enemy.
Cao's forces set up camp on the opposite riverbank to Red Cliff, and begins to plan for a large-scale naval attack. However, Shangxiang infiltrates the camp and provides Sun and Liu with valuable reconnaisance. An outbreak of typhoid fever weakens Wei forces, but Cao cunningly sends contaminated corpses to Red Cliff, resulting in Wu and Shu soldiers strickened with the deadly infection. Disheartened by the epidemic, Liu Bei pulls out of the alliance, although Zhuge stays behind out of personal loyalty to Zhou Yu. In order to remedy Wu's lack of arrows, Zhuge sends straw boats within range of Wei forces, and [[TheThirtySixStratagems the latter unleash thousands of arrows into the boats]].
Shangxiang returns from Cao's camp with a map of his army's formation. In order to buy time for a southeastern wind to be used as a fire attack in Wu's preemptive, Zhou's wife Xiao Qiao personally goes to Cao, knowing he has long since been infatuated with her, with the intent to distract him while Wu attacks. As the wind turns in the middle of the night, Wu send fireships to destroy Cao's navy, while Liu Bei, who had only faked defection, strikes Cao's camp from land. With the Battle of Red Cliff finished, Cao finds himself defeated and retreats to the North.
-----
!!Contains examples of:
* ActionGirl: Sun Shangxiang; also technically a LadyOfWar, since she's a princess, if a rather tomboyish one.
* ActorAllusion: Sun Shangxiang dressing as a guy while watching a [[ShaolinSoccer ball game... with martial arts...]]
** Zhao Wei would again dress as a man while playing the titular character [[{{Mulan}} Hua Mulan]].
** There's a possible jab at Lin Chiling's career in modelling, when Zhou Yu drinks her tea and praises it to her face, like he was in a commercial.
*** Speaking of whom, Zhou Yu interrupts Zhang Fei's calligraphy practice in order to analyse his handwriting. This was actually a plot point when TonyLeung starred in ''{{Hero}}''.
* AdaptationalBadass: Xiao Qiao. No, really. From a side character most people with passing knowlege of ''Three Kingdoms'' have never heard of, to someone who walks right into enemy territory and calmly has tea with the MagnificentBastard, it's safe to say JohnWoo has done for Xiao Qiao what [[TransformersFilmSeries Michael Bay did for Bumblebee.]] It's not hard to see how rumors that she would get a fight scene as well would come about.
* AdaptationDistillation: The film combines some of the elements from ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' and the historical fiction ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''.
* AnAesop: Zhou Yu demonstrates one by snapping a single straw, then trying and failing with a whole handful to illustrate the point of the alliance. Also:
--> '''Children''': "What use is reading if we're hardly able to eat?"
--> '''Guan Yu''': "When you have mastered reading, you will have much to eat. You'll learn in time."
* AFatherToHisMen: Liu Bei makes straw footwear for his soldiers ''by hand''. Gan Xing too, [[spoiler:till his final moments]]
* AmazonBrigade: Sun Shangxiang's all-women cavalry archers.
* AngryEyebrows: Gan Xing's give him a perpetual scowl similar to Japanese woodblock prints of ancient samurai (appropriate since his actor is Japanese).
* AnnoyingArrows: Most of the characters shrug off up to half a dozen arrows
** However, averted with infantrymen. And [[spoiler:Gan Xing]], who's GenreSavvy enough to know he's pretty much dead, thus goes for the SuicideAttack.
* ArrowCam
* ArrowsOnFire: Used during the climatic battle to set off explosives, or just take down unfortunate mooks.
* AudibleGleam: The golden shields reflecting sunlight to blind the soldiers and confuse their horses.
* AudibleSharpness: Zhou Yu's sword.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking
* AutomaticCrossbows: Historically Zhuge Liang [[UrExample invented them]]. China used them in battle up until the mid 1800's.
