The Promise
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Movie Reviews of The Promise
Movie Review: Ultimately Disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
Having seen "Hero" and "House of the Flying Daggers," I expected a great deal out of "The Promise." The story combines a number of interesting folk tale-esque elements - a princess who, at an early age, chose to be beautiful but, in return, is cursed at love; a brash and boastful warrior-virtuoso and his servant, who can run faster than the wind; and their opposite numbers, a cruel villain who seeks a secret only the brash warrior's servant can reveal. As the plot unfolds, a love triangle and cases of mistaken identity ensue, leading to a fairly emotional climax. The story, however well-conceived, ultimately falls flat and fails to deliver on its early promise. The film's production design and special effects also leave a great deal to be desired, making the daring-do of the heroes frequently appear laughable. Indeed, for an action film, there are also very few battle scenes to break up the monotony. Those interested in a good kung fu movie would do better to check out either a massive epic the likes of "Hero," or a romp such as "Iron Monkey." Movie Review: Great Concept But Fails In The End
Summary: 2 Stars
In the beginning a starving young girl named Qingcheng is seen prying food out of the hands of dead soldiers in a forest. While running home to share her bread with her mother she drops it in a lake. As she starts to cry the bread is brought back to her by a goddess and she tells Qingcheng to eat the bread but she will not eat because she is saving it for her sick mother. The goddess tells Qingcheng that her mother is dead and then offers her a choice of riches and beauty but all men she falls in love for will die unless she can turn back time and undo what she has just done. She's a little girl with nowhere to go and no food so of course this deal is too tempting to pass up and she accepts. A while later during a battle of a 3000 man army defeating 20,000 barbarians a slave named Kunlun with a speedy gift is discovered while trying to outrun the barbarians.
Kunlun's ability impresses general Guangming also known as "Master of the Crimson Armor" and is taken in as a slave by the general. The general has been informed that the King is being attacked by Duke Wuhuan from the north but before he can get there he is attacked by Wuhuan's assassin Snow Wolf, the general is saved by Kunlan but receives a bad wound trying to defend himself. The general can't make the journey to protect the king and sends Kunlun with his crimson armor instead. The general tells Kunlun that the king will be the only one without a weapon. Kunlun goes to protect the king and when he arrives at the palace sees a man with a sword about to kill a beautiful woman and kills him before he can get to the woman and then flees with her. Kunlun eventually is cornered by Wuhuan's men and is told if he jumps into the waterfall behind him the princess will live but before he jumps he promises the princess he will never let her die.
This is one movie that had the money, a cool plot, and even had a good cast to support it. I think the first mistake was the director went crazy with his budget and though I do realize this is a fantasy movie but there is just too much. There was too much CGI and it was done ridiculously bad, there were fight scenes but they were bad fight scenes. The fights were awfully choreographed like the director got his child to choreograph the scenes for him. You could barely see anything when there was a fight because there was a weird cinematography that was used during the scenes, it will remind you of the type in "Warriors of Virtue" used in a bad way. The story goes everywhere before it ends, the princess's character is written poorly. She's supposed to be in deep love but how does fall in love with a guy she just met and then fall in love with another guy.
The thing with "The Promise" is not the back-story because it is interesting but the way it develops is crazy its too slow and makes feelings unrealistic. How can you truly believe that the princess is in love when she just met the guy and even worse isn't even the guy that she thinks saved her. Despite a bad script the actors keep you interested in the film until the end. The settings are undoubtedly beautiful, which is noticed right from the beginning, but the CGI should have been scrapped and done with more taste. The fights which were suppose to be a big part of this film could have helped give this film more interest and life but that fails. All you will be watching this film for is its gorgeous settings.
Movie Review: Simply stunning!
Summary: 5 Stars
I just saw this on dvd and have to say that it is simply stunning. I sat through it entirely mesmerized the whole time. The visuals are incredibly beautiful, the story was very engaging, and there's tons of action. Some of the scenes can seem somewhat silly, but as long as you realize that this is a fantasy film and let yourself be immersed in this fantasy world, you will enjoy it. I have the 103 min version, which I understand was shortened from the original 121 min version to make the story easier to understand. I sort of wished I had the longer version as I was sad the movie ended so soon. Movie Review: Rooting for the Bad Guy
Summary: 3 Stars
Chen Kaige acted in "The Last Emperor" and directed "Farewell, My Concubine" that was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film in 1993. My understanding is that this film made a lot of money in China; but for me it translates less well into our Western mindset. I enjoyed the fantasy part with the goddess giving Quingcheng a magic pact that she would be wealthy, but not have true love. Cecilia Cheung won Best Actress from the Hong Kong Film Awards for this film. She does a credible job as the woman who wants the one thing she cannot have, love. I saw Jang Dong-gun in the Korean film "The Coast Guard." As the slave Kunlun, he has giant puppy dog eyes for the lovely Quingcheng. His ability to run at the speed of lightning that comes from his childhood citizenship in the Land of Snow reminded me of watching an old Road Runner cartoon. After the death of his master, he agrees to be the slave of General Guangming. Hiroyuki Sanada who plays the general was in "The Last Samurai" that starred Tom Cruise. I couldn't quite guess what the attraction was that drew Quingcheng to him, but he fills the bravado of the character with excellence. I saw Nicholas Tse in a DVD that may no longer be available called "Gen X-Cops." While that wasn't the best of films, as the evil nemesis Wuhuan, he does a great job. Costumes and scene design are excellent and give the film an amazing look. Hollywood has been slow to adopt the emphasis on the visual that is now frequently seen in Asian cinema. The Golden Globes nominated this film as Best Foreign Language Film in 2005. For me, it didn't play quite as well. It was certainly an epic journey filled with action and romance, but by the end of the film I wasn't all that connected to the characters. I think I most enjoyed Nicholas Tse's nefarious Wuhuan; so you know a film didn't work when you're rooting for the bad guy. It is still worth seeing given that expectations are not too high. Enjoy! Movie Review: Another richly appointed costuming and set department.
Summary: 4 Stars
The story, very basically, is that a girl meets up with a spirit or goddess, not sure which, but that she will have wealth, but she will never know love, and that any man she does love will leave or die. Enter the handsome bad guy in the movie, and the good looking hero. There's several story lines going on. There's a captain who falls in love with her (lust more like), the servant who actually saved her in the first place who truly loves her, and the good looking bad guy who wants to possess her as a trophy. The servant type hero character is actually the last of a village the handsome bad guy wiped out, and so, he finds out that he has special abilities too.
There are parts of this movie that movie a bit slowly, but the sets, the dialogue, the story itself and the beautiful costuming come together to make this a movie worth seeing. Good luck finding it at rental stores, but if you like Asian Fantasy movies with vivid colours, moving storylines, action, adventure and richly made costumes, then you should make the effort to see this one.