Review: The Promise (2006)

The Promise
(Wu Ji)

(c) 2006 Ray Wong
Ray's Rave Review (reelreviews.blogspot.com)


Chinese martial art fantasy is an unique genre that is very popular in
Asia, but has yet to become mainstream in American culture. Ang Lee's
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Yimou Zhang's The Hero are both
excellent specimens. Unfortunately, The Promise by another prominent
Chinese filmmaker, Kaige Chen, is an improbable mess.

In a dream-like prologue, a young, orphaned Qingcheng (Cheung) has
promised Goddess Manshen (Chen) to forsake true love in return for a
life full of riches. Twenty years later, she becomes Princess
Qingcheng, the Emperor's (Qian) concubine. Men would fight a thousand
wars just to get a glimpse of her beauty.

Meanwhile, General Quangming (Sanada) leads the Imperial Army in
fighting the Barbarian's invasion. After witnessing the incredible
talent of a slave, Kunlun (Jang), the General acquires Kunlun as his
personal slave. Kunlun saves the General from Wuhuan's (Tse)
assassin, Snow Wolf (Liu). Donning the General's armor, Kunlun
inadvertently kills the Emperor and saves the Princess's life from
the pursuit of Wuhuan. Thinking that she was saved by the real General
Quangming, the Princess falls in love with him, not knowing that it is
Kunlun who really loves her. The quest for her love results in an epic
struggle for all involved.

If the story sounds convoluted, it's because it is. The mistaken
identity is only part of it. There are more love triangles than I can
count. The story moves along briskly - too briskly. The audiences are
never allowed enough time to stop and savor the characters or the
story. The film looks and feels like a comic book, with each
"panel" flipped through quickly, leaving no room for imagination
and wonder.

The international cast doesn't do much for the film, either. With the
exception of Sanada (The Last Samurai), who brings certain finesse to
the role of General Quangming, the performances are generally either
bland or over the top. Korean actor Jang (Brotherhood) is handsome, but
he is also wooden with only one or two expressions in his repertoire.
Cheung (Himalaya Singh) is supposed to be the Helen of Troy of the
East, but she comes off looking like a high-class prostitute, and her
performance is thin and unconvincing. Tse (New Police Story) is a
prissy, two-dimensional villain. Liu (City of Golden Armor) isn't so
bad, but he spends most of his time under a dark hood.

The screenplay by writer-director Chen (Temptress Moon) is a huge
disappointment. It's disjointed, overwrought, excessive, and
convoluted. Almost no time is spent on character development. The
audiences are spoon-fed with information to help us "get the
characters." The plot is nonsensical and illogical, even for a
fantasy. The characters lack real motivations and their actions are
often incomprehensible.

While the central premise is interesting, the unfolding of the rest of
the story fails miserably. Worst of all, the action is boring. Those
who are familiar with martial art, whether it's the elegance in
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or the acrobat in a Jackie Chan's
movie, would be sorely disappointed. The special effects are also
poorly rendered, something we would expect from, perhaps, ten years
ago.

It boggles the mind. How could a man who brought us the exquisite
Farewell My Concubine come up with such dreck? The Promise (the
original, Chinese title means "Invincible") is a prime example of
how "style over substance" could go horribly wrong. Granted, the
cinematography is beautiful, and there are some breathtaking sets and
imageries, but a movie should be more than just moving paintings. The
subliminal Chinese philosophies of "suffering," "fate" and
"loyalty" are presented in an insufferably oppressive manner. The
characters are highly unlikable, and the story extremely
incomprehensible. The editing is also very choppy. Mr. Chen's
cinematic capital since Farewell My Concubine is dwindling, and he
should promise to never make something like this again.

Stars: Dong-Jun Jang, Hiroyuki Sanada, Cecilia Cheung, Nicholas Tse, Ye
Liu, Hong Chen, Cheng Qian
Director: Kaige Chen
Writer: Kaige Chen
Distributor: Warner Independent Pictures
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for stylized violence, some sexual content
Running Time: 102 minutes

Script - 4
Performance - 6
Direction - 5
Cinematography - 8
Music/Sound- 5
Editing - 4
Production - 8

Total - 4.2 out of 10

.

Relevant Pages

  • Millions of Chinese forced to change their names
    ... name in China, shared by nearly 17 million people. ... as many Chinese do. ... the roughly 55,000 Chinese characters, according to a 2006 government ... her identity card last August, she said, Beijing public security ...
    (soc.culture.baltics)
  • Re: The origins of writing
    ... > "One major difference between Chinese concepts of language and Western ... > characters are inscriptions on oracle bones, ... Cantonese, they are likewise pronounced jing, if we ignore the tone. ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Word count of minimum vocabulary
    ... >> Nor do I have to map a Japanese Kanji to a word when I read ... tie it up with any words -- whether Chinese words or Japanese ones. ... A logograph can be used ideographically, and an ideograph can be used ... do not the characters represent chinese ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Whats happening in SCS?
    ... mention the British Nazi Party's leading intellectuals. ... There is actually no such language as Chinese, ... This is not necesssarily a barrier, as Chinese characters are mutually ...
    (soc.culture.scottish)