If you’ve been wondering what action maestro John Woo has been up to in the five years since his last movie, 2009’s Red Cliff II, here is the answer in the form of the international trailer for The Crossing – perhaps the most ambitious Chinese film of all time.
Based on the true story of the steamer ship Taiping, which sank between China and Taiwan during the Chinese Revolution of 1949 and claimed the lives of 1,500 passengers and crew, Woo’s latest is already being billed as the Chinese Titanic.
Even if that event is only hinted at at the end of this trailer, there’s still plenty here, from epic battle scenes to the seeds of the yearning, intertwining love stories, featuring Zhang Ziyi and Takeshi Kaneshiro, that propel the plot, to suggest that Woo is planning to up the ante established by Red Cliff. And while there’s plenty of slow-motion, there’s nary a flying dove in sight.
When we spoke to Woo at the Cannes Film Festival back in May, he said that he wanted his movie to have “the same impact as Dr Zhivago or Gone With The Wind.” We’ll be able to judge for ourselves when The Crossing hits the UK next year.