Movie Review - The Promise - Wu Ji - I Promise you it SUCKED

March 9th, 2006 by ShaolinTiger at 12:03 PM MYT - 2,658 views

An epic fantasy about a love triangle between a general, a princess and a slave in ancient China. Empowered by the love of a slave, a royal concubine is given the chance to make an extraordinary decision. Its an epic story about "promise, betrayal, nations and love". Can Love Change Destiny?

I finally got around to watching this, Wu Ji or The Promise looked like a good epic swordplay film..

With an International cast inlcuding Jang Dong-Kun (Korea), Cecilia Cheung (Hong Kong), Hiroyuki Sanada (Japan), Liu Ye (China), and Nicholas Tse (Hong Kong) this looked to be a great movie.

A production by Chen Kaige, I thought perhaps an answer to the masterful Hero by Zhang Yimou...but sadly not. A mish-mash childish fantasy it turned out to be, the beautiful cinematography and scenery wasted. Also note with an astonishing budget of USD40 million (making it the most expensive Asian film ever made), it couldn't pull something decent out of the bag.

The acting from all 3 lead males was very good, and the story quite an interesting one.

I was turned off from the start though, it was slow moving and overly poetic, without really capturing any real beauty.

Then the horribly cheap CG during the bull running scene, and the superman-esque character of Kunlun...it was just laughable.

I actually laughed out loud a few times during 'serious' scenes due to the stupidity of the direction and the cheap looking CG.

It's a shame, it could of been so good. I definately would NOT recommend watching this waste of 2 hours.

The overly complex plot, convuluted story line, cheesy artsy scenes and horrible CG really killed it dead.

I'd give it a very disappointing 4.5/10

Tags: chen-kaige, chinese-movies, jang-dong-kun, lousy-movies, Movie-Review, Movies, nicholas-tze, the-promise, wu-ji, zhang-yimou

Posted in Movies | -

Related Posts:
- The Box under Bill Clinton’s bed.
- Leaving on a Jet Plane.. (To UK)
- Kharu - Sky Goddess
- Movie Review - The Kingdom - Serious!
- Movie Review - Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - Better than the first
- Movie Review - Scary Movie 4 - Ridiculous

12 Comments so far

hanyi on March 9th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
Using Netscape 7.02 on Windows 98

yep st. what a letdown. i was really looking forward to it but 10 minutes into it i already have a very bad feeling that it was gonna be a real flop. many parts of the movie have me "wth???" and especially towards the end, "huh?!!!" "aiyah" *sigh*.
spiller on March 9th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
Using Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows XP

I already avoided HK movies for long time. No disrespect but they are really suck. The only watchable HK production for 2005 was actually SPL.

Sammo Hung and Donnie Yan were outstanding. The fighting scenes are superb too.

Still, the story was lousy.
aw on March 9th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
Using Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.1 on Windows XP

Didn't Kung Fu Hustle come out in 2005? That was immensely watchable. Some people prefer Shaolin Soccer, but Kung Fu is better for me.
Kenny Lee on March 9th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
Using Opera 9.00 on Windows XP

yeah...hk movies now plain sucks
spiller on March 9th, 2006 at 6:32 pm
Using Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows XP

aw: I'm not sure, but according to IMDb, it was first released on 2004. Anyhow, of course, Stephen Chow movies are always entertaining.
wyejon on March 9th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
Using Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.1 on Windows XP

I must be the only person who enjoyed The Promise! Hahahaha
calvin on March 9th, 2006 at 11:49 pm
Using Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.1 on Windows XP

i like the plot. but i couldn't agree more on the CG, really sucks big time. 0/10 for the CG
ShaolinTiger on March 10th, 2006 at 11:37 am
Using Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.1 on Windows XP

hanyi: Yah within 10 minutes I was really zzzz..

spiller: Dude what is SPL?

aw: Indeed I think it was 2004 I saw the premiere, prefered Shaolin Soccer tho.

calvin: Yah totally horrible CG, could have been a good movie.
spiller on March 10th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
Using Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows XP

Sat Poh Long (Canto). Starring Sam Hung, Donnie Yan and Simon Yam.

Just ask the bitches from DVD shop and they'll know.
aw on March 10th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
Using Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.1 on Windows 98

Second that. SPL is fun because of Sammo Hung. Even though he looks like a lard-ass, he packs some real good bad-guy attitude in this one. And it's always amazing to see a big guy able to kick and jump and kick some serious butt with Donnie Yen, no less.

Wouldn't concentrate too much on the storyline though.. typical Hong Kong drama-mama stuff.
beefstew on March 11th, 2006 at 4:22 am
Using Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows XP

4.5/10?

You were too kind... It worth less than that say 0.234/10?

And what the fuck with Nic Tse's tongkat with a thumbs up as a handle. CIBAI!

The only hand sign stick that is consider owning will be Jack Black's School Of Rock teaching stick.
Kima on April 30th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
Using Mozilla Firefox 1.0.7 on Windows XP

Well, I know I am pretty late, but I finally got to see WuJi now only. And the version I downloaded didnt have any english subtitles and I don't understand Chinese

Yet I sat throughout the movies, and apart from the sad CG during the Bull run, I kinda liked the movie. Ofcourse it wasn't up to the level of CTDH, HOFD, Hero, etc. but I like the way the movie has been projected, with the beautiful settings etc. Maybe its because I didnt understand anything they said