* BattleChant: Cao Cao's troops are dying of typhoid. Then, in a rare, villainous example of this trope, he gives a rallying speech to his men, who gather around him and together with the rest of his troops begin chanting 'Victory!' over and over again.
* BackToBackBadasses: Zhou Yu and Zhao Yun
* BadAss: Pretty much the entire cast. One of them is so badass, he'll actually be [[MemeticBadass worshipped as a god in the following centuries]]
* BerserkButton: Do NOT interrupt Zhang Fei's calligraphy practice! [[FridgeBrilliance It's supposed to cultivate DISCIPLINE!!]]
* BigBadassBattleSequence: Three in total:
** The opening where Liu Bei's army is on the retreat.
** The climax of Part One, [[spoiler: where the allies ambush Cao Cao's cavalry using the tortoise formation]].
** The climax of Part Two, perhaps one of the purest examples of this trope ''ever,'' running over half an hour of unbroken screen time in which [[spoiler: the allies launch their full-blown assault on Cao Cao's camp, complete with catapults, hails of arrows, exploding fire ships, bombs, cavalry charges, and much more]].
* BittersweetEnding: Cao Cao is defeated, but at great cost to both sides. It's worse for those who know what happened next between the Shu and Wu alliance.
* BoisterousBruiser: Zhang Fei
* CannotSpitItOut: Xiao Qiao can't bring herself to tell Zhou Yu that [[spoiler:she's pregnant until she pretends to defect to Cao Cao]], however she all but spells it out for him before that.
** Actually, [[spoiler:she spells it out much earlier, when he asks her why she keeps writing the same Chinese characters for "peace" over and over again, and she puts his head to her stomach, asking if he can hear anything.]] Zhou Yu was apparently holding the IdiotBall at the time.
*** He seems like less of an idiot in the full version. [[spoiler: They had been trying to name a foal that Zhuge Liang helped birth recently.]]
* CaptainErsatz: Gan Xing, based on the historical Gan Ning, right down to being a former pirate. Nobody knows why it was changed, since everyone else was real.
** Probably because [[spoiler:Gan Xing dies during the movie, while Gan Ning historically survives the battle.]] On the other hand, there's also Xiahou Jun, presumably a stand-in for Xiahou Yuan or Xiahou Dun.
* CasualDangerDialogue: During the straw boat scheme, along with a cup of tea. Turns out they merely ''collect'' the arrows and don't provide much ''defense'' against them...
* CloseCallHaircut: Achieved by an arrow through the topknot.
* CoolOldGuy: Huang Gai and Guan Yu
* CulturedBadass: Guan Yu combines this with FriendToAllChildren as he spends his offtime as a schoolteacher. Whereas Zhang Fei has yet to master calligraphy.
** Zhou Yu, too. The northerners know him more for being a great musician, and their southern allies have to warn him that he has been their deadliest foe for years.
* DeadlyDodging: In the second part, Zhao Yun does this against Wei pikemen coming at him from all sides, with predictable results.
* DemotedToExtra: 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 FeedTheMole. 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 ThoseTwoGuys with Lu Su, and still [[spoiler: leads the initial fire attack]].
* DistractedByTheSexy: Most of the male characters become visibly flustered when Shangxiang takes her enemy uniform off in front of them, before Xiao Qiao makes them turn away.
* DuelingMovies: With another Three Kingdoms movie, subtitled ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kingdoms:_Resurrection_of_the_Dragon Resurrection of the Dragon]]'', set several chapters later and starring AndyLau as Zhao Yun.
* DueToTheDead: Zhou Yu decides to give the bodies of soldiers Cao Cao sent across the river a proper funeral, despite them being enemies.
* DyingLikeAnimals: 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 MoralEventHorizon better than the actual example below.
** It is also debatable whether he is an ephebophile or he suffers from SingleTargetSexuality. Insofar as the movie is concerned, he is only interested in women that at least resemble of Xiao Qiao. He certainly does not lose interest in her when she becomes an adult. This is a plot point.
