Line #177 Film/RedCliff


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Red_Cliff_3.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Among horses, Red Hare. Among film adaptations, ''Red Cliff''.]]
3
4	''Red Cliff'' (original title 赤壁, ''Chi Bi'') is a film directed by Creator/JohnWoo and inspired by a famous battle in ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', based on the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeKingdomsShuWeiWu 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/TonyLeungChiuWai, Creator/TakeshiKaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Creator/ChangChen, Hu Jun, Lin Chiling and Creator/ZhaoWei.
5
6	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.
7
8	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.
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10	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 [[UsefulNotes/TheThirtySixStratagems the latter unleash thousands of arrows into the boats]].
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12	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.
13
14	[[JustForFun/IThoughtThatWas Not to be confused]] with ''Literature/{{Redwall}}''.
15	----
16	!!Contains examples of:
17
18	* TheAce: Zhou Yu is portrayed as a superb fighter on par with the likes of Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun ''and'' a master strategist on par with Zhuge Liang. Both his combat and tactical prowess allows him to form a BashBrothers bond with both Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun.
19	* ActionGirl: Sun Shangxiang; also technically a LadyOfWar, since she's a princess, if a rather tomboyish one.
20	* ActorAllusion:
21	** Sun Shangxiang dressing as a guy while watching a [[Film/ShaolinSoccer ball game... with martial arts...]]
22	** Creator/ZhaoWei would again dress as a man while playing the titular character [[Film/MulanRiseOfAWarrior Hua Mulan]].
23	** 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.
24	*** Speaking of whom, Zhou Yu interrupts Zhang Fei's calligraphy practice in order to analyse his handwriting. This was actually a plot point when Creator/TonyLeungChiuWai starred in ''Film/Hero2002''.
25	* 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 Creator/JohnWoo has done for Xiao Qiao what [[Film/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.
26	* AdaptationDistillation: The film combines some of the elements from ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' and the historical fiction ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''.
27	* AdaptedOut: Sun Ce is a PosthumousCharacter in this version, but for some reason his wife Da Qiao is completely forgotten despite her sister Xiao Qiao having such prominent focus.
28	* 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:
29	-->'''Children''': What use is reading if we're hardly able to eat?\
30	'''Guan Yu''': When you have mastered reading, you will have much to eat. You'll learn in time.
31	* AFatherToHisMen: Liu Bei makes straw footwear for his soldiers ''by hand''. Gan Xing too, [[spoiler:till his final moments]]
32	* AmazonBrigade: Sun Shangxiang's all-women cavalry archers.
33	* AngerBornOfWorry: Not surprisingly, this is Sun Quan's first reaction to Shangxiang returning from her more-or-less successful spying mission. It's highly justified when you remember there was a ''typhoid outbreak'' in that camp... and their father and brother are gone, and they're all that's left of the family.
34	* AngryEyebrows: Gan Xing's give him a perpetual scowl similar to Japanese woodblock prints of ancient samurai (appropriate since his actor is Japanese).
35	* 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.
36	* AnnoyingArrows:
37	** Most of the major characters shrug off up to half a dozen arrows.
38	** However, averted with the infantry. And [[spoiler:Gan Xing]], who knows he's pretty much dead, thus goes for the SuicideAttack.
39	* ArmorIsUseless: Arrows almost always punch straight through any armor they hit.
40	%%* ArrowCam
41	* ArrowsOnFire: Used during the climatic battle to set off explosives, or just take down unfortunate mooks.
42	* AshFace: What causes Gan Xing to finally decide the fire bombs are big enough is when one of them leaves his face covered in soot.
43	* AudibleGleam: The golden shields reflecting sunlight to blind the soldiers and confuse their horses.
44	* AudibleSharpness: Zhou Yu's sword.
45	* AutomaticCrossbows: Historically Zhuge Liang [[UrExample invented them]]. China used them in battle up until the mid 1800's.
46	* 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.
47	* BackToBackBadasses: Zhou Yu and Zhao Yun
48	* BerserkButton: Do NOT interrupt Zhang Fei's calligraphy practice! [[FridgeBrilliance It's supposed to cultivate DISCIPLINE!!]]
49	* BigBadassBattleSequence: Three in total:
50	** The opening where Liu Bei's army is on the retreat.
51	** The climax of Part One, [[spoiler: where the allies ambush Cao Cao's cavalry using the tortoise formation]].
52	** 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]].
53	* 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.
54	* BoisterousBruiser: Zhang Fei, naturally. The man's known for his war cries.
55	* BromanticFoil: Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, natch.
56	* 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.
57	** Actually, [[spoiler:she spells it out much earlier, when he asks her why she keeps writing the same Chinese characters for "good" (好) 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.
