Wu ji - Die Reiter der Winde (2005)

Empowered by the love of a slave (Jang), a royal concubine (Cheung) is given the chance to make an extraordinary decision.

Director:

Chen Kaige

Writers:

Tan Cheung, Chen Kaige

Stars:

Cecilia Cheung, Dong-gun Jang, Hiroyuki Sanada

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Dong-gun Jang	...	Kunlun
Hiroyuki Sanada	...	General Guangming
Cecilia Cheung	...	Princess Qingcheng
Nicholas Tse	...	Wuhuan
Ye Liu	...	Snow Wolf
Hong Chen	...	Goddess Manshen
Qian Cheng	...	The Emperor
Calvin Yu	...	Ye Li (as Xiao Wei Yu)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chun-Xiao	...	Princess Qingcheng (voice)
Xiaotong Guan	...	Young Qingcheng
Shi Lei	...	Young Wuhuan
Toby Leonard Moore	...	Wuhan (voice)
Anthony Brandon Wong	...	(voice) (as Anthony Wong)

Storyline

When the world was young, laid a Kingdom between the Land of Snow and the Barbarian Territory where gods and men lived side by side and promises were lies. When the poor and starving orphaned girl Qingcheng meets the Goddess Manshen, she accepts to become the wealthy beauty of beauties with the curse that she would lose every man she loves, unless three things happen: snow falls in the spring, time moves backwards and the dead comes back to life. Years later, the slave Kunlun helps the Great General Master of the Crimson Armor Guangming to defeat a barbarian army with almost seven times more warriors, and Kunlun becomes his slave. When Guangming is wounded, he asks Kunlun to wear his armor and save the king from the cruel Duke of the North Wuhuan that put the Imperial City under siege with his army. However, Kunlun kills the king to save Princess Qingcheng and promises her to never let her die. Princess Qingcheng falls in love for the man of the crimson armor that she believes is ...

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Plot Keywords:

slave | princess | general | armor | king | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for stylized violence and martial arts action, and some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [China]

Country:

China South Korea USA

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

5 May 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Master of the Crimson Armor

Filming Locations:

Hengdian World Studios, Heng Dian, China

Box Office

Budget:

HKD 60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$308,987 (Hong Kong) (16 December 2005)

Gross:

$668,171 (USA) (9 June 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

21 Century Shengkai Film, Capgen Investment Group, China Film Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min 103 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Weinstein Co. has handed back distribution rights for all major English speaking countries to its producers, China Film Group Corp. and Moonstone Entertainment. Reportedly, the producers of the film, including director Chen Kaige, demanded a wider released in the US and the Weinstein Co. was only willing to give it a limited exposure. Warner Independent then picked up the rights and as a result the film's title was changed back from "Master of the Crimson Armor" to "The Promise", the English title used in most countries.

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Goofs

As Kunlun enters Qingcheng's birdcage, the wire to lower him is visible.

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Quotes

Goddess Manshen: Once you have accepted your destiny, nothing can alter it unless time flows backwards, snow falls in the spring, and the dead come back to life.

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Connections

Featured in The 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards (2006)

User Reviews

One of the most beautiful films I've ever seen

I saw this film at the Traverse City Film Festival in August 2006 and loved it. As the title suggests, the film is about a promise, or a series of promises, and the events they set into motion. The story unfolds slowly, as fairy tales do, and it's a visual stunner. The sets and costumes are rich and vibrantly colored, and the music and cinematography were breathtakingly beautiful. The subtitles were actually poetic!

This film is pure fantasy and watching it is like watching a painting in motion. Forget realism -- it's a fairytale and must be approached with that in mind. It is not what I would describe as a martial arts film, although there is some stylized fighting a la Crouching Tiger. But unlike that film, I would probably be willing to allow my 8-year-old son to watch this film (with me alongside), as it was not graphically violent (certainly not like Lord of the Rings) and was such a magical fairytale. People who see this film expecting one of those classic martial arts films will be disappointed, because that's not what this film is about. I suspect the many negative comments on this board are from people who had other expectations; I had none when I saw this film and was utterly delighted.

I loved that it surprised me in how it ended, an ending that moved me to tears. This is a film I would love to own and watch again and again. I will definitely look for the soundtrack.