Wu ji - La légende des cavaliers du vent

The Promise has delivered the message to the audience, ie, live life full , bravery to pursuit our love, and our ability to change our fate by choice.

The west have "superman" and "fantastic four". No one commented the movies are illogical. This promise has combined Chinese myth and faith. In such contact, it is unkind to comment the abilities of the slave to fly, run and step into another realm of time and life. Do not apply double standard in evaluating and judging the movie with our limited perspectives. The important thing is the message the movie trying to express to the audience.

The movie captured many beautiful moment, from flowers to sky, from facial expression to non verbal language.

The conversation among the cast are remarkable. It made us think of our own life. The Chinese language fully exploited to deliver the complexity of ideas and thought.

The concubine has made the choice to love the general. She even decided to pour her heart out to the "slave". At the end, she is the one decided to ignore the warning of the "goddess".

A movie worth watching again!

I had been forced to see a huge hypes bombing all over the places in Beijing, and according to all the news reports there were no any direct critical voices. And after I did watch the movie, it turned to be a huge disappointment and I doubt if the criticism has been banned by media for commercial and Golden Awards reasons?

YES, it is a BAD film. Story is simple and seems wanted to tell something but you may still have to have a script or novel in details on-hand to be able to understand what the earth the director Chen wants to talk about through such dull story(or I doubt if he have the ability to tell in this movie). As the casting stars are mainly not native Mandarin speakers (apart from Liu Ye)and have sort of facetious accent,It is rather making native Mandarin speakers such as me feel upset.It is not an important consideration for non-Chinese speaker but I got to let everybody aware that-- The dialogues in the film is rather awkward and afflictive and It is a film that can be ruined by the accents indeed.

And in terms of CG part, it is really so-so compared with the pre-declaration that it was gonna be "a Chinese Lord of the rings" movie--Anyhow I don't think anybody will dare to allege that again after watching it. For instance, I still felt like watching a PC-game effects at the most costly scene when the thousands of uruses rushing in the valley at the start of the film.

And in terms of martial art part, it is just another application of "Gravity Zero" technics popularised by Hong Kong movie industry.

As a director had ever made masterpieces such as "The Emperor and the Assassin" and "Farewell, My Concubine", Chen Kaige fails to make another remarkable movie ( comparably big investment is exceptional).

This film could have been very good if only they would have allocated that huge budget to better special effects. The other important thing that needed to be accomplished was to write a much better script.

There was some great visuals in this which hit the spot and were quite pleasing. Some of these scenes can be viewed in the film trailer.

I do not fault the actors for the shortcomings of this film, with the exception that they should have challenged the director more regarding some scenes and dialog which were absolutely stupid. Enough has been said by other reviewers concerning this.

I felt sorry for Cecilia Cheung in the fact that the director Chen Kaige seemed to try his best to make her look like a wax corpse, rather then a beautiful Princess.

This film had a lot of potential, but it got wasted. It is a shame. It is not the worst film in the world, it's just that it could have been really something special.

I challenge you to watch it and make your own conclusion. I am pretty confident you will agree with me after doing so.

When I saw the trailer for The Promise, it didn't look too impressive to me, but I noted that it is a Chen Kaige film, and Chen Kaige is reason enough to watch a film that might not look so good.

So I watched The Promise (or Mo Gik), and I must say that it is not often I watch a film with my jaw down most of the time in reaction to the visual majesty of the film.

When I watch movies, the first thing I look out for are the new things to see, more so than the stories. That's the whole point of the cinema, right? To use our eyes. The Promise delivers full marks on that front, with precise and unique cinematography that captures and compliments the breathless and mystical elements of the film in dazzling colors and sweeping scenery.

At this juncture I must note that The Promise is shot digitally, and employs a wide range of digital effects to create the semi-fantasy world of fluorescent colors and out of this world settings. One of the common complaints about this film is that the CGI, as well as the set decoration in this film looks highly amateurish despite it's grand setting. I have to agree that it's not the finest looking visual effects in the world, but I'm proud of it nonetheless. For a budget 4 times less than movies like Star Wars and King Kong (despite it being the most expensive film ever made in China), the effects are pretty darn good to see. Watch it in context, and it'll be the finest thing that China has ever seen.

As for the acting, I can't say too much about it. A Korean and and a Japanese take up two of the four lead roles, and both of them speak mandarin well enough to pass off as Chinese characters. Cecilia Chung dazzles the screen not only with her beauty, but simple gestures of seduction that would capture any man's attention in an instant. Nicholas Tse, whom I personally consider as someone who cannot act for nuts, manages to act a little bit this time as the cunning Duke.

Action, romance, and dialogue mesh together happily and consistently throughout the film, accompanied by the epic score by Klaus Badelt.

A dazzling experience in the cinema. The film is not without it's flaws, with plot holes occurring every now and then, and moments of extreme cliché. But before these moments shame the film, the next moment of visual cuts in and saves the day.

8/10

When I was a kid, going to the movies gave me a rush like nothing else, but for the last few years my movie-going experience has been one disappointment after another. "The Promise" was a very rare exception.

I'm not saying this movie is for everybody. It's heavily stylized, and the mythical nature of the story requires a certain suspension of disbelief. BUT, if you crave stimulation for your eyes, your ears, and your imagination, this movie will deliver. The score is incredible, and every frame is stunning, visually. The story is a fairy tale. If you let yourself get lost in it, the experience will be magical. If you spend your time analyzing, breaking down the laws of physics, and worrying whether you're getting all the intended messages, you will most likely come away unsatisfied.