This is one of the worst movies I have seen and a new low for Chen Kaige. The plot is a confusing mess, the acting stilted, the dialog lifeless. Even the special effects are amateurish and the supposed capital, consisting of a series of narrowly spaced concentric walls, not only looks fake but is wholly impractical. The title also seems meaningless as "Wuji" (literally "the limitless") has no special meaning(certainly nothing like what Chen implies) in Chinese philosophy or religion. Naming the lead actress Qingcheng ("overthrower of cities"), a traditional name for evil women who lead men of power astray, was both trite and inappropriate. And the lead actress is certainly not attractive enough to make her worldly success believable. Most disturbing was the treatment of "barbarians" (who inexplicably herded longhorn cattle), which verged on pure racism, and slaves, who seem to delight in their position. The silliness reaches a high point early on in the movie when the slave Kunlun outraces a raging herd of cattle while crawling on hands and knees and carrying his dead slavemaster on his back. This movie is not quite as offensive as Hero (Yingxiong), Zhang Yimou's cinematic paean to dictators as the salvation of China, but is far worse in terms of acting, script, and plot.
Review of The Promise
