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Capone Weighs THE PROMISE!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
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
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+ Expand All
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Guess I'll have to check it out, thanks Capone!
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The reviews have been excellent, and just seeing the visuals puts this to no 1 on my must see list.
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Hope it's better than Hero and House of Flying Daggers.
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and its alright. I'm not rushing to rewatch it. However, i am listening to the soundtrack at the moment, and its pretty good. On another note, i just saw Twilight Samurai for the first time about a week ago. and i have to say that Hiroyuki Sanada is THE MAN. Fine, fine acting.
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looks cool. Best looking film in the genre so far.
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It's much, much worse than Hero, and Hero wasn't good. Even if you loved hero. This isn't nearly as good. It starts *ok* it degenerates into just being silly. Half way through it transforms into complete boredom and insanity.
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May 03, 2006 7:11:10 PM CDT
Is Hero the one where he gets shot by 1,000,000 arrows?
by quadrupletree
I thought that one was OK... not great but not bad.
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Please stop making these cliche ridden movies. WE GET IT. It's all poetic and beautiful. You can make it seem like you're saying something profound when you're not really saying anything at all, just making falling leaves look pretty while people fight. Gee, that's deep all right.
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Hero and CTHD were strong because of the story and characters whereas The Promise fails because it's nothing more than an excuse to chuck some CGI together. It's not nearly as bad as Zu Warriors though. Jeez!
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here's the trailer http://tinyurl.com/nd3ba -- too bad it doesn't live up to the trailer cause it looks amazing! And as for the genre being dead, I'd rather see this than another Clash of the Titans or 20,000 Leagues under the sea remake. At least it's original.
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they consistently chop up and essentially dumb down foreign films before they release it over here. What would make them think we are so dumb? Hmmmm. (George Bush, Adam Sandler, Reality TV etc. etc.) Ok yeah, I can see how they might think that. But it still hurts.
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Um, I was wondering whether Capone watched the same movie that I watched...
According to him, "The goddess informs the girl that she has actually died", but in the movie, the goddess tells the girl that her mother has died, not her. The food she salvaged from the battlegrounds for her mother is not necessary now. She is alone.
Also, to clarify, General Guangming is on his way to rescue the Emperor when he & Kunlun get lost in a forest. The general is attacked & injured by Snow Wolf the assassin. However, Kunlun interrupts the attempt. Snow Wolf recognizes Kunlun's skills and guesses that Kunlun might have come from "The Land of Snow". This rattles him, and he leaves. General Guangming, injured, instructs Kunlun to put on his armor to go save the Emperor. Kunlun states he does not know how to identify the Emperor, and General Guangming says that he will be the only person who is unarmed.
Of course, this isn't the case. The Emperor is wielding a sword, standing on the roof of his palace, with the princess (we do not know that she is the little girl from the beginning of the movie yet). The Duke has the Emperor surrounded, but only wants the Princess. The Emperor turns on the Princess and tries to kill her. Kunlun, in the General's armor & mask, enters the palace and kills the Emperor to save the Princess. He escapes with the Princess.....assumptions ensue, a love triangle develops, lost memories are recovered, promises are made, bets are made, a hero finds himself, and predictions come true...
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To quote that Orc in ROTK - "Late as usual!" AICN hehe - http://www.starwars.com/episode-iv/release/video/news20060503.html
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it was terrible. beautiful visuals ant sets? yes. and that's all. the rest are crappy effects, bad pacing, etc. but i think it will at least appeals to western audiences... you guys are sold on anything martial arts, aren't you?
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...correction
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Farewell My Concubine was brilliantly performed, strikingly beautiful, exquisitely shot... and stultifyingly dull. I don't think I've ever hated a better-looking movie in my life.
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Was Harry the only one to get an intern? ;-P JK. Good review Capone, I really enjoy these Asian flicks as they do look *so* good. I think people have to accept that pacing/story etc might not be the same as any other 'Hollywood' movie. Banditmania I loved House of Flying Daggers. That was one beautiful movie, colours, sets, action, music. It didn't have a conventional narrative but I liked that. And judderman did you see Memoirs of a Geisha? Jeeze I was begging them to hurry it along. Like watching beautiful paint dry...
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I'd rather watch cartoonish beautifully-shot Chinese epics than the USA Up-All-Nite crap that normally makes it into theaters. As for why they edited the movie, I'm guessing it doesn't have to do with dumbing it down for American audiences. It probably has to do with the running time. Less time = more screenings per theater. This ain't "Lord Of The Rings"; movie theaters aren't gonna take a chance on a long film. They're all about the buck.
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that i really can't understand how anyone can actually like or even recommend this movie. I like Capone's reviews but i totally disagree with this one. I loved Kaige's older films like "Farewell My Concubine" and especially "The Emperor and the Assassin"(an absolutely great Shakespearean drama about the first Chinese emperor) but this one is pure GARBAGE. It's incoherent in any possible way, no logic whatsoever, ridiculous in any possible way, horrible acting, BAD editing and jumps from scenes to scenes incoherently and randomly and crappy CGI. And seriously the laughable story and Action sequences didn't help either. For me it was one of the worst big budget Asian movies i have ever seen. When you have a friend who has prejudices against Chinese movies and considers them filled with awful cliches THEN DON'T show him/her "The Promise".
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...sandwich. Haw Haw I'm a wit. Seriously though, Hero=overrated.
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If you liked Hero and House of Flying Daggers, then you will probably like The Promise. That being said, the above stated problems are true: The CGI is mostly very bad, and the story, while intresting, is not as well executed as the other two movies. But, on the other hand, what looks good in the movie REALLY looks good! Cecilia Cheung is amazingly beautiful IMHO. Overall, I'd give it about a 6.5 out of 10.
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Yeah, I'll check this one out. Haven't actually got round to seeing Hero but HoFD was fantastic.
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