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Starring
:
Cecilia
Cheung
Hiroyuki
Sanada
Jang
Dong Gun
Nicholas
Tse
Lau
Yip
Chen
Hong
Action
:
Stephen
Tung Wai
Dion
Lam
Writer
:
Chen
Kaige
Producer
:
Chen
Kaige
Director
:
Chen
Kaige
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THE
PROMISE (2005)
A.K.A.
- Wu Ji
Reviewed
by Hannah Lin
China's
official entry at the Oscars features an international cast,
a healthy dose of CGI action and unique direction from
master film maker, Chen Kaige. It is also, however, devoid of
heart, soul and any sense of coherence. You won't see a more
frustrating film in 2006.
No
doubt bolstered by the international success of previous hits
'Hero',
'House of Flying
Daggers' and the seminal 'Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon', Chen Kaige has amassed a startling cast
and crew and a none to modest budget to tell the tale of
rugged slave Kunlun (Korea's Jang Dong Gun) and his hidden
love for the beautiful Qingcheng (Cecilia Cheung). With
stellar support from Japan's Hiroyuki Sanada as General
Gaungming and cinematography by the excellent Peter Pau
('Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', 'The
Touch') you'd be forgiven
for thinking that 'The Promise' will be an obvious hit. It is
not.
We
open on a dishevelled young Qingcheng (Guan Xiaotong) stealing
bread from a dead man's corpse after a bloody battle. Fleeing
through the dead bodies that litter the ground, she is stopped
in her tracks by a young boy who manages to trap her with a
rope and a tree. He tells her that the dead bodies were that
of his fathers army, and that should she steal from them,
she'd be stealing from him too. Young Qingcheng is crafty
however, and offers him her services as a slave if he would
let her go. "Do you promise?" comes the young boys
response. She does, and he releases the trap. Poor boy. He is
swiftly knocked to the floor and Qingcheng steals back the
bread and runs away. So a chain of events is set in motion
which will have profound effects on everyone who meets her.
Flash
forward 15 years and a general named Gaungming (Hiroyuki
Sanada), a Master of the Crimson Armour, is about to lead his
men to another great victory with the help of hundreds of
slaves. The slaves are forced towards the approaching army by
way of a narrow valley, and given more incentive by having a
herd of stampeding bulls chase them. One such slave is Kunlun,
who, upon seeing many of his comrades crushed to death,
displays a talent which will become integral to the rest of
the story. He's really, really fast. Running seems to be an
art to him. Before you can say 'Forest Gump' he is carrying a
wounded comrade on his back and running so fast that he leaves
the herd and the approaching army in a cloud of dust. General
Gaungming sees this incredible deed but doesn't dwell long on
it as he has work to do. The ensuing battle is huge as he
leads his men against 3000 soldiers. He makes fast work of the
opposition and defeats nearly 200 soldiers himself with only
the aid of his 'Great Golden Balls of Doom'. Or something to
that effect.
After
the battle is won, Gaungming asks Kunlun to be his personal
slave and Kunlun is happy to oblige, as doing this means that
he will get to eat every day which is not a certainty in his
current life. Later that day, in a dark forest, a vision
appears before Gaungming which tells him that the Master Of
The Crimson Armour will kill the king and capture the heart of
his Princess Qingcheng. Upon hearing this prophecy he spies an
opportunity for power. Unluckily though, before he can act on
this newfound knowledge he is wounded in a fight with a
mysterious assassin. Unable to go any further he comes up with
an obvious plan. His loyal slave Kunlun should wear the
crimson armour and it's golden mask, and kill the king in his
place. Genius. (Yawn) With the mask and armour hiding his true
identity he sets off to the palace to do his masters biding
and makes quick work of the King, who was already under siege
from another enemy, Wuhaun. (Nicholas Tse) Wuhaun also happens
to be in love with the Princess. As Kunlun tries to escape
with the Princess they run into trouble and are separated as
they are attacked by Wuhaun's soldiers, who then take the
Princess back to be their masters lover. It is too late for
love to blossom there though, as a seed has been planted in
her heart. Qincnheng is in love with her rescuer, The Master
Of The Crimson Armour.
