That was an excellent one.

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Absolutely Fantastic

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is the first time I write a review for this board and I wanted to write about this film from many a time.It seems that this film is quite polarizing for too many people. First of all let me state that the only version I had seen is the original two-hour cut of the film (Asian original version) and not the botched hour-and-half version -that the distributors found fit for the American public to see- and that was nailed by the critics. I previously owned the DVD (Also with the original cut) and had enjoyed the movie several times, and now I got it in Bluray and I am sure I am going to enjoy it many times more. This film is an Epic Fantasy in the "Wuxha" tradition but with more emphasis in the fantasy part -almost like a folk-tale- and like in all good fairy-tales, lessons are provided for all involved. Five different characters: an extremely loyal slave, who starts crawling and ends up flying (Tell me about cinematic metaphors!); an arrogant General (Who finally discovers love for the first time), a cunning beautiful Princess (Who is cursed to lose every man she loves), an evil Duke (Who at the end proves to be more insecure than evil), and a pitiable assassin (Who is on constant denial about himself). All the afore mentioned -under the hand of gifted Director Kaige Chen- will find their respective destinies at the same time providing us with some of the most incredible ravishing visuals, amazing wire-work and pathos of operatic proportions (Klaus Badelt composed the extraordinarily powerful but lyrical musical score). This is a somewhat story-wise complex film with several intertwined plots which deal with many different ideas (Loyalty, Friendship, Fate, Love, Envy, Sacrifice, etc) that at the end provide the core for some hard-earned lessons, like it should in any morality-play that all fairy-tales usually are. Many people have criticized the CGI of this movie and they are not at fault: the CGI in this film is quite far-reaching, and yes some is gorgeous (Fortunately most of the time) and some is poor (The bull's run for example), but do not let this to hinder your enjoyment of this stunningly beautiful film (Remember, as years progress by, last-year's best visual effects are going to look dated or clumsy). This film is not perfect (Sometimes it tries to reach more that it can grasp), but when it is good, it is exceedingly good. I suggest -if you have the chance- to give an opportunity to this incredible and fulfilling film.

The Promise was a Chinese movie. It had side-effects that were similar to The Matrix - with flipping over in mid-air and then landing on their feet. There were lots of vibrant colours - and beautiful scenes. However this movie was nothing compared to Japanese samurai movies. The storyline of The Promise was very weak. I watched the English version and found the voice-over annoying. The voices did not match the faces of the actors. It did not seem natural.I watched this movie to learn more about the Chinese art culture and cinematic culture - but did not come out any the wiser. To me, this movie seemed to be a Hollywood copycat - with all the special effects and superficial story. I found the movie to be without truth and void mysticism.

After having watched many Chines martial arts film, I was amazed that I could still be thrilled and surprised, but this film did just that.Writer/director Kaige Chen has put together a film that transcends countries and presents a tale of love and magic in a martial arts dance that is simply spectacular in its visual presentation.Starring Dong-Kun Jang (Typhoon) as the slave who seeks the princess (Cecilia Cheung) and saves her several times, and Hiroyuki Sanada (The Last Samurai) as the General who is both his boss and his rival.The magic and cinematography and costuming and music of this film all add together to present a timeless tale that will delight all.

What happens when a great story is miss directed? "Wu ji" does.Kaige Chen should have given the job of directing this movie to someone else. I wonder if Yimou Zhang would have taken the challenge..."The Promise" is a beautiful and dramatic love story that takes over the screen like few do these days. Epic, this movie is capable of offering the viewer 2 hours of strong emotions.Nice photography, nice sets and a nice cast make everything look consistent and well done but... I don't blame them for the low quality special effects on some of the scenes but I do blame them for using them some many times knowing they weren't up to the task. It seems this was the highest budget of all time for an oriental movie so I get the idea that they really should have hired better CGi experts, who knows, Hollywood people, it couldn't have harmed that much...What we get is sometimes overuse of CGi that lacks in realism and I can only blame the director for this. Take for example "Hero", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" or even "House of a Thousand Daggers". These movies also have a lot of CGi but they focus much more on simple and outstanding visual effects than ambitious stunts that come short in realism."Wu ji" is a must see for all the people who's been following this type of cinema making for the last years but it goes down against other movies like itself.6/10