berlin55 I think that the basic premise of this film is to do with levels of love: - love of your people, your family - and love in the sense of comradeship, love in terms of loyalty in the military sense, and love between a man and woman. These different kinds of love appeal to cultures in different ways - and perhaps in one country sentimentality is seen as "cheesy" - however I think then one would have to call "City Lights" or "Miracle in Milan" cheesy - which they certainly aren't - and of course in the latter one has supernatural happenings - in some ways similar to "Promise". I found from my own point of view the film had faults, but never once did I see this as a martial arts film like "Crouching Tiger" - it is more in line with the Chinese ghost stories - a genre I think this film has obvious ties to. The cinematography in the film was brilliant. I felt aesthetically it was at times quite breathtaking. Having said that the special effects did at times border on the comical - yet anyone who knows anything about Chinese ghost stories will know this is pardonable. We have to not only suspend our disbelief, but accept the generic parameters. The film is full of symbolism redolent of Chinese mythology Colours e.g. red & white)- yet as we know from the director's interview (DVD)- this is not a film of nationalism, but one of accepting differences - and in many ways asserting one's identity against a hegemonic authority. This is true in the film - and in the cast who come from several Asian countries - a point made by the director. I have given it 10 points - because I dislike films being criticized for not meeting generic expectations - when they actually never intended to be in that genre. Secondly, because I am a sentimentalist and this film worked for me.

muse7-3 I don't really like martial arts films unless there is plenty of flying through the air and way out special effects so this film did not disappoint at all in that direction. The imagery was beautiful and the story was interesting but I felt that something was missing from the film. In parts the editing was poor and it was hard to follow. Also the characters were rather "wooden" and didn't evoke much sympathy. I love "Hero" which had all the things that this lacked-but my favourite of all time is "Bichunmoo" which was wonderful and incredibly emotional throughout.Despite all that I did enjoy the film and may indeed watch it again! I feel that with more viewings it may grow on me, It certainly ticks all the right boxes with regard to production and story line. It may never become a classic but it is worth watching.

eshoeme This movie has the crappiest chroma-key effects I've seen in years. Okay, that doesn't make a bad movie, but ugly cuts, bad acting, ridiculous plot, awful 3D effects AND crappy chroma-key, do. I really don't know what they were thinking at while shooting a high budget movie since they forgot simple things like "making sense" or "people are going to pay to see that". I recommend you go and fool your WORST ENEMIES telling them this is an amazing Asian movie filled with symbolic elements and beautiful scenery, lovely soundtrack and marvelous special effects.And SPOILER: It's all about a damn dumpling, a schizo chick and a guy that runs a lot - although that power doesn't make any difference since he is too busy being a bad actor.

thetrystero Wow, I'm so glad I did not check out the IMDb rating before watching this movie, or I would have totally missed out. I only decided to watch this because I was on a Cecilia Cheung streak (she was super-hot in "Honesty", my first CC movie), and this movie happened to (conveniently) be on crunchyroll. Awesome story, super visuals. Full of surprises at every turn. but be warned that this is NOT A KUNG-FU MOVIE. There are some pretty neat fight scenes in here (e.g. the one between WuHan and Snow Wolf in the Crimson Armor Chamber) but if you're expecting more traditional, close contact fight scenes you'll be disappointed. It's more of a fantasy fairy-tale kind of story. Watch it on HD Plasma, and completely lose yourself in it.