Chen Kaige's "The Promise", kung-fu epic has opene

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 24 Mar 2006, 13:40

The Weinstein brothers. They bought it, cut it and sold it to Warner.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 24 Mar 2006, 13:49

As usual... grrrr...

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 24 Mar 2006, 13:59

For those who have seen the film, here is the complete list of scenes that have been altered/cut in the US version:

SPOILER WARNING ON

A total of 15 minutes have been cut:
-The scene where GuangMing meets Goddess Manshen for the first time in the forest at night is has been removed.
-The scene where the King is chasing QinCheng on the roof has been trimmed.
-WuHuan's arrival at the waterfall (when he sits on his guards).
-QinCheng and WuHuan playing cat and mouse in the birdcage.
-The guards trying to catch the feather that refuses to burn.
-KunLun preparing QinCheng's bed.
-Shorter sex scene with GuangMing and QinCheng.
-GuangMing getting drunk while waiting for QinCheng to return.

One scene has been added:
While the chinese version ends with KunLun and QinCheng flying into space, the american edit adds a shot of young QinCheng walking on the surface of the lake (suggesting that they did go back in time, and that QinCheng made the same choice again).

This scene completely changes the whole point of the film.
While the chinese edit suggests that destiny can be changed, the american edit says the exact opposite.

SPOILER WARNING OFF

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 24 Mar 2006, 23:44

HK DVD it is for me then. Although I'm a bit reluctant to see another wuxia epic with oodles of bad CGI. Another reason why I really liked Seven Swords, good old fashion early 90's HK style Wuxia film with minimal CGI and heavily relying on straight out stunts and editing techniques; it looks more "realistic" (about as realistic as film where the characters can defy gravity can look that is) than any CGI that Chinese film companies can afford at this point in time. I'll hold off my judgement until I see it though.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 25 Mar 2006, 14:23

Hi-Def american trailer:

http://movies.apple.com/movies/warner_i ... _h480p.mov

http://movies.apple.com/movies/warner_i ... _h720p.mov

http://movies.apple.com/movies/warner_i ... h1080p.mov

You need an extremely fast computer to watch the 1080p version.

EDIT:
They've added weird colour filters it seems. Bastards !

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 25 Mar 2006, 14:36

OK, now I'm pissed off:

R3 Edko
https://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/ ... JiEdko.jpg

R1 Trailer
https://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/ ... WuJiR1.jpg

(I haven't put a spoiler warning, but I think everybody has already seen this image somewhere).

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 25 Mar 2006, 15:31

I have never seen anything about the film, so for me its a spoiler.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 25 Mar 2006, 15:35

Sorry, Romero.

I've put the images as a link.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 25 Mar 2006, 15:46

I keep my eyes closed for most films nowadays to keep it all a suprise

but it didnt look spoilerific.

I just want to see the film and the HK dvd is probibly going to be bought by me soon, just hope its worth it after all this time.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 25 Mar 2006, 17:59

Big News:

The company who is going to release WuJi in the USA (I suppose it's Warner) has apparently announced that they would release it uncut.

Also, the fact that they went back to the original title (The Promise) is a good sign.

To make it simple:
The Weinstein brother$ bought the rights, cut the film, sold it to France/Germany/etc... and then gave up the rights.
And now (hopefully) the US cut is going to disappear.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 07 May 2006, 20:19

My review from the other thread: 4/5

Great film. Great visuals. Would have been 5/5 if some of the special effects didn't look so dull and fake and if Jang Dong-gun had done a better acting performance. He is such a great actor I was really shocked to see him performing so badly. Maybe due to the language barrier?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 18 Oct 2006, 02:37

Details of Warner's R1, at last.

www.davisdvd.com wrote:Warner Home Video will release The Promise (Wu ji) on December 19th. The visually stunning epic fantasy, directed by Chen Kaige (Farewell, My Concubine), follows the intertwined fates of a beautiful princess and the three men who fall in love with her: a general, his slave and a powerful rival Duke. The DVD arrives with an anamorphic widescreen transfer, Mandarin & English Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks and English subtitles. Bonus materials will include a collection of deleted scenes and a 40-minute making-of documentary. Retail is $27.99.

Risk · Post by **Risk** » 19 Oct 2006, 17:14

After having a quick browse throwugh the thread, it seems that there is a big fuss over this film and it is quite a big film. I saw this on a plane so not excatly the greatest of setups, but to be honest I didn't think it was anything special. I'm glad I didn't watch it after reading this thread and having a high expectation as it would have disappointed me. What is the big deal over this film? Did I miss something when I watched it?