The Promise (2005 film)
| The Promise | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Traditional | 無極 |
| Simplified | 无极 |
| Mandarin | Wú Jí |
| Directed by | Chen Kaige |
| Produced by | Chen Kaige Jiang Tao Chen Rao |
| Written by | Chen Kaige Charcoal Tan |
| Starring |
Jang Dong-gun Hiroyuki Sanada Cecilia Cheung Nicholas Tse Liu Ye Chen Hong |
| Music by | Klaus Badelt |
| Cinematography |
Peter Pau Choi Shung-fai |
| Edited by | Li Fang Zhou Ying |
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Production
company |
China Film Group Corporation
Beijing Film Beijing 21st Century Shengkai Ltd. Capgen Investment Group Moonstone Entertainment Inc. |
| Distributed by | China Film Group Corporation |
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Release date
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Running time
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128 minutes |
| Country | China |
| Language | Mandarin |
The Promise is a 2005 Chinese epic fantasy film directed by Chen Kaige, starring Jang Dong-gun, Hiroyuki Sanada, Cecilia Cheung and Nicholas Tse. It is loosely adapted from The Kunlun Slave, a wuxia romance story written by Pei Xing in the ninth century during the Tang dynasty. Responses to the film were mainly mixed to negative.
Qingcheng, a starving girl, wanders around the land in search of food. She chances upon a boy, tricks him, steals a mantou from him, and runs away. She encounters the goddess Manshen and accepts an offer to enjoy a wealthy and luxurious life and become the most beautiful woman in the land. However, she has a price to pay: She will never find everlasting and true love. She becomes the King's concubine when she grows up.
General Guangming defeats a large army of barbarians with only 3,000 soldiers and rushes back to save the King, who is besieged in the palace by the traitorous Duke Wuhuan. He meets Manshen, who tells him someone wearing his Crimson Armour will commit regicide and tarnish his reputation. A while later, Guangming is caught off guard and injured by Snow Wolf, Wuhuan's henchman, but is saved by his slave, Kunlun. He orders Kunlun to wear his crimson armour and save the King. When Kunlun asks his master how he can identify the King, Guangming tells him the King is the one without a weapon. Kunlun arrives at the palace and mistakes Qingcheng for the King because she is unarmed, and instead kills the King, who has just drawn his sword. He flees with Qingcheng, but they end up being cornered at a cliff by Wuhuan and his men. Wuhuan promises to not harm Qingcheng if Kunlun jumps off the cliff.
Kunlun jumps off the cliff but survives the fall. In the meantime, Guangming's subordinates accuse their General of killing the King and turn against him. Kunlun returns, saves his master and gives him back his Crimson Armour. They go to rescue Qingcheng from Wuhuan later. Qingcheng falls in love with Guangming after mistaking him for the person who jumped off the cliff. On the other hand, Kunlun is captured by Wuhuan, who realises he is actually the one who killed the King. While Guangming and Qingcheng lead a happy life in the countryside, Kunlun uses his speed power to see the Veil of Time and learns that Wuhuan is responsible for the destruction of his family and homeland. Snow Wolf is actually from the same land as Kunlun and was forced to become Wuhuan's servant. Snow Wolf also tells Kunlun that no one is capable of crossing over to the other side of the Veil of Time.
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