Reviewed by claudio_carvalho 9 / 10 One of the Most Beautiful Fantasies I Have Ever Seen Unfortunately, the film is hampered by some terrible CGI that does serve to weaken the overall effect, with an early scene in which Kunlun flees a stampede of bulls being one of the worst rendered computer generated moments in a big budget movie that I can remember. Although the storytelling is very muddled at first, it all makes sense by the end, and ultimately proves rather enchanting. The Promise is a lavish, big-budget, romantic fantasy from director Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine) it's heavy on the sumptuous visuals, rife with heroism and tragedy, blessed with stunning cinematography and features a shed-load of fancy wire-work and special effects. The scene is now set for a tragic love triangle, with the evil Wuhuan making matters even more complicated. Unfortunately for Kunlun, who was wearing his master's armour and mask, she believes that General Guangming is her saviour. When fleet-footed slave Kunlun (Jang Dong-kun) poses as his injured master General Guangming (Hiroyuki Sanada) on a mission to protect their king from invader Wuhuan (Nicholas Tse), he saves the life of the princess, who immediately falls in love with her rescuer. She accepts and grows up to be a beautiful princess (Cecilia Cheung). Reviewed by BA_Harrison 6 / 10 Worth sticking with to the end.Īs a little girl, Qingcheng (Xiaotong Guan) meets Goddess Manshen (Hong Chen), who makes her an offer: beauty and riches in exchange for a future in which romance will be fleeting. When the film cane to its end I was sorry I could not stay longer in Chen Kaige's magical kingdom.
The Promise created its own cinematic universe and I had no problem entering into it. The closest equivalent are the stories of the brothers Grimm with all their magic and their violence and not necessarily a happy ending. The Promise is a de-luxe version of these folk legends, visually stunning, beautifully coloured and with all the lack of logic you also find in European fairy tales and folk stories. Rather compare it to the many serials on Chinese television with flying goddesses and white haired sorcerers in fiery caves. Comparisons with Hero or CTHD are not appropriate. This is a fairytale, not a martial arts film. I don't understand why so many commentators seem annoyed or even offended by The Promise? Is it because it doesn't correspond to their pre-conceived idea of Chen Kaige? So what? Let's take the movie at its own value. Reviewed by damien-16 4 / 10 If the brothers Grimm would have been Chinese.
Kunlun decides to return to the Kingdom to face Wuhuan and fight for his love. When Snow Wolf saves Kunlun and brings him to the Land of Snow, he recollects his childhood when his mother and sister were killed by the evil Wuhuan.
Princess Qingcheng falls in love for the man of the crimson armor that she believes is General Guangming. However, Kunlun kills the king to save Princess Qingcheng and promises her to never let her die. When Guangming is wounded, he asks Kunlun to wear his armor and save the king from the cruel Duke of the North Wuhuan that put the Imperial City under siege with his army. Years later, slave Kunlun helps the Great General Master of the Crimson Armor Guangming to defeat a barbarian army with almost seven times more warriors, and Kunlun becomes his slave. When poor, starving orphaned girl Qingcheng meets Goddess Manshen, she agrees to become the wealthy beauty of beauties with the curse that she would lose every man she loves, unless three things happen: snow falls in the spring, time moves backwards and the dead comes back to life. When the world was young, a Kingdom lay between the Land of Snow and the Barbarian Territory where gods and men lived side-by-side and promises were lies.
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