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Massawyrm Bores Into THE PROMISE!!
Every time I see Massawyrm, I forget to ask him how the hell he came up with his psuedonym.
Last night, I spoke to him about THE PROMISE (not to be confused with THE PROPOSITION. Hey, I wonder who'd win...Ahhh, never mind), and this film sounds very interesting.
I didn't make it to this week's screening, but wish I had.
Here's Massa...
Hola all. Massawyrm here. You know, us hardcore fantasy fans are pretty much S.O.L. when it comes to the box office. There is simply not a lot of love thrown our way. Despite people’s insistence that there is a resurgence of fantasy film making, that translates to at most 2 or 3 films a year, all of which are based on 50 year old material or a modern kids book so popular they had to create an entirely separate New York Times Bestseller list to track it…because so many writers and publishers kept complaining about being “Pottered” (‘if it weren’t for those three kids books, my book would be number 10 instead of 13’ – wah fucking wah…if you wrote a book that involving that actually got kids to read, we wouldn’t have to listen to you fucking whine, crybaby.) And while we’ve been very lucky in the adaptations so far (die hard purists and Tom Bombadil fans aside) finding original fantasy requires us to look towards foreign films to get our fix. Occasionally we’ve been gifted with truly original works like Strings, Malefique or Legend of the Sacred Stone, but these films are really as few and far between as the films here in the states (such as the occasional and poorly received offerings like Mirrormask and Reign of Fire.) But there’s always Wuxia…which for all intents and purposes IS fantasy. But despite the occasional Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero or Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain, even this genre either strays from the fantasy aspects or just plain sucks (whether due to budget or story.)
So - as a died in wool Dungeons & Dragons playing, miniature painting, lifelong fantasy geek – when I find something really special, I want to shout from the rooftops about it. Well, consider this my rooftop and lets just pretend I’ve got my keyboard in the upright, capslocked position – because I’ve seen “The Promise.”
While technically falling into the Wuxia category, I really hesitate to want to place it there. This is a fantasy film, a true to form fairy tale…that just happens to spontaneously break into short, sporadic bouts of “Martial arts” (I’ll address this more in depth later.) It’s not about impressive martial arts. It’s about emotion. It’s about tragedy. Based upon a classic folk tale, this has all the hallmarks of truly classic fantasy. A meddling goddess. A cursed princess. An arrogant general. A mysterious slave possessing supernatural powers. An evil warlord. A tortured assassin. Six lives intertwined in a tragic series of events in a story about honor, love and sacrifice.
When a young girl crosses paths with a mysterious goddess, she is offered the deal of a lifetime – become the most beautiful, adored woman in all the land in exchange for one small price. Any man she ever loves will leave her, one way or another, and the only love she will ever know will be fleeting. When her life is saved by a slave dressed in his master’s armor, she falls in love with the master instead of the slave and a bizarre love quadrangle arises as these two men try to protect her from the evil warlord that wants her for his own. And it only gets more convoluted from there – but in the best way possible.
The story is thoroughly engrossing, a perfect mix of angst, treachery and melodrama. With solid performances from an extremely charismatic cast, most notably by the ravishing Cecilia Cheung (King of Comedy and Legend of Zu), this delicate balance is powerful and absolutely moving. And framed by beautiful sets and surreal imagery, The Promise creates a fantastic world of vivid color and luscious cinematography. There are shots and sequences here that, while clearly CG at times, evoke the feeling and look of paintings. And while the budget does show through in a number of these, as a whole it’s an impressive, original look that really sells the film and its mythical leanings.
But for those looking for a solid kung fu movie, The Promise falls short. While there are two good fight scenes (and only one really fantastic one), most of the fighting involves the trademark dodging and leaping around that Wuxia haters so fervently complain about. Never does a single fight scene ever reach even the weakest scenes which American audiences have become accustomed through films like Hero, Crouching Tiger or House of Flying Daggers. Fortunately, these scenes never go on for very long, prove to be fairly dramatic and are never in the least bit boring. They’re not forced, and there’s never a fight just for the sake of having one, but its clear that director Kaige Chen is much more interested in weaving a fairy tale than he ever is in showing a single melee. Fantasy fans who aren’t also big fans of martial arts will find this a pleasant change of pace, but anyone with hopes of seeing anything remotely close to Yuen Wu Ping choreography will be sorely disappointed.
Of course, my love of this film may stem from seeing it through foreigners eyes. This film was entirely savaged in its home country of China, and one need not look very hard to find negative reviews of it. But as someone unfamiliar with the tale, I was entirely wrapped up in it. For my money, this is an absolutely fantastic film – with a story I simply loved and want to return to again and again. If I were to compare it to anything, it most resembles the simplistic beauty of Neil Gaimen’s “Sandman: The Dream Hunters.” Of course, several of our Chinese readers will probably savage me for this review, but so be it. I loved the thing. Highly recommended for fantasy buffs and anyone in love with Wuxia. Anyone with a distaste for either of these genres are strongly cautioned against it, as it hits all the notes of both that will probably get on your nerves.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em. I know I will.
