The Promise
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Movie Reviews of The Promise
Movie Review: Visually Sumptuous, but lack emotional connection.
Summary: 3 Stars
Chen Kaige is one of the greatest directors in China and his film Farewell My Concubine(Gong Li, Leslie Cheung). That was a decade ago at least when he had a different approach and style. With the current trend and demand for lavish period kungfu movies, it was inevitable that even Chen would want to have a blockbuster like Hero and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. He does have the budget to make The Promise to be that kind of film, and the final product looks obsolutely stunning in an artistic aspect.
The film stars an all-star international cast including HK's "It Girl" Cecilia as the love interest of the emperor, Nicolas Tsai as the rebellious prince, Korea's Jang Dong Jun as the super-fast runner, and the director's wife plays a powerful Goddess. The story is a combination of fair tale and romantic war movie set in ancient China. The individual fight scenes were pretty good, but the huge army battles looked very cartoonish because the CGI's were not realistic.What's very impressive is the production design, wardrobe, and even music score. The actors weren't very well directed and their performances seemed unconvincing and emotionally unaffecting. Nothing like Leslie Cheung and Gong Li's memorable performances. There was an unintentional funny scene when Cecilia was about to be attack by hundreds of soldiers. She was standing on the roof and proceeded to use her beauty and sex appeal to discourage them from killing her. It really looked comical and hideous, because she thought every men on earth would find her attractive and irresistable. I find that she's either too young or too modern looking to play such period beauty, and she just didn't have the kind of look and impact made by Joey Wong in A Chinese Ghost Story (1,2,3).
Movie Review: they have yet to invent an adjective that could properly describe the incredible visuals of this film
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the single most beautiful films I have ever seen.
Unfortunately, I found the story line to be just bearable. There's a lot of fantasy involved and perhaps it was a metaphor for something that I haven't grasped yet. Regardless, it just didn't pan out for me in the end and I found myself wishing it was better written.
That said, I need to reiterate: this is one of the single most beautiful films I have ever seen.
There is one particularly bad CG sequence, but beyond that, it is a visual masterpiece, hence the five star rating despite a lackluster storyline.
I highly recommend it if only for the sheer and unequaled beauty of the cinematography.
Movie Review: It is pretty at least
Summary: 2 Stars
In a war-ravaged land where danger was rampant and food was scare a young girl named Qingcheng fed herself and her mother by pillaging the bodies of dead soldiers. One day, after finding some bread, Qingcheng pulls the boots off a hanging corpse for her own use. However, "the corpse" is not dead and he is able to string up Qingcheng. After Qingcheng promises to be his slave, he cuts her down and she proceeds to ask if she can see his helmet that she uses to smack him on the head before fleeing.
While crossing some water Qingcheng drops her bread, but the bread is caught by a goddess and is brought back to Qingcheng. The goddess asks why Qingcheng does not go ahead and eat the bread and the young girl informs the goddess that she is saving the food for her mother. The goddess then tells the girl that her mother is dead. Grief stricken the girl eats the bread, but before she departs the goddess offers her a chance to live a life in which she will have all the food she wants, will be able to wear the most beautiful clothing, and men will fall helplessly in love with her. However, there is of course a catch. All men whom she falls in love with will die. The girl readily accepts the conditions.
Years later, after a brutal battle in which his regiment of 3,000 men was able to defeat a barbarian horde of 20,000, General Guangming is informed that the King is being attacked by the traitorous Duke of the North Wuhuan. While he and his slave Kunlun, a man of extraordinary strength and speed, search for the path back to the kingdom they become lost and decide to split up to find their way. However, while looking for the path, General Guangming comes across the goddess who informs him that the victory against the barbarians would be his last because soon the man wearing the crimson armor, the armor Guangming wears, would kill the King and his name would be besmirched. Laughing, Guangming states that he would never kill the king.
After the goddess departs, Wuhuan's assassin Snow Wolf attacks Guangming. After the battle, Kunlun finds his master wounded and his master tells him to wear his army and save the king. Kunlun asks how can he tell who is the king and Guangming informs him that the king will be the one without a weapon.
