Japan is at war, and their only hope rests with Chise—a teenage girl who is also the ultimate weapon. But what happens when the ultimate weapon falls in love?
John Woo was one of the reasons I got into watching Hong Kong films many years ago. Unfortunately it's been ages since he's put out anything that I've been able to tolerate, let alone enjoy. His constant use of Woo-isms (just give the doves a rest, already) and attempts to go Hollywood left me cold.
So I didn't have high hopes for Red Cliff, especially after I heard Chow Yun Fat walked off the set right at the start.
'Master ninja' Richard Harrison, Alphons Beni (Black Ninja -87) and Romano Kristoff (Slash!-84) all crop up in this brisk, bloody, violent and badly dubbed Italian production that'll have you high fiving the baad movie gods in delight. Straight out of the blocks with a professor and his family being gunned down by Kristoff and his terrorist gang (hilarious), a sensitive cop (Beni) is put on the case which has something to do with stolen files and a plot to assassinate the Pope in Cameroon.
What do you get when you throw Apocalypse Now and The Wizard of Oz in a blender? Something like Apocalypse Oz.
Dorothy Willard, delinquent Amerasian offspring of the Vietnam War, lives with her horrible aunt and uncle. Desperate to get the hell out of Kansas, she accepts a mission to go deep into the desert to hunt down an insane, renegade US Army colonel codenamed 'The Wizard' and terminate him with extreme prejudice.
"And I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see" - Revelation 6:1
Unlike most war films, Come and See doesn't really portray soldiers making war on soldiers. It portrays soldiers making war on civilians, in horrific, heartbreaking detail.
