The US version of Red Cliff is a fine film that proves that Asian production values can stand toe to toe with Hollywood. It has everything anyone could want from an epic war movie, including insurmountable odds, real warfare tactics and satisfying personal duels. Red Cliff, however, bizarrely depreciates in enjoyment the more details one knows about the film, like who directed it and what the Asian version is like. Thankfully, Red Cliff remains unequivocally watchable regardless of what audience knows going in.

Red Cliff is based on the Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which was written 700 years ago. In Red Cliff, the Han dynasty rules the northern kingdoms led by an unsure and seemingly effete young Emperor. His blood-thirsty Prime Minister Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) demands that the southern territories be purged of two rival warlords – Liu Bei (You Yong) and Sun Quan (Chang Chen) – and leads the Emperor’s army to defeat them. Liu Bei’s military strategist, Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro), realizes that the only way to survive is to join forces, so he approaches Sun Quan’s trusted advisor, Zhou Yu (Tony Leung), in order to forge an alliance. Vastly outnumbered by Cao Cao’s army, the southern rebels make their stand at Red Cliff against insurmountable odds.

Red Cliff is a fantastic movie and will be deeply satisfying for Western audiences. Chinese epics, while beautiful to look at, sometimes focus too much on style and not enough on action. Here, director John Woo eschews the Eastern drama in order to pack as many battles into two-and-a-half hours. Moreover, the fights are grittier and less dance-like; however, that’s not to say that they lack artistry. Combatants still elegantly vanquish opponents and perform superhuman feats, like taking on multiple attackers at once. Everything just feels more hectic, and the battles reflect the chaos one expects from warfare.

Fans of combat tactics will also be pleased to see actual strategy employed throughout the film. Armies will not simply lineup and charge each other: shifting formations are used to trap enemies; fire and weather play prominent roles in decisions; and decoys and disease are methodically used to bewilder opponents. These facets and more do a wonderful job to add richness to the primitive warfare and help break up the monotony of the constant carnage.

In fact, there are so many battles that Red Cliff may exhaust many viewers. The first major battle takes place only a few minutes into the film. Afterward, there’s a brief stretch of plot as the rebels join forces, but then it’s right back into the action. Character development is thin and principle roles are defined more by how the characters fight and what their weapons of choice are. Interestingly, these traits are seemingly enough to endear the characters to audiences. Woo marvelously presents the main characters as superheroes of the battlefield who can withstand getting impaled by arrows while catching a spear thrown at them, only to use the weapon to kill five enemies at once. While the sheer athleticism is fun to watch, it would have been nice to see a little more political intrigue and character dilemmas break up the near non-stop action.

The omission of non-action sequences will probably be appreciated by most American audiences that find reading subtitles a chore. More serious film-goers may be disappointed to know that Red Cliff was originally released in China as a two-part, five-hour-long movie which no doubt has more background about the characters, their motivations and their relationships. This shortened version is still entertaining in its own right, but it seems almost unfair to judge this film when it’s missing half its story.

Red Cliff is also surprisingly missing the John Woo touches audiences may be expecting to see. There are very few slow-motion shots or spinning camera work. Doves flying out of explosions are also conspicuously missing. The lack of these trademarks doesn’t necessarily detract from the film, but their absence is noticeable, especially in a film that seems like the perfect environment for them. Who knows? Perhaps they exist in the full version.

In the end, Red Cliff delivers a product anyone can enjoy. It’s filmed beautifully, barely slows down between the action to catch its breath, and tells a fulfilling story. Red Cliff is easily one of the better action movies of the year. It’s just a shame that US audiences won’t be able to experience the full version that might have elevated the film beyond the limited action genre.