58	*** 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.]]
59	* CaptainErsatz:
60	** Gan Xing is based on the historical Gan Ning, right down to being a former pirate. [[spoiler:Done because Gan Xing dies in a HeroicSacrifice, while Gan Ning historically survived the battle.]]
61	** There's also Xiahou Jun, presumably a stand-in for Xiahou Yuan or Xiahou Dun.
62	* 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...
63	* CloseCallHaircut: Achieved by an arrow through the topknot.
64	* ColorCodedArmies: [[LightIsGood White]] for Shu, [[RedIsHeroic red]] for Wu, and [[DarkIsEvil black]] for Wei. Their uniforms are otherwise virtually identical.
65	* CoolOldGuy: Huang Gai and Guan Yu
66	* CulturedBadass: Guan Yu combines this with FriendToAllChildren as he spends his offtime as a schoolteacher. Whereas Zhang Fei has yet to master calligraphy.
67	** 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.
68	* DeadlyDodging: In the second part, Zhao Yun does this against Wei pikemen coming at him from all sides, with predictable results.
69	* 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, also stating that such a beating would leave Huang Gai unable to fight]]. He still appears in many scenes, often as ThoseTwoGuys with Lu Su, and still [[spoiler: leads the initial fire attack]].
70	* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWMYaiqmzVg When Wu army drills led by Zhou Yu are interrupted by a peasant boy with a flute.]]
71	* DisposableWoman: Liu Bei's wives in the beginning.
72	* 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.
73	** [[spoiler: Xiao Qiao]] uses this tactic to buy time for the Sun army.
74	* DueToTheDead: Zhou Yu decides to give the bodies of soldiers Cao Cao sent across the river a proper funeral, despite them being enemies. The fact that they're all infected with Typhoid and need to be cremated before they infect any more of his men is also a factor.
75	* {{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."
76	** 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.
77	* 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.
78	* EpicMovie: This is big for China, a big place we're talking about, and one of the most famous Chinese historical dramas.
79	* EverythingsBetterWithRainbows: A rainbow appears over the mountains as Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu part.
80	* EvilChancellor: Cao Cao's transparent ambition is to usurp the imperial throne once he's done with the southern rebellions.
81	* EvilIsHammy: Cao Cao
82	* 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)
83	** 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.
84	* {{Expy}}: Gan Xing is based on Gan Ning (courtesy name Xingba). "based" because the historical/novel Gan Ning didn't die-- much less did a HeroicSacrifice, in the Red Cliffs campaign. Also, he dies at the Battle of Xiaoting in the hands of Shamoke in ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''.
85	* FingerPokeOfDoom:
86	** Shangxiang brings down Lu Su's horse with just her thumb.
87	** 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.]]
88	* 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-handedly dominated a soccer-esque game]].
89	** [[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.]]
90	* FoeTossingCharge: A few, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4qbQCJ9QKs&t=6m50s a particularly epic one]] courtesy of [[ImplacableMan Zhang Fei]]. Even before that, Guan Yu breaks out of Cao Cao's forces by tackling a Wei general off his horse [[HeroStoleMyBike in order to steal said horse]].
91	* {{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...
92	** 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.
93	** When the allies first lay eyes on Cao Cao's armada, Zhang Fei claims that, if they were to use the ships as firewood, it would take over a hundred years to burn them all. No points for guessing how they defeat the invasion force, and it took considerably less than a hundred years.
94	** 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.
95	* FourStarBadass: The three Shu generals (Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun) are so immensely badass that they turn battles BY THEMSELVES. Cao Cao even lampshades this at one point by essentially asking why none of his officers are as badass as the ones serving Liu Bei. Zhou Yu and Gan Xing less so, but they're not too shabby themselves.
96	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: When Zhou Yu interrupts Zhang Fei's calligraphy practice, Zhuge Liang can be seen covering his ears just before the yelling starts.
97	* GenghisGambit: The alliance between the Shu and Wu is very much the result of them facing a common threat.
98	* 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.
99	* 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.
100	* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Cao Cao, as is common with adaptations of Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms.
101	* HonorBeforeReason: Why Guan Yu didn't kill Cao Cao when he had the chance.
102	* IdiosyncraticWipes: The second part begins with a ClipShow of the first, punctuated by sword slashes. They're maintained for the rest of the movie
103	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Guan Yu does this to Wei pikemen ''with their own pikes''. Also see DeadlyDodging above.
104	* IncendiaryExponent: The fireship attack.
105	* {{Kiai}}: "HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Zhang Fei ''tackles a fucking horse''
106	* KillItWithFire: The famous strategy Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu use to wipe out a navy eight times the size of their own.
