Director John Woo said in an interview with David Stratton that the film is only 50% factual. Woo decided to alter the story using modern feelings and his own feelings for a more worldly acceptance. According to Woo, historical accuracy was less important than how the audience felt about the battle
Part I
In the summer of 208, in the final years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the imperial army led by the chancellor Cao Cao embarks on a campaign to eliminate the southern warlords Sun Quan and Liu Bei in the name of eradicating rebels, with the reluctant approval of Emperor Xian. Cao Cao's mighty army swiftly conquers Jing Province and the Battle of Changban is ignited when Cao's cavalry starts attacking civilians on an exodus led by Liu Bei. During the battle, Liu Bei's followers, including his sworn brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, give an excellent display of their combat skills by holding off the enemy while buying time for the civilians to retreat. The warrior Zhao Yun fights bravely to rescue Liu Bei's entrapped family but only succeeds in rescuing Liu's infant son.
Following the battle, Liu Bei's advisor Zhuge Liang embarks on a diplomatic mission to Jiangdong to form an alliance between his lord and Sun Quan to deal with Cao Cao's invasion. Sun Quan was initially in the midst of a dilemma of whether to surrender or resist, but his decision to resist Cao Cao hardens after Zhuge Liang's clever persuasion and a subsequent tiger hunt with his viceroy Zhou Yu and his sister Sun Shangxiang. Meanwhile, naval commanders Cai Mao and Zhang Yun from Jing Province pledge allegiance to Cao Cao and are received warmly by Cao, who places them in command of his navy.
After the hasty formation of the alliance, the forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan call for a meeting to formulate a plan to counter Cao Cao's army, which is rapidly advancing towards Red Cliff from both land and water. The battle begins with Sun Shangxiang leading a light cavalry unit to lure Cao Cao's vanguard force into the allies' Bagua Formation. The vanguard force is defeated by the allies but Cao Cao shows no disappointment and proceeds to lead his main army to the riverbank directly opposite the allies' main camp, where they make camp. While the allies throw a banquet to celebrate their victory, Zhuge Liang thinks of a plan to send Sun Shangxiang to infiltrate Cao Cao's camp and conduct an espionage mission. The duo maintain contact by sending messages via a pigeon. The film ends with Zhou Yu lighting his miniaturised battleships on a map based on the battle formation.
Part II (Asian release)
Sun Shangxiang has infiltrated Cao Cao's camp and is secretly noting details and sending them via a pigeon to Zhuge Liang. Meanwhile, Cao Cao's army is seized with a plague of typhoid fever that kills a number of his troops. Cao Cao orders the corpses to be sent on floating rafts to the allies' camp, hoping to pass the plague on to his enemies. The allied army's morale is affected when some unsuspecting soldiers let the plague in, and eventually a disheartened Liu Bei leaves with his forces while Zhuge Liang stays behind to assist Sun Quan's forces. Cao Cao is overjoyed when he hears that the alliance has collapsed. At the same time, Cai Mao and Zhang Yun propose a new tactic of interlocking the battleships together with iron beams to minimise rocking when sailing on the river and reduce the chances of the troops falling seasick.
Subsequently, Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang make plans on how to eliminate Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, and produce 100,000 arrows respectively. They agreed that whoever fails to complete his mission will be punished by execution under military law. Zhuge Liang's ingenious strategy of letting the enemy shoot 20 boats covered in straw brings in over 100,000 arrows from the enemy and makes Cao Cao doubt the loyalty of Cai Mao and Zhang Yun. On the other hand, Cao Cao sends Jiang Gan to persuade Zhou Yu to surrender, but Zhou tricks Jiang instead into believing that Cai Mao and Zhang Yun are planning to assassinate Cao. Both Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu's respective plans complement each other when Cao Cao is convinced, despite earlier having doubts about Jiang Gan's report, that Cai Mao and Zhang Yun were indeed planning to assassinate him by deliberately "donating" arrows to the enemy. Cai Mao and Zhang Yun are executed and Cao Cao realises his folly afterwards but it is too late.
In Sun Quan's camp, Sun Shangxiang returns from Cao Cao's camp with a map of the enemy formation. Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang decide to attack Cao Cao's navy with fire anticipating that a special climatic condition will soon cause the wind to shift and that the resulting southeast wind will blow to their advantage. Before the battle, Sun Quan's forces have a final moment together, feasting on rice dumplings to celebrate the Winter Solstice. Meanwhile, Zhou Yu's wife, Xiaoqiao, heads towards Cao Cao's camp alone secretly, hoping to persuade Cao to give up his ambitious plans, but fails and decides to distract him instead to buy time for her side.
The battle begins when the southeast wind starts blowing in the middle of the night and Sun Quan's forces launch their attack on Cao Cao's navy. On the other hand, Liu Bei's forces, whose departure from the alliance was a ruse, start attacking Cao Cao's forts on land. By dawn, Cao Cao's entire navy has been destroyed. The allies launch another offensive on Cao Cao's ground army, stationed in his forts, and succeed in breaking through using testudo formation despite suffering heavy casualties. Although Cao Cao is besieged in his main camp, he manages to hold Zhou Yu hostage after catching him off guard together with Cao Hong. Xiahou Jun also appears, holding Xiaoqiao hostage and causing the allies to hesitate. Just then, Zhao Yun manages to reverse the situation by rescuing Xiaoqiao with a surprise attack and put Cao Cao at the mercy of the allies instead. Eventually, the allies decide to spare Cao Cao's life and tell him never to return before leaving for home. In the final scene, Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang are seen having a conversation before Zhuge walks away into the far distance with the newborn foal Mengmeng.
Western release — "Battle of Red Cliff"
The Western release trimmed the length of the film from 280 minutes to 148 minutes and was released in some regions under the title Battle of Red Cliff. An opening narration in English is provided to set the historical context whereas in the Asian release, a more brief description of the context of the political situation appears in scrolling form 10 minutes into the film. Notable cuts include the background and motivations behind Zhuge Liang's plan to obtain 100,000 arrows, including the threat to his life, and the early parts of Sun Shangxiang's infiltration. The tiger hunting scene was also cut from the Western release.
Both parts were later released together as a two-disc set in North America by Magnolia Entertainment in their original length on both DVD and Blu-ray disc formats on 23 March 2010.
