Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here.

I believe it was Ang Lee who once said that every Asian director has at least one martial arts film inside him burning to get out, and ever since his Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was released, the flood gates opened somewhat as some of the biggest director from Asian gave us their take on the genre.

Chinese director Zhang Yimou (Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern) gave us two actions film with Hero and House of Flying Daggers. And now Zhang's friend and contemporary Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine, The Emperor and the Assassin, Together) has entered the arena with The Promise (which he also co-wrote), perhaps the most elegant and visually magnificent of the big-budget martial arts film of recent years (the film was, in fact, the biggest-budget production in Chinese history and ended up being the nation¹s second-highest-grossing movie--behind Titanic).

Perhaps more a fantasy film with action than a straight actioner, The Promise opens with a little girl moving through a battlefield of dead bodies, looking for food. The time period of the film is uncertain at first, but this is not meant to be the aftermath of any particular war in Chinese history. If anything, the look and atmosphere of The Promise would have me believe that the story is set at the beginning of time, a time when the gods and human were still establishing their co-existence roles and when the rules of gravity and physics weren't quite in play.

The little girl meet a goddess (played by Chen Hong), who floats in the air with what seem like miles of fabric moving around her. It's a breathtaking image, the first of many here. The goddess informs the girl that she has actually died and offers her the comfortable life as a beautiful woman who will be adored by all men. The catch is that every man she loves, she will lose. What starving child wouldn't accept?

The film jumps ahead 20 years, to a time when warfare is the only life people know. General Guangming (Japanese superstar Hiroyuki Sanada, familiar to U.S. audiences from his roles in Twilight Samurai, The Last Samurai and in last year's The White Countess) sends a group of slaves in as the first wave of attack against opposing forces and into certain death. One of the slaves, named Kunlun (Korea¹s Jang Dong-Gun, most recently seen stateside in 2004's Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War), survives the attack and is revealed to have the amazing power of running with lightning speed. He was never aware of his ability because slaves are not allowed to stand upright. Thanks to Kunlun, the General wins the battle, and the slave become something of a personal assistant.

Soon, word comes that the King (Cheng Qian) in the Imperial City is in danger, and the General is ordered to save him. But along the way, the General is injured by a would-be assassin named Snow Wolf (Liu Ye from Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress and Purple Butterfly). The slave engages the assassin, and at one point thinks he may recognize the heavy-disguised figure from his homeland called The Land of Snow. The assassin becomes rattled and leaves the fight.

The General entrusts the slave put on his armor and continue on pretending to be him to save the King, who we discover is under attack from the evil Duke of the North (Nicholas Tse). The Duke isn¹t interested in winning lands with his overthrow, but in acquiring the beautiful Princess Qingcheng (Cecilia Cheung from Zu Warriors), who just happens to be the grown-up little girl. When he arrives at the castle, Kunlun (still wearing the General's armor) unintentionally kills the King and takes the Princess, setting off a chain reaction of events that are Shakespearean in scope and rich in creativity.

Much like all of Chen Kaige's other films, love and death are the focal points. A love triangle involving the slave, the General, and the Princess soon emerges, but the evil Duke is never far away to ruin everybody¹s day. And the Goddess makes a return appearance as well to add new layers of trouble to the mix. The Promise is more about the story than the action, which doesn't mean there isn¹t some great swordplay and gravity-defying hand-to-hand battles.

Where the film falters is with its special effects, some of which are painful to watch. The scenes featuring effects are blurry, fake looking, and just plain ugly. So you really have to ask yourself, how much is this going to bother or distract you from enjoying what is otherwise a luscious and wonderful work? I'll confess, it distracted me a lot in the begging, especially in the opening battle, but there are times when the effects are pretty solid. I feel it's worth suffering through the pedestrian CGI to see The Promise.

I was particularly taken with the complex relationship between Kunlun and the Snow Wolf, both of whom share a common history. Snow Wolf deserves his own movie, he's that cool. Throughout The Promise, allegiances are tested, changing, betrayed, and broken, all for the love of the Princess (the film doesn't have many nice things to say about beautiful women). I need to mention cinematographer Peter Pau, who is the silent star of this film. His work on The Bride with White Hair and Crouching Tiger is unforgettable, but he tops himself with The Promise. The use of color and lighting almost distracts you from the solid performances.

The film's pace and focus is different than most of the Asian action films you¹re used to seeing make it to theatres in the U.S., and that¹s what made it stand out for me. I found its beauty hypnotic and its story intriguing. I wish I was able to say that about more films in a given year. Be aware, that this version of the film is about 18 minutes shorter than the version that played in Asia, and there are moments where the story feels a bit chopped. I look forward to locating an uncut DVD at some point in the near future. In the martial arts/fantasy world, The Promise stands out as a work that distinguishes itself.

Capone