John Woo returns to Chinese film-making with this historical epic, describing a showdown between warring kingdoms in the early 3rd century. Perhaps the intricate sequence of events and jumble of characters would have flummoxed me any time, but things are particularly hard to follow in the abridged cut that is coming to our cinemas, edited down from a four-hour original. At times, it seems less a proper movie than a showreel of CGI battle scenes. It's all technically impressive, but with none of the characters having much personality, it rarely stirs your senses.
15, 148 mins