Cue:
mistaken identity, melodrama, three way romance, more CGI,
swordplay, varying levels of acting and, oh, more CGI. The
said effects are one of, but not the only thing that is to the
films detriment. So uneven are they in their execution that
they will likely induce fits of laughter from many of the
audience. Stunning vistas, buildings, weapons and in the case
of the bull stampede sequence - entire scenes, are all
completely created with CGI. Kunlun's sprinting effect is
similar to that of the roadrunner chase in Stephen Chow's 'Kung
Fu Hustle' (which in fact was created by the same effects
house, Centro) only far bigger and 'way' more over the top.
It
works fine in Mr. Chow's movie because it's supposed to be a
slapstick-comedy moment, but when you drop something like that
into a serious, semi-art-house period film, it just pulls you
out of the story. The same goes for a sequence a little later
when Kunlun's friend Snow Wolf (Likeably portrayed by Liu Ye)
teaches him how to run so fast that you can travel back in
time. I mean, excuse me? Both in idea and execution, that
little plot device belongs in an entirely different film. It
is elements like this which do not help lend an air of
credibility to the previously mentioned, over complicated
plot. I have never seen so many effects in an Asian film
before and the slapdash execution displayed here, makes me
hope I never will again.
In
the acting department the usually excellent Jang Dong Gun just
about gains our sympathy as the slightly slow and gullible
Kunlun. See what they did there? He's mentally slow but
physically fast. Something else better suited to a Stephen
Chow movie. He certainly doesn't stretch himself here, though
who can blame him when, for over half of the movie you can't
even see him whizzing around inside the clunky effects.
Hiroyuki Sanada probably holds the screen best, even when his
character acts in a most unlike-able way for much of the films
running time. He's always believable and seems to handle his
dialogue and action scenes like a true professional. The
biggest problem lies with the talented and beautiful Cecilia
Cheung. Painted in white and frosty in nearly every scene,
it's difficult to see where the film makers had hoped to
inspire sympathy for Qincheng in the audience. Don't get me
wrong, Ms Cheung has always been one of the better Hong Kong
actresses for my money and she emotes admirably here. It's
simply that her character seems one dimensional and cold. So
maybe the problem lies in the script from Zhang Tan and Chen
Kaige?
Director
of such highly regarded films as 'Farewell My Concubine', 'The
Promise' was something of a departure for Chen Kaige, who, much
like Zhang Yimou before him (who went from art house films
like 'The Road Home' and
'Not One Less' to critical success with
'Hero') is new to the period fantasy genre. Having written and
directed the excellent 'The Emperor and The
Assassin'
however, there was no real reason to doubt his skill in
depicting a different kind of period film. Sadly though,
pretty much everything in 'The Promise's script falls flat.
Characters come and go with little or no
real reason. Events simply 'happen' because the script
dictates, not because you believe the characters would act in
such a way. It's this disregard for rhyme or reason which
undermines any of the good work on the film. There is never a
point in 'The Promise' where you feel that we, the audience, are
not supposed to take this all seriously. Sadly, with blatantly
1-dimensional characters and semi-realised special effects
being thrust under our noses every few minutes it's hard not
to wonder if 'The Promise' 'is' actually a 'wink at the audience
comedy' in the vein of 'A Chinese Odyssey 2002'.
So
the bad far outstrips the good. Yes, the sets are stunning,
costumes sumptuous and the actors are beautiful. The
cinematography can sometimes inspire and while it is all of
the CGI/wire trickery nature, even the action can excite. But
when you feel no emotional connection to anything happening
onscreen the efforts of the behind the scenes folk seem
wasted. I really expected more from such a talented cast and
crew but at the end of the day I do understand that The
Promise is a largely experimental film.
It's just a shame that it was such a spectacular failure. It
will lose most of it's audience by the 20 minute mark and even
those that do manage to stay engaged past that point will
likely be sleeping by the time our heroes 'Fly away into the
sunset'.
Rating:
  
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