There’s a reason many movie fans in China were disappointed with “The Promise” by Chinese filmmaker Kaige Chen, who is most acclaimed for his 1993 movie “Farewell, My Concubine.”
According to an article in The (London) Times, millions watched “The Steamed Bun Murder” – a 20-minute satire of “The Promise” posted on the Internet by Hu Ge, a Chinese sound engineer.
More people watched “Steamed Bun” than “The Promise” because the latter film tries too hard to become something it’s not with a round-about plot.
In it, Princess Qingcheng (Cecilia Cheung) accepts her fate when a goddess tells her she will lose every true love and every man will desire the princess for her beauty. A duke, general and slave try to earn Qingcheng’s love through wars and power struggles.
And now the complicated version to prove just how jumbled the film is: During an attempt to save the king, the army general becomes injured, so his slave poses as the general to save the king. The slave kills the king – oops – and rescues the king’s lady. The princess falls in love with the wrong guy because she thinks the general, not the slave, saved her. Meanwhile, some battles are fought, and the general’s slave, along with a duke, are in love with the princess. Oh, and more fights take place.
It seems like a good date movie. Love and war means satisfaction for both parties, right? However, in this film those two elements form a confusing hodgepodge.
Although the movie wasn’t accompanied by the same hype in the United States that it was in China, viewers must remember $40 million was spent to make it – the most ever spent on a Chinese movie.
A great deal went to special effects, but the effects leave viewers disappointed. The slave, Kunlun (Dong-Gun Jang), tries to outrun charging animals with his lighting-quick speed, but the effects during the scene look too artificial.
Fight scenes between Kunlun and Snow Wolf (Ye Liu), who both posses speed because of a special gift from their homeland, are reminiscent of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” But they fail to come off as authentic and lack the smooth movements of those in “Crouching Tiger.”
The film did get off to a quick start. A narrator introduces and explains the background of the film, and viewers are soon thrown into a war scene in which Gen. Guangming (Hiroyuki Sanada) and his 3,000 soldiers defeat an army of 20,000. The scene provides close-ups and has viewers cheering for the underdog soldiers. Unfortunately, the movie’s best scene is this introductory battle.
White subtitles on a white backdrop will have viewers squinting when scenes take place in Kunlun’s homeland, the Land of Snow. These scenes are minimal, though.
Viewers might care more about the movie if characters were involved in more dialogue and expressed more emotion. Shouldn’t love express some form of outer emotion? The characters feel somewhat disconnected.
The movie’s portrayal of slavery and women does not coincide much with modern Western thought. The princess is treated like a coveted prize and at one point is locked in a cage and dressed like a bird. Throughout most of the movie, Kunlun is subservient to his master despite chances to escape the general’s control.
Viewers should take the movie as fantasy, where gods live among the people, where things don’t look real and emotions are not real. The movie provides some entertaining war scenes amid a disappointing plot.
“The Promise,” with a run time of 103 minutes and a PG-13 rating, opens soon at the Bijou. Check www.bijou-cinemas.com for showtimes.
Don’t trust the title: ‘The Promise’ does not guarantee satisfaction
Daily Emerald
May 24, 2006
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