Massawyrm
Insert text Here, numbnuts
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neat
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This sounds like it might be right up my alley so will check this out as soon as circumstances allow (roll on parole hearing) ;-)
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Saw it. Pretty tepid stuff. Like other recent wuxia attempts, it's very derivitive of older Shaw Bros. and King Hu works, and doesn't offer much except CG eye candy.
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!!!!
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Is "Massa" mellowing?
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and I thought "I would like to see this". So I will.
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Gadzooks man! In this forum you need to say he has gone 'all weak an shit' ;-)
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all the restrictions on the internet in China - you think the first place they go is to find out what Americans think about films they won't be watching? There ain't no Chinese talkbackers here. If there are - be careful, the govt is watching what you type....
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yeh..I didn't like this film that much. The acting was pretty bad (Cecilia Chung in particular) and the film not much more than eye candy....but I guess that's what Chen Kaige was going for. I liked Tsui Hark's Seven Swords a lot better (review at Dreamlogic.net).
I think my favorite HK film of the past year was Initial D though. Anthony Wong just won best supporting actor at the HK film awards. I don't remember if wu ji won anything. -
I really hated this movie. I mean it's opinions and all of that but if and when this movie comes to America it will fail. The special effects are all throughout but are not great by any means. The story is extremely convoluted, the action is...passable but when you have horrible looking cg people running really fast (imagine kung fu hustle when they run like looney toons but serious) I dunno what else to say, I almost turned it off half way through after I imported it. I am a fan of wuxia and fantasy and I cannot imagine anyone getting emotionally involved in this movie.
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looks beautiful, bad CGI and bad storytelling/pacing.... in short, it's crap!
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Terrible cgi.Wow,those bison really are fucking funny.The guy running on all fours is truly stunning in all the wrong ways.Watch in horror as a general pokes Cecilia Cheung while still wearing some jammis.Cecilia is damn fine though.Skinny fucking legs though.Film makes no sense.Watch in disbelief at the symbolism that a ten year old would call obvious.Watch in stunned silence as our heroine,who is..to be frank..somewhat of a cunt...is made to wear a shawl of feathers while locked in a bird cage only to be rescued by a man who can outrun time itself(Yeah..so fast..SHE STARTS FUCKING FLYING!!)Nice music.Acting is worse than Zhang Ziyi in Geisha.Basically the Chinese hate it and aren't partial to a Japanese actor pounding a Chinese actress.Stupid film.Try it if you think Winnie the Pooh is akin to Plato.Sorry,I fucked a girl in a bar toilet last night and am dealing with the shame.Nice arse.But enough about me.
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backing up your username huh? More details please. Was it the M/F toilet? Were other people using the facilities at the time of this coupling? Did they comment/cheer? Could you smell poop? ;-)
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Dude,its very rare that a drop faux-personae but I'm fucking ashamed of myself at the moment.Gal was fucking gorgeous(yeah...they always are,nobody fucks a hound...but for me?Yeah an angel.)I ended up meeting a female Priapic.She rode me like Bronco Billy and didn't let up but I fucking CANNOT get rid of the smell of that W.C.I swear,I taught a lesson tonight and as I talked I had to grimace as the stench of ....well....fishyness and shit just pervaded every pore.I thought I was gonna vomit(presumably that stench waas in there somewhere too).I'd generally not mind about that but I went on a date 5 hours later with a hangover from hell with a non-englais speaking chines girl who was ..quite frankly..the loveliest girl I've ever not yet had.In the year 2006 there has been 2 truly old-school Priapic examples:getting banned from The Zone for being.....Priapic.And what I did last night.I'm not black and I'm not proud.Fucking GREEEAAAAT arse though.
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fantastically sordid. The Voyeur crowd must enjoy that retelling... I'm feeling dirty just touching this keyboard! Although you need to watch out. I think Cronenberg's next project will be a cautionary tale of a dude who can only get it up in confined, public spaces that reek of shit and piss...
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I am sat on the end of my bed and I'm dreading getting in as I'm fuckin' sure my pillow reeks of filthyness.I don't remember any voyeurs last night but...oh my god...I ended up....oh god...in an absolute primordial state of drunkeness getting into a cab and gesticulating to the driver to take me to a brothel(I have NO IDEA why.I swear I'm not interested,nor should I have been after my escapades last nite,in going to a lady club)by miming the blowjob gesture.The driver was fucking pissing himself.He didnt know what to do so I legged it only to wake up this morning obviously minus a soul.The smell on my fingers would make Captain Haddock blush.
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is that you performed like this on a Wednesday night! What circle of hell are you in where you do these things on a Wednesday? Vegas?! I guess I'm getting old *sigh* I haven't had to try and mime 'take me to a brothel' to a stranger in quite a while...
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