I first saw the 148 mins version in 2009 on a dvd which I own.
Saw the 288 minutes version few days back.
I liked the 148 mins version but i liked the 288 mins version even more n inspite of the runtime, i never felt like fiddling with my phone. In fact, i found the film very captivating.
The film has tons of action. A true old school war with tons of bows n arrows, spears, swords, horses, ships, etc.
Apart from the battlefield action sequences, all the characters are awesomely developed, the cinematography is lovely n some of the scenes are picturesque.
There is absolutely no shaky cam or fast cut editing. One can easily make out what is going on during the war scenes. None of the scenes is shot in too much darkness.
We have a daring character Gan Ning (Nakamura Shido II) who does a stint like Steve McQueen's character from Hell is for Heroes. I love both the scenes.
The hand chopping scene, the sword slashings n the spears piercing, are all brutal.
After finishing the film, rice flour and sugar stayed on my mind. I tried the recipe on YouTube.
Some drawbacks - The initial scene with the baby on the back n running n fighting is lol n far fetched.
John Woo had already done this mistake in Hard Boiled with the baby peeing n all.
Another far fetched n lol scene in this movie is that of catching a woman in midair.
The msg in the end about nobody a victor is so anti war.
