The Promise DVD Review

American audiences were exposed to the anti-reality action in many Asian martial arts films with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but since then there have been many more technical advancements. The Promise makes use of digital effects to create the fantastical abilities for the characters, making the film feel like an anime film more often than a live action one. The Promise takes place in a fantasy world in which the Gods live beside humans on earth. In the beginning of the film an impoverished young girl seals her destiny by trading love for a successful life when a God approaches her by a river. This is only the first of many mystical elements within the film. At times the action is so absurd and the digital effects so predominant that the film might as well be an anime. Fortunately it is not, because just as the case was with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Promise combines extremely human elements with action that is supernatural.

Award Winning director Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine) brings us the epic tale of a slave who dons his masters armor and begins a series of events. His arrogant master takes credit for saving a young woman’s life from the king, even though it was the slave. The three of them become outlaws for having killed the king and they run away. The princess falls in love with the man she thinks saved her, unaware of the truth. She also must face the fact that she has sold her destiny and can never fall in love without losing it. The love triangle is traditional and expected, even with the additional mystical elements.

Peter Pau’s cinematography is breathtaking at times, although the heavily reliance on digital effects distracts from some of the more human elements in the film. Pau was the director of photography for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the epic qualities in the film are brought to new heights visually in The Promise. The colors are incredibly vibrant and engaging, only slightly distracted by the false notes brought on by CGI.

The DVD offers both subtitled and dubbed audio, but the dubbing is more likely to increase the cheesiness of the film. There are odd British voices on certain characters and it is mostly overdone to seem cartoonish. Anyone who can read should just watch it with subtitles even if it is slightly more inconvenient. The DVD also includes a series of additional scenes and a theatrical trailer, but the best feature is the simple making of featurette.