Review by rsaintj

I think folks here are being a little harsh on THE PROMISE. For the sake of brevity, I'll say this: I found it more engaging than HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS and as gorgeous (if not more so) than HERO. The special effects were the finest I've seen to come out of Asia, ever; some surpassed REVENGE OF THE SITH, though they've got some little work left to do on LOTR-like effects with Massive and compositing overall.

But overall, I thought it was an exceptionally entertaining film with some fine performances. Almost as good as HERO overall, and very, erm, promising for Chen Kaige. I'd skipped THE EMPEROR AND THE ASSASSIN because it seemed so close to HERO, but now I'm going to track it down.