I love this movie so much

Such a frustrating disappointment

Fresh and Exciting

Excellent adaptation.

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.

A few years ago, when I was sitting in a bus on my trip from Taipei to Kaohsiung (for those who do not live in Taiwan, it's a 5-hour trip), I turned on the LCD screen in front of me (Yes, that's right, some buses in Taiwan have LCD screens and movies for passengers to chose during the trip) and chose "The Promise" on the select screen. I watched it for 15 minutes, went back to the movie select menu, chose "Norbit" instead, finished "Norbit" and fell asleep.IT TOOK ME 2 MONTHS, OVER 14 TIMES TO FINALLY FINISHING "THE PROMISE".Why? Because EVERYTHING in "The Promise" hurts. Deep inside my soul, I cried in agony for the quality of this movie.I know some people in IMDb liked this movie. I'm not here to debate how wrong they are. I'm just here to say how "The Promise" made me felt.First, let's take a look at the story. It's been a few years, and I've seen re-runs of "The Promise" on televisions for a couple of times. Yet, I still don't understand what this movie is trying to tell me.To clear things out, I have to confess that I am a fan of MST3K. I had my share of bad movies. I even watched "The Island of Dr. Moreau" in the theater. However, I still don't have a clue what "The Promise" is about.The story of this movie makes me feel that the director, Kaige Chen, is trying to tell you five stories in ONE SINGLE MOVIE. And the bad thing is, he can't tell even ONE story well enough for me so I can understand at all.As for the acting... I don't know, I really don't know what to say. I can tell that this movie was starred by some really talented actors/actress, yet they were all hampered by the incompetence of the director.To be honest, I envy for those who loved this movie and weren't native Chinese speakers. They don't have to endure what I've been through. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.It hurts my eardrums every time when I hear those ridiculous lines. Really. Oh yeah, did I mentioned that two of the main actors in this movie didn't even speak Chinese? (They are Korean and Japanese) SO, what do we have here now? A bunch of actors/actress speaking ridiculous lines in a cheesy way? Have you ever played Resident Evil on Playstation? I'd say that voice acting in Resident Evil is better than those in "The Promise", and it's not the actor/actress's fault.I can go on and on and on and on for EVERYTHING I hate in this movie to no end. Yet, it soon occurs to me: OH MY GOD! THIS IS IT! "The Promise" is THE milestone for Chinese movie industry! Finally there's a movie can be as bad as "Battlefield Earth" or "Plan 9 from Outer Space" (OK, maybe not that bad) in Chinese. I think this is a major breakthrough for Chinese-speaking people like me.Yes, for me, "The Promise" can be viewed as movies as "Water World", "Superman IV", or even "Manos: The Hands of Fate". And YES, "The Promise" is a bad movie. It sucks in every aspect. But I feel pleased to see this movie. Because "The Promise" showed that China now have the potential to shoot expensive, flat-out, meaningless, BAD movies like this one.

I don't really like martial arts films unless there is plenty of flying through the air and way out special effects so this film did not disappoint at all in that direction. The imagery was beautiful and the story was interesting but I felt that something was missing from the film. In parts the editing was poor and it was hard to follow. Also the characters were rather "wooden" and didn't evoke much sympathy. I love "Hero" which had all the things that this lacked-but my favourite of all time is "Bichunmoo" which was wonderful and incredibly emotional throughout.Despite all that I did enjoy the film and may indeed watch it again! I feel that with more viewings it may grow on me, It certainly ticks all the right boxes with regard to production and story line. It may never become a classic but it is worth watching.

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.