The Crossing (Part 1)

The first part of John Woo's Pearl Harbor about the fates of three couples on the verge of the Chinese Civil War. You certainly won't miss nor overlook that Woo has gotten a huge budget at his disposal. There is no problem with that. The problem is how he used it. The scenes of everyday life of the central trio are naive and so sweet that they would easily fit into romance movie, but despite all of this, you will get over it. Surprisingly the problem is, (don't forget it is John Woo!) over-the-top epic war scenes (they look like those from the Navajo Code; just bigger, bigger and even bigger), when Woo doesn't know what to do and so he shows one explosion after another, the all this slows the pace significantly. And yes, on both of these levels, it's simply 100% Pearl Harbor. It's just not that fun (or ridiculous) and it's just boring. And also thanks to the fact that it is a prologue, which could have easily been captured during the first fifteen minutes of the second part. However, it will not make you want to watch the second part, not even remotely, because the fates and the characters are not interesting and, to their own detriment and the over-the-top style of action will soon annoy you even in this movie. (14/08/2015)