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The Promise
 
 

The Promise

Format: DVD
3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)


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Product Details

  • Format: Letterboxed
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: All Regions
  • Run Time: 121.0 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000F73V2W
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,056 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The Promise came to American shores with endless hype about its visual splendor--and for once, the hype is deserved. Lush and luminous, almost every shot will make you want to weep from its sheer loveliness. A starving young orphan girl named Qingcheng is offered a deal by a capricious goddess: The girl will be staggeringly beautiful and have all the wealth, delicious food, and fabulous clothing she could ask for--but every man she ever loves will die. Thus begins a twisty tale in which a fleet-footed slave (Korean actor Dong-Kun Jang) and a mighty general (Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada, The White Countess) compete for the love of the adult Qingcheng (Hong Kong beauty Cecilia Cheung), while a vengeful usurper (Hong Kong star Nicholas Tse, Time and Tide) seeks to destroy them all. Like many of the classics of Hong Kong fantasy--such as A Chinese Ghost Story, Swordsman II, and Green Snake--The Promise combines the epic storylines of Chinese mythology with the headlong momentum and energetic editing of kung-fu action movies. The result can sometimes seem absurd to American audiences--though these same audiences will happily swallow the absurdities of American science fiction, simply because they're familiar with the conventions of the genre. Viewers who embrace the conventions of Hong Kong fantasy will find The Promise engaging and emotionally rich...and there's just no denying the gorgeousness. Compared with the sterile spectacle of the later Star Wars movies or the clumsy, labored Matrix sequels, The Promise bursts with human warmth, dynamic storytelling, and elegant design. More Western audiences should open themselves to its pleasures. --Bret Fetzer

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Hold off...official R1 version coming 19 Dec. '06, October 19, 2006
By Lincoln 6 Echo "Power Metal Head" (Harrisburg, IL USA) - See all my reviews
  
If you're wanting this film, hold off just 2 months from this writing and grab the official R1 version on Dec. 19th.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars I was quite entertained..., May 4, 2006
By Stephen T. Durrant "tdurrant" (Smithfield, UT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I watched this film originally while sitting in a noisy vending room at a convention. I couldn't hear the movie at all, but enjoyed reading the subtitles and watching the visual effects. I bought the movie, then later enjoyed it at home where I was able to absorb it more fully. At closer inspection, some of the special effects are a bit on the "budget" side of the spectrum, looking like drummed up effects from a "Power Rangers" TV show, but all in all, the story was interesting enough and the overall cinematography was good enough to make me look beyond the flaws. A lot of the film is quite beautiful. The sound is mixed poorly in spots, where if I didn't depend on the subtitles, I'd be completely lost (like when the goddess first appears and whispers so quietly you'd have to have bionic ears to hear her words).

Yes, there are production flaws, but the overall scope was impressive, and I guess my exposure to Asian film is limited enough that it was more than I would have expected anyway. I was happily entertained.

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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful film, May 16, 2006
I had the fortunate experience of seeing "The Promise" in theatre over the past weekend. I personally loved it even though I don't like love stories and I am tired of the atypical Chinese film ala "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Hero" with its over the top martial arts. I was also pleased that finally there was film from China that didn't star Zhang Ziyi whom I have never been too wild about as an actress.

Cecilia Cheung stars as Qingcheng as an orphaned girl who is given the opportunity to change her destiny from being impoverished and orphaned to having all the riches in the world. The only catch is that all the men she will love over the years will be lost to her.

For the first twenty - thirty minutes of the film, the story focuses on General Guangming and his slave Kunlun. General Guangming wears this lavished red military attire. When the general is unable to go rescue the king from the enemy WuHuan, he has Kunlun wears his armor and sends him to rescue the king. It is Kunlun in the armor with the mask down that Qingcheng falls in love with. Needless to say, the encounterleads to deception, love, betrayal and death through out the entire film.

The costumes were absolutely stunning especially Guangming's armor. I personally liked the computer generated effects. The music fit perfectly with the mood of each scene. It was nice for once to see a movie that actually made sense and wasn't as confusing like "The House of Flying Daggers" and "Hero". My only beef is that the beginning of the film with General Guangming and his army who were up against an enormous army of barbarians dragged on a bit too long. Overall I enjoyed "The Promise" immensely.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZINGLY entertaining..
I really loved this movie,
It was on the airplane going to Frankfurt from Toronto, and I kept playing it again and again, I must have seen it at least 3 times on that... Read more
Published 18 months ago by A. Khalifa

2.0 out of 5 stars I Don't Know What They Were Thinking
In the beginning a starving young girl named Qingcheng is seen prying food out of the hands of dead soldiers in a forest. Read more
Published on May 30, 2007 by Keith A. Jones

2.0 out of 5 stars An epic that did not work for me.
We obviously here have a good budget, heaps of actors many who are extremely talented, some rather fantastic views of nature and some interesting action scenes. Read more
Published on August 18, 2006 by BernardZ

5.0 out of 5 stars Great cinema for asian movie fans. A true delight.
My friend bought The promise and made a copy for me but he told me he did not like it because he thought it would be like House of Flying Daggers or Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon... Read more
Published on July 22, 2006 by Avid Fan

5.0 out of 5 stars Astoundingly Beautiful
This movie is unforgettable in terms of the beauty that it presents. It is visually astonishing. Pure magic!
Published on May 28, 2006 by Lujan Matus

5.0 out of 5 stars Vivid and Vibrant Love Story on Choices
The poor orphan girl Quingchen is made an offer at the age of 5 from the Goddess Manschen.... she can be the beauty of beauties, the richest of royalty, but there is one catch -... Read more
Published on May 14, 2006 by M. R. Estante

3.0 out of 5 stars Snowing in April
"The Promise (Wu Ji)" tries too hard to sweep us off our feet with material that defies taking flight, though almost all of the characters do that very thing. Read more
Published on May 11, 2006 by MICHAEL ACUNA

3.0 out of 5 stars Too derivative
Maybe if I hadn't gorged myself on Hong Kong movies in the 90s my standards wouldn't be so high, but this movie has the look and feel of a dozen better movies (including the... Read more
Published on May 9, 2006 by Tim Lieder

5.0 out of 5 stars For Fans of Fantasy Martial Arts & House of Flying Daggers
If you liked House of Flying Daggers, you will enjoy this film. If you like the tradition of fantasy Martial arts films that stretches back for more than two decades, you will... Read more
Published on May 7, 2006 by Paul Kanter

2.0 out of 5 stars Oh dear...
Chen Keige's misbegotten The Promise is possibly the only Asian film that can make you feel sorry for Harvey Weinstein, who pre-brought the film before realizing that he'd made a... Read more
Published on April 30, 2006 by Trevor Willsmer

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