* EpicFlail: In the first part, a ''huge'' chain of spiked rods is used to break a seemingly-impassable shield barrier. In the second part, Zhao Yun rips the ropes off a burning barricade with his spear and uses it ([[IncendiaryExponent still burning too]]) like this.
* EpicMovie: This is big for China, a big place we're talking about, and one of the most famous Chinese historical dramas.
* EverythingsBetterWithRainbows: A rainbow appears over the mountains as Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu part.
* EvilChancellor: Cao Cao's transparent ambition is to usurp the imperial throne once he's done with the southern rebellions.
* EvilIsHammy: Cao Cao
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: 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)
** Long, unfastened hair on men would only be considered badass to Western audiences. To the Chinese, only the mad, the homeless, and/or the poorest of the poor would wear their hair that way -- emphasizing Cao Cao's defeat.
*** Amusingly accurate though, at least towards modern-day 'longhaired badasses' of the west. Mad? You've got rock stars, ''ESPECIALLY'' heavy metal. And it seems like every longhair sports star is 20 times as insane as his crewcut or cleanshaven counterparts. Then there's the fact many rockers and programmers started as disaffected youth, ejected from their domiciles by angry traditionalist parents. Poor? Initially. Homeless? Yes. Mad? Well, just look at Ozzy. And hippies badass or not, [[JustifiedTrope tend to pride themselves]] on a certain level of nomadery. And of course, there's bikers, but in recent decades [[BaldOfAwesome they've gone half and half]].
* FastballSpecial: Zhang Fei throws an enemy into a group of others.
* FingerPokeOfDoom: Shangxiang brings down Lu Su's horse with just her thumb.
** And then [[spoiler:she does the same thing to ''Liu Bei''. The OhCrap looks on Zhuge Liang and Lu Su's faces when they realize what she's up to are priceless]]
* FirstLove : Sun Shangxiang, the princess of Wu, forcibly rejects any proposal ideas her brother makes [[spoiler:including knocking out Liu Bei with a punch]], and [[spoiler:falls in love with a soldier from Wei who also happens to be the star athlete. The first time she saw him, he single-handidly dominated a soccer-esque game]].
** [[spoiler: The athlete also happens to be dumb--and strong--as an ox. And she was masquerading as a man at the time. So whether this constitutes love or friendship is open to interpretation.]]
* FoeTossingCharge: A few, but [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4qbQCJ9QKs&t=6m50s a particularly epic one]] courtesy of [[ImplacableMan Zhang Fei]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the second part, Zhou Yu reminisces about his school days with his old friend Jiang Gan, bringing up how [[ChekhovsSkill he faked his handwriting and got him in trouble.]] This is ''exactly'' how he manages to con Cao Cao and screw over Jiang Gan in what turns out to be the very last time...
** Xiao Qiao asks Zhou Yu whether the bloodshed could have been avoided if they simply sat down with Cao Cao and discussed it over tea. Towards the end of the movie, that's pretty much what she does.
** Not a foreshadowing of anything in the film, but the exchange between Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang about the possibility of them ending up on opposite sides of a battle in the future is precisely what happens a little while later.
* GenghisGambit: The alliance between the Shu and Wu is very much the result of them facing a common threat
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao get it on like it's their last time, even though [[ForegoneConclusion it really isn't]]; Cao Cao has a Xiao Qiao stand-in and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything frequent headaches.]]
* HeroicBSOD: Sun Shangxiang [[spoiler:when her friend in the Wei Army is killed before her eyes]]. She doesn't move until after the battle is over.
* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: The biggest examples are probably heart-throbs Takeshi Kaneshiro and Chang Chen as Zhuge Liang and Sun Quan, respectively. Tony Leung as Zhou Yu may be an exception, as Zhou Yu was actually considered very handsome by his contemporaries.
* HonorBeforeReason: Why Guan Yu didn't kill Cao Cao when he had the chance.