107	* LastMinuteReprieve: Zhao Yu and Zhuge Liang both literally bet their heads that their schemes (To eliminate Cao Cao's admirals and to steal 100,000 arrows from Cao Cao, respectively) will succeed. Both of them get notification of their success moments before they are about to be executed for their failure.
108	* LibationForTheDead: In part 1, the generals of Wu and Shu pour out some wine in memory of the messenger slain by Cao Cao.
109	* LoveRuinsTheRealm: Cao Cao allows himself to be caught flat-footed by the alliance attack because he was engrossed by Xiao Qiao making tea.
110	* MadeOfIron: Zhao Yun suffers injuries that would kill mooks several times over, yet it doesn't seem to hamper his combat ability at all. Ditto for his horse.
111	* MerchandiseDriven: Inverted: Namco Bandai's ''Toys/BBSenshiSangokuden'' SD Gundam model kits, also featuring characters from ''Literature/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
112	** The popularity of ''Red Cliff'' is probably one reason why BB Senshi Sangokuden got an AnimatedAdaptation. Regardless, Sangokuden is awesome in its own right
113	** Many tropers are probably a little more familiar with Koei's VideoGame/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 ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''.
114	* MisfitMobilizationMoment: And how!
115	* MoreDakka: An amusing scene where the Gan Xing keeps asking to make the firebombs larger and larger.
116	** [[Series/{{Mythbusters}} "GAN XING WANT BIG BOOM!"]]
117	* MsFanservice: Xiao Qiao stars in a 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.
118	* MundaneMadeAwesome: In the second part. Watch as Zhou Yu practices with his sword while Xiao Qiao quotes ''Literature/{{The Art of War\|SunTzu}}'' (see below) and brews the ''CRAP'' out of her tea.
119	** 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.
120	* ModestyBedsheet: After they make love, Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao are seen cuddling naked save for a bed sheet strategically covering their waists, and Xiao Qiao keeps her breasts hidden via a ToplessnessFromTheBack shot since she's laying on her stomach.
121	* NoPeekingRequest: When Shangxiang is stripping in front of the council in order to show them the map she had concealed under her clothing, [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl she clearly isn't concerned about her modesty]], but her sister Xiao Qiao ''is'' and sends a glare to the men, causing them all to comically turn around and wait for her to unfurl the map.
122	* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent:
123	** Chang Chen as Sun Quan; his Taiwanese accent is so thick you could cut it with a knife. (The Southlands are home the Hokkien people whose dialect is spoken by a not insignificant portion of Taiwanese, so it may not be historically inaccurate.)
124	*** Nevermind that Mandarin did not exist at the time. Moreover, the South had its own spoken dialect, and would rarely use official court-dialect of the Han Dynasty.
125	** Shidō Nakamura as Gan Xing also has some noticeably Japanese touches to his Mandarin.
126	* 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.
127	** 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.''
128	** Also when [[spoiler: Cao Cao looks on with shocked disbelief as the wind changes direction and Huang Gai commences the fire attack]].
129	** When Zhou Yu announces that a farmer's water buffalo was stolen by his soldiers, the perpetrators are already looking nervous. Then it's pointed out that the perps would be the only ones with muddy feet. Cut to the perps looking ''very'' nervous.
130	* 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.
131	* OneBulletLeft: Invoked when Zhou Yu [[SecretTestOfCharacter deliberately leaves Sun Quan with just one arrow on a hunting trip]].
132	* PerfectPoison: Cao Cao gives a drink to Jiang Gan, who had recently failed him, and the man is dead in under a minute.
133	* PetTheDog: Cao Cao's speech to his sick troops, which galvanizes his entire army behind him.
134	** 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''.
135	* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: When Shangxiang strips to her undergarments to unroll the map of Cao Cao's camp she had smuggled out under her clothes and repeatedly tries to get her to put her robe back on.
136	* PuppetKing: The Emperor gets precisely one scene, in which he is verbally bullied by Cao Cao to "order" him to launch his war against the southern kingdoms in front of the entire court. Part of Liu Bei's argument as to why he and Sun Quan must unite to stop Cao Cao is that if he consolidates his hold on the south, he'll stop bothering with the pretense that he's just an Imperial Minister and claim the throne for himself.[[note]]Something the historic Cao Cao never did, though Cao Cao's son Cao Pi did do that shortly after his father's death[[/note]]
137	* RainOfArrows: PlayedWith by Zhuge Liang, who uses his famous straw boat ruse to steal Wei's arrows. It works so well, the ships start listing before he turns them around.
