"Red Cliff" is the latest gorgeous battle epic to emerge from China, where it's become the highest-grossing movie in the country's history, despite a running time of nearly five hours.

Whoa there, impatient American.

The subtitled version playing in U.S. theaters tomorrow has been whittled down to 2 1/2 hours, and it's a monumental feat of editing - the movie is graceful, coherent, moving, thrilling. The cuts may be appalling to those who've seen the original, but I'm not one of them, and I think this version is pretty solid.

And a return to form for John Woo, the repatriated Hong Kong filmmaker whose stay in Hollywood yielded diminishing returns and a style that threatened to become a parody of itself.

With "Red Cliff," an ambitious screen version of one of China's founding narratives, Woo is reinvigorated, and he channels his knack for action and masculine psychology into this period epic of men at war.

"Red Cliff" takes place in A.D. 208, the waning years of the Han dynasty, as the warlike general Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) concocts a non-existent rebellion as a pretext to take the emperor's army south to conquer adjacent, peaceful kingdoms.

He topples the first during a rousing battle, nicely staged by Woo, who cuts from broad vistas of warring infantry and horsemen to intimate action scenes - the highlight is a swordsman fighting with his leader's baby strapped to his back.

Cao Cao wins the day, prompting the displaced warlord Liu Bei (You Yong) to seek an alliance with the remaining independent warlord (Chang Chen), whose best assets are the natural redoubt at Red Cliff and a crafty commander (Tony Leung).

There are myriad shifting alliances, strategies, spy missions and skirmishes leading to the movie's second great battle, also skillfully presented by Woo, who makes the nuance of Chinese culture the stuff of engrossing drama - here, a tea ceremony or string duet is as important as a cavalry charge.

It's a Woo staple that so much of the action is secondary to character. Leung is first-rate as the wily general who combats Cao Cao's advantage in men and material with guile, judgment and a sense of loyalty that invites lasting bonds - his friendship with an allied military strategist (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is a highlight. And Vicky Zhao has great fun as a warlord's daughter determined to prove herself the equal of any man.

All is prelude to the final battle, one that commences with an enthralling nighttime naval battle that makes effective use of computer-generated images, and even more effective use of about 10,000 Chinese extras.

Produced by Terence Chang and John Woo, directed by John Woo, written by John Woo, Khan Chan, Kuo Cheng and Sheng Heyu, music by Taro Iwashiro, distributed by Magnolia Pictures.