* IdiosyncraticWipes: The second part begins with a ClipShow of the first, punctuated by sword slashes. They're maintained for the rest of the movie
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Guan Yu does this to Wei pikemen ''with their own pikes''. Also see DeadlyDodging above.
* IncendiaryExponent: The fireship attack.
* KillItWithFire: The famous strategy Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu use to wipe out a navy eight times the size of their own.
* LoveRuinsTheRealm: Cao Cao allows himself to be caught flat-footed by the alliance attack because he was engrossed by Xiao Qiao making tea.
* MerchandiseDriven: Inverted: Namco Bandai's ''BBSenshiSangokuden'' SD Gundam model kits, also featuring characters from ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', were released with no connection to the film intended, until the rising popularity of the movie in Japan led them to re-release its own versions of Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu ([[http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10083925 Koumei Re-GZ and Shuuyu Hyakushiki]]) in a recolored boxset, including dioramas with screenshots from the movie
** The popularity of ''Red Cliff'' is probably one reason why BB Senshi Sangokuden got an AnimatedAdaptation. Regardless, Sangokuden is awesome in its own right
** Many tropers (including this one) are probably a little more familiar with Koei's DynastyWarriors 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 ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''
* MisfitMobilizationMoment: And how!
* MoreDakka: An amusing scene where the Gan Xing keeps asking to make the firebombs larger and larger.
** [[{{Mythbusters}} "GAN XING WANT BIG BOOM!"]]
* MundaneMadeAwesome: In the second part. Watch as Zhou Yu practices with his sword while Xiao Qiao quotes ''TheArtOfWar'' (see below) and brews the ''CRAP'' out of her tea.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: 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.
* OhCrap: Cao Cao's tricked into believing his two surrendered fleet admirals are traitors, and realizes he's being duped at the last possible second. "My Lord, if you kill them, who will lead the navy?" "...HALT!" *slice* He stands there paralyzed with anger
** Also when [[spoiler: he looks on with shocked disbelief as the wind changes direction and Huang Gai commences the fire attack]].
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Zhuge Liang, on top of being a brilliant strategist, is also something of an expert in music, medicine, meteorology, midwifery and rearing pigeons. The movie itself hangs a lampshade on this.
* OneBuwwetWeft: Invoked when Zhou Yu [[SecretTestOfCharacter deliberately leaves Sun Quan with just one arrow on a hunting trip]].
* PetTheDog: Cao Cao's speech to his sick troops, which galvanizes his entire army behind him.
** AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Cao Cao is just showing how charismatic he is to manipulate his soldiers into fighting for him. It's actually more likely an accurate interpretation considering it's ''Cao Cao''.
* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: When Shangxiang strips to her undergarments to unroll the map of Cao Cao's camp she had smuggled out under her clothes, Xiao Qiao repeatedly tries to get her to put her robe back on.
* RainOfArrows: Played with by the GenreSavvy Zhuge Liang, who uses the famous straw boat ruse to steal Wei's arrows.
** Seeing how he's the one who [[UrExample invented the ruse]]...
* RasputinianDeath: It takes a ''lot'' to kill those guys, especially if they're generals.
* ReformedCriminal: Gan Xing and his men are former pirates.
* RousseauWasRight, HumansAreBastards: 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...
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Both Liu Bei and Sun Quan lead their respective forces to battle. Then there's [[RebelliousPrincess Shangxiang]].
* RuleOfCool: Each and every battle sequence. Gold-plated shields, people catching a spear in mid-air and throwing it at somebody else before landing, generals running around ''on top of'' shields...
* SceneryPorn: The Southlands are described as "paradise on Earth", and the movie makes sure you know it. The scene during the ThemeTuneCameo is particularly prevalent.
** Geographically, the South was full of fertile, lush river valleys, while the flatlands of the North were too cold and dry to sustain agriculture.
