PSIFF Report: The Promise (Wu Ji) Review

Posted by Peter Martin at 10:53am.

Posted in Film & DVD Reviews , Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Asia, Random Festival News.

Gloriously committed to a fantastical yet strangely traditional world of honor, romance, and treachery, Chen Kaige delivers a colorful, rousing, absurdly serious romp.

Stunning on the biggest screen of the Camelot Theatres complex in Palm Springs, it’s easy to imagine that THE PROMISE will be much less impressive in smaller venues. Despite inevitable comparisons with Ang Lee’s CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON and Zhang Yimou’s HERO and HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, Chen forges his own path through the CGI forest. From its opening moments, THE PROMISE enthusiastically fornicates with computer imagery, displaying a reckless lust for fairy tale settings and magical creatures.

Newly shorn of its unwieldy—though not as silly as it first sounded—original English title (MASTER OF THE CRIMSON ARMOR refers to a military title for the leader of one of the two warring armies in the film), THE PROMISE deserves attention for the over the top production design of Tim Yip, who creates luscious settings that integrate wacked-out computer game imagery. Peter Pau’s usually fine cinematography tends to get lost in the digitized worlds that appear to predominate.

As for the plot, well, it’s not the factor that will drive repeat business (we’ll get to that in a moment). The story tends to get lost in the blizzard of effects, and I couldn’t tell you the particulars even if I tried to jot down notes in the dark of the theater.

The romantic triangle is unconvincing; the acting is on par with Chen’s embarrassing English-language feature KILLING ME SOFTLY. Cecilia Cheung bothers some people, but I love the throaty, head-cold timber of her speaking voice, which has apparently been dubbed here. Nicolas Tse is as petulant as ever as a spoiled rich boy. No one else in the cast, including the other two male leads, really stood out.

What should drive you to any cinema that plays this soaring, somewhat silly adventure is the insanity of the vision. When you see thousands of clumsily computer-drawn bulls and soldiers thundering through a canyon, and then watch our hero, a hitherto lowly slave, hopping and flying through the air dragging his master along, you will know you are in the presence of a genius. When your eyes bug out of your head from the blues and reds and blues and golden yellows that are splashed across every scene, and when you see how the romantic triangle is resolved in a glorious, madcap fight, played entirely straight, you will be glad you plunked down your money to see this wonder on the biggest screen possible.

The Weinstein Co. gave up on this one and returned their theatrical rights to the producers of the film, but we fervently wish that it will receive at least a limited run in as many cities as possible. If a DVD becomes available, sure, buy it, but treat yourself and don’t watch it until you’ve seen it where it belongs.

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Reader Comments

quadshock 01/20/2006 @ 10:42pm

wow. is this positive english review #1?
Eight Rooks 01/21/2006 @ 12:11am

No; one or two American websites were similarly “positive” , some even more so. Several people do seem to think that although it’s a bad film, it’s a very watchable and entertaining one.
Peter Martin 01/21/2006 @ 9:45am

To add to Eight Rooks’ comment, here’s a page with links to four mainstream reviews based on the film’s one-week play in Los Angeles:

http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/promise#critics

FYI, Kevin Thomas of the LA Times has been known as a “kind” critic, while Robert Koehler of Variety has more stringent standards. Click through Koehler’s review, and there’s a link to his thoughts on the long version. F. X. Feeney of LA Weekly was a long-time champion of Michael Cimino’s YEAR OF THE DRAGON and HEAVEN’S GATE, among others.
jon pais 01/21/2006 @ 11:40am

I value Twitch’s contributors for the passion, knowledge and insight they bring as well as for their eagerness to share their experiences with other devotees of “the strange little films from around the world.” I look forward each day to reading about screenings in places as far-flung as Oslo, Seoul, the Phillipines & Miami. I look to Twitch’s writers to inform about movies I don’t have access to and which aren’t covered in the mainstream press. Lastly, I read Twitch’s reviews for guidance on which films to see and which ones to avoid. Like many other readers, I spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year on movie tickets, DVDs, subscriptions to film magazines, etc. Lately I have been noticing a trend by reviewers at Twitch who, while calling readers’ attention to the abundant flaws in the films under discussion, nevertheless go ahead and recommend them anyway. Is this a sign of “the new film criticism”?
Peter Martin 01/21/2006 @ 9:16pm

Thanks for the comments, Jon. Personally, it’s a tough call for me with films like THE PROMISE that have a lot of flaws. In this case, with a week to think about it, I felt the merits outweighed the negatives and therefore recommended it. Of the films I saw last week, it fell below THREE TIMES, THE SKY TURNS, L’ENFANT, CITIZEN DOG, LADY VENGEANCE, and WELCOME TO DONGMAKGOL, but above GIMME KUDOS, THE RUINS, TIME OFF, and GLORY ROAD. Maybe I should have written more clearly that THE PROMISE was “recommended with reservations”?
jon pais 01/21/2006 @ 9:26pm

Your writing is marvelous--keep up the great work!
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