Takes place in a sterile, computer-generated dream world that seems more like the work of amateurs than an artist like Chen, who seems woefully out of his element.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 5, 2019

More risible than poetic

| Aug 30, 2009

The Promise is an over-wrought and laughably goofy film, an empty and pale imitation of the far better films that have gone on before it.

| Original Score: 3/10 | Feb 28, 2008

Faustian bargain with a goddess. Huge armies march. Men out-race the wind. Assassins make devious plots. Spectacular scenes generated largely in computers.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | May 13, 2007

Medieval Chinese legend, along with myths of the new market economy.

| Apr 29, 2007

A queer camp classic.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jan 19, 2007

A fairy tale for adults that allows the viewer to inhabit an entirely different world, and in doing so, becomes an exercise of the imagination.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 27, 2006

Beautiful but slight.

| Original Score: 5/10 | May 26, 2006

Has been criticized by some reviewers for its low-tech special effects. Curiously, I found this technical transparency part of the film's enormous charm.

Full Review | May 25, 2006

An epic fantasy that tries to outdo Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but doesn't touch us emotionally.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 25, 2006

Chen Kaige may seriously think he's creating film art in his empty Promise, but he's best at slinging bull, lots of them.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | May 11, 2006

if you can plant your tongue in your cheek and accept the exuberant goofiness of the special effects, "The Promise" actually turns out to be a decently entertaining slash-and-kick flick.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 11, 2006

Just about everything is choppy.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | May 8, 2006

Dazzling if not always coherent.

Full Review | May 6, 2006

This isn't nearly as good as it claims to be.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 6, 2006

Confused and cartoonish

| Original Score: C | May 5, 2006

The finale [is] literally a deus ex machina, which will thrill classic-lit majors but leave everyone else feel cheated.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 5, 2006

Flimsy, fake-looking weaponry, bad wigs, grandiose scoring, overacting, simplistic dialogue, illogically elaborate staging, and a plot that goes out of its way to be predictable...

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | May 5, 2006

Chen Kaige clearly intended this Chinese fantasy-action spectacle to top Zhang Yimou's Hero, and I must admit that I prefer it to the earlier movie.

| May 5, 2006

The Promise is too full of frenetic disconnection and arbitrary comings and goings to connect meaningfully with the hearts and minds of its audience.

| May 5, 2006