* SevenMinuteLull: In the spectator stands at a ball game, which leads to everyone hearing [[OhCrap the carrier pigeon hidden on Sun Shangxiang's person.]]
* ShootTheMessenger: Cao Cao orders the execution of a Wu emissary who brings him news that Sun Quan won't surrender.
* ShoutOut: Zhao Yun fighting while carrying a baby may be a reference to ''HardBoiled''.
** Could be an inversion actually, since Zhao Yun historically did it first.
* SignatureStyle: If there's one director in the whole world who could somehow insert a MexicanStandoff in a ''period movie'', it's John Woo. [[spoiler:You've got Cao Cao and Zhou Yu with swords at each other's 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 [[DisturbedDoves favourite avians]] make an appearance yet again, and this time, they're even plot-important!
* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Invoked. Zhou Yu's fake letters even mimic the Wei generals' ''writing errors''.
* StalkerWithACrush: Cao Cao for Xiao Qiao, to an eerie degree.
* StealthHiBye: Zhou Yu
* TheStrategist: Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang.
* SuicideAttack: [[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.
* SweetPollyOliver: Shangxiang disguises herself as a soldier in order to infiltrate Cao Cao's camp.
* TapOnTheHead: Shangxiang has a talent for these. First, she uses it on Lu Su's horse in response to his StayInTheKitchen attitude. Then gets spun into a BrickJoke when she uses it on ''Liu Bei'', and [[OhCrap Lu Su is the first to see it coming...]]
* ThemeSongPowerUp: Pay attention during Zhang Fei's FoeTossingCharge.
* ThemeTuneCameo: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWMYaiqmzVg When Wu army drills led by Zhou Yu are interrupted by a peasant boy with a flute.]]
* {{Understatement}}: When Zhou Yu asks Zhuge Liang whether he knows strategy, the latter replies "A little".
* UnkemptBeauty: Xiao Qiao in her first scene.
* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Zhuge Liang's straw boat plan. And done on an even bigger scale with Liu Bei pulling out his forces.
* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Shangxiang hides the map of Cao Cao's camp wrapped around her torso, and [[FanService casually undresses to remove it]].
* WarIsHell: 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 RomanticPlotTumor, [[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:
--> '''Zhuge Liang''': "Princess, have you ever fought in a war?"
--> '''Sun Shangxiang''': "There's always a first time!"
--> '''Zhou Yu''': "The first time I fought, I wished there was never a second."
* WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife: A statement echoed when the alliance finally defeats the Wei forces.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Ken Watanabe (of ''TheLastSamurai'' fame) was originally selected to potray Cao Cao, but Chinese audiences were too vocal in protesting having a Japanese actor portray a known Chinese historical figure. JohnWoo wanted to avoid UnfortunateImplications, so went with Zhang Fengyi. Also, Chow Yun-Fat would've been playing Zhou Yu, and was earlier considered to portray Liu Bei, but pulled out following a dispute with the producer for not having enough time to prepare for the script. In fact, Tony Leung was Woo's first choice to play Zhuge Liang, but he turned it down; Leung came back onto the set as Zhou Yu, due to the urgency in being unable to cast Chow.
** They complained about Ken Watanabe but let Takeshi Kaneshiro pass?
*** Kaneshiro is actually half-Taiwanese, and got his big break as a pop idol in Taiwan under the Mandarin translation for his name "Jincheng Wu".
* WickedCultured: Cao Cao
* WomenInRefrigerators: Liu Bei's wives in the beginning.
* YamatoNadeshiko: Xiao Qiao. Lampshaded in the following dialogue:
--> '''Zhou Yu''': "You talk about peace but you quote from ''TheArtOfWar''?"
--> '''Xiao Qiao''': "I've read your strategy books in secret; the better to understand you."
* YouHaveFailedMe: Cao Cao executes his admirals for falling for Zhuge Liang's aforementioned ruse. To be fair, it's also because he'd been given false information about their being on the other side's payroll
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