From John Woo, the acclaimed director of “Mission: Impossible II” and “Face/Off,” comes a dazzling visionary epic based on the legendary “Battle of Red Cliff” in which a force of fifty thousand defeats an army of nearly one million.

In 208 A.D., in the final days of the Han Dynasty, shrewd Prime Minister Cao Cao convinces the fickle Emperor Han that the only way to unite all of China is to declare war on the kingdoms of Xu in the west and East Wu in the south. Thus begins a military campaign of unprecedented scale, led by the Prime Minister, himself. Left with no other hope for survival, the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu form an unlikely alliance. Director John Woo was attracted to this story for more than 20 years, but back then, neither the technology nor the market could support a film of this scale and magnitude. The opportunity came in the summer of 2004, when Woo’s producer Terence Chang went to Beijing for the first time, and started putting the financing and production plan together.

With a budget of $80 million, “Red Cliff” has become the most expensive Chinese language film ever made. This action-packed epic film is also the highest grossing movie in Chinese box-office history.

Says the director, “I truly wish to make a film that can be enjoyed by audiences all over the world. Inside my heart, film knows no boundary. Western audiences also appreciate our splendid culture of the East. Therefore, I genuinely hope that when you watch ‘Red Cliff,’ you do not look at it as a Chinese film or a Hollywood film, but as a global film.”

“Red Cliff” stars some of the biggest names in Asian cinema – Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, and Chang Chen.

From Viva International Pictures, the story of the greatest battle in Chinese history unfolds as “Red Cliff” opens in local cinemas on Oct. 14.