Back at the palace, the King and his princess, Qingcheng, stand upon the top of the palace walls surrounded by Wuhuan's soldiers. Wuhuan demands that the king give him Qingcheng, which the king is all too willing to do. Qingcheng angered by this tells the guards that she will strip off a layer of clothing if they will kill the king. Being that her stunning beauty entrances them, Cecilia Cheung IS absolutely gorgeous, they willingly attempt to do as she asks. Infuriated, the king draws his sword and it is at this point that Kunlun, dressed in Guangming's armor, arrives at the scene chucks his sword at the king, which impales him, and rescues Qingcheng. However, their victory is short lived because Wuhuan and his men catch up to him. Wuhuan states that if Guangming jumps he will spare the life of Qingcheng. Kunlun, in love with Qingcheng and knowing that he can survive the fall willingly jumps.
Kunlun returns to his master and returns the crimson armor to him. Guangming is angered, he had been beaten and trussed up to a tree by his own men who did not kill him only because he had been their superior officer, because Kunlun killed the king, but the two hurry to rescue Qingcheng in which they are successful. Qingcheng is in love with Guangming because of the words he said to her before he jumped, you must not die, you have to live, however, she of course does not know that it was actually Kunlun who spoke these words so her heart's desires are misguided, but Kunlun, whose own desires come in second to his master's stands aside while Guangming tries to make Guangming truly fall in love with him. However, can Kunlun truly keep up this farce?
I watched this film twice yesterday: the first time in a movie theater and the second at home. Because my ability to read Chinese is stronger than my listening ability, I was able to understand about 40% of the film because it had sub-titles. However, since I could understand only a portion of the film, I mainly paid attention to the visual and aural aspects of Chen's latest work. The costumes are stunning in an unwieldy way. The suits of armor worn by Guangming and Wuhuan's soldiers are beautiful, but one wonders if an individual could truly fight in something so bulky. The costumes worn by Cecilia Cheung are stunning and lend her a transient appeal as if she is a cherry blossom, albeit one with a core of iron, that will soon fade. The music is decent, but some of the softer pieces are quite beautiful such as the slow piano piece that is played when the camera from overhead zooms to a close up of Cheung's character when she is imprisoned in the golden birdcage. The CG is well done, especially the goddess, but it is used a bit too heavily and it makes some parts of the film quite cheesy.
One interesting aspect of the film is that the main characters are from different parts of Asia. Sanada Hiroyuki, Guangming, is Japanese, Jang Dong-kun, Kunlun, is Korean, while Cecilia Cheung and Nicolas Tse are both from Hong Kong. Being that my listening comprehension of Chinese is not so good I am not sure how well they spoke their lines, but this is an example of an Asian film, there are of course more, in which actors from Korea and Japan play Chinese without raising the same kind of fuss Memoirs of a Geisha produced by casting Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi in the roles of Japanese women.
Was The Promise a good movie? Honestly it was not that great. It seems to be Chen Kaige's version of Zhang Yimou's Hero and House of Flying Daggers. Zhang Yimou was criticized by critics and audiences alike for these two films because they detracted so much from his usual fare and it seems that Chen is receiving criticism not only because of this but that he is also using this film to break into Hollywood. If this is the case or not The Promise also suffers from a high cheese factor, plot holes, and a sometimes-bombastic soundtrack that makes the dialogue hard to hear. However, if you enjoyed Hero and House of Flying Daggers you might like this film as well.
*Also, the original length of this film is 128 minutes, so it has been considerably cut*
Movie Review: Unconventional and Startlingly Beautiful
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm rather shocked and appalled to find this film with such poor reviews.
It goes without saying that in order to fully appreciate this film you need to have a deep love of cinematography, an interest in Chinese independent films, and an open mind.
With that being said, all that's left is to sit back and let the magic unfold.
This film perfectly illustrates what our most vivid interpreted fairy tails would look like. The colors are deep and saturated, the characters are exaggerated and play their roles well, and the setting is otherworldly while still being familiar.
I will admit that certain scenes were a bit too ambitious for the special effects the production team had at their disposal, but the beauty of the overall experience makes up for a few botched scenes.
I recommend watching the original, uncut film with subtitles and then going back and watching the dub to allow yourself ample time to just look at the film. To really take it in to fully realize the mastery in the sets, costumes and over all design.
If you're at all interested in this film, see it. It is breath taking. A rare gem. Not a material arts action movie, but rather a fairy tail romance brought to life.
Movie Review: A waste of time
Summary: 1 Stars
This movie is horrible. I cannot say enough bad things about it.