138	* RankScalesWithAsskicking: As with any ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' based work, the generals get to kick far more ass than any of their soldiers.
139	* RasputinianDeath: It takes a ''lot'' to kill those guys, especially if they're generals.
140	* ReformedCriminal: Gan Xing and his men are former pirates.
141	* RefugeInAudacity: Zhou Yu's scheme to get Jiang Gan to believe that Cao Cao's Admirals are planning to defect opens with Zhou Yu reminding his old friend that he can forge other people's handwriting shortly before "accidentally" revealing the forged letter of defection. Later that evening, Zhou Yu openly states that the letter is another one of his legendary tricks. Jiang Gan still falls for it.
142	* 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...
143	* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Both Liu Bei and Sun Quan lead their respective forces to battle. Then there's [[RebelliousPrincess Shangxiang]].
144	* 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...
145	* SceneryPorn: The Southlands are described as "paradise on Earth", and the movie makes sure you know it. The drill scene 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.
146	* SevenMinuteLull: In the spectator stands at a ball game, which leads to everyone hearing [[OhCrap the carrier pigeon hidden on Sun Shangxiang's person.]]
147	* SexualKarma: Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao [[PreClimaxClimax get it on like it's their last time] (even though [[ForegoneConclusion it really isn't]]) in an IdealizedSex scene with romantic music; Meanwhile Cao Cao has a [[RetargetedLust stand-in]] of his LustObject Xiao Qiao and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything has frequent headaches.]]
148	* GrievousHarmWithABody: Zhang Fei throws an enemy into a group of others.
149	* ShootTheMessenger: Cao Cao orders the execution of a Wu emissary who brings him news that Sun Quan won't surrender.
150	* TheSiege: Cao Cao's forces lay siege to Red Cliff.
151	* SignatureStyle:
152	** 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.]]
153	** John Woo's [[DisturbedDoves favourite avians]] make an appearance yet again, and this time, they're even plot-important!
154	* SingleMaltVision: After drinking with Zhou Yu, Jiang Gan sees double when he overhears him speaking about borrowing arrows from friends across the river.
155	* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Invoked. Zhou Yu's fake letters even mimic the Wei generals' ''writing errors''.
156	* StalkerWithACrush: Cao Cao for Xiao Qiao, to an eerie degree.
157	* StealthHiBye: Zhou Yu does this at one point to head into battle.
158	* TheStrategist: Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang.
159	* 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.
160	* SweetPollyOliver: Shangxiang disguises herself as a soldier in order to infiltrate Cao Cao's camp.
161	* 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...]]
162	* TeaIsClassy: Xiao Qiao is renowned for her tea-making skills, and on the eve of the final battle distracts Cao Cao from his planned attack until the wind changes and her husband can launch his with a discussion of tea.
163	* ThemeSongPowerUp: Pay attention during Zhang Fei's FoeTossingCharge.
164	* TraumaticHaircut: The moment when everyone on both sides knows that Cao Cao is beaten is when an arrow cuts off his queue.
165	* {{Understatement}}: When Zhou Yu asks Zhuge Liang whether he knows strategy, the latter replies "A little".
166	%%* UnkemptBeauty: Xiao Qiao in her first scene.
167	* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Zhuge Liang's straw boat plan. And done on an even bigger scale with Liu Bei pulling out his forces.
168	* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Shangxiang hides the map of Cao Cao's camp wrapped around her torso, and [[FanService casually undresses to remove it]].
169	* 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]]. This is lampshaded earlier in Part 1:
170	-->'''Zhuge Liang''': Princess, have you ever fought in a war?\
171	'''Sun Shangxiang''': There's always a first time!\
172	'''Zhou Yu''': The first time I fought, I wished there was never a second.
173	* WeatherSavesTheDay: The "straw boat" plan depends on a fog bank preventing the Han navy from seeing that the boats crossing the river are nearly empty. A major plot point in the final battle is waiting for the wind to blow the right way, allowing the fleet of fire ships to do their work. The DVD case even includes a StealthPun reference to the importance of weather in the campaign: "Destiny lies in the wind".
174	* WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife: A statement echoed when the alliance finally defeats the Wei forces.
175	%%* WickedCultured: Cao Cao
176	* YamatoNadeshiko: Xiao Qiao. (Technically, more like a Zhōnghuá Yěhuā.) Lampshaded in the following dialogue:
177	-->'''Zhou Yu''': You talk about peace but you quote from ''Literature/{{The Art of War\|SunTzu}}''?\
178	'''Xiao Qiao''': I've read your strategy books in secret; the better to understand you.
179	* 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. He then executes Jiang Gan, the guy who brought him said false information.

Context Film / RedCliff