CATEGORIES Action, Drama, Foreign Language, Romance, The Weinstein Co., Cinematical Indie, Cinematical
We've posted a lot here about
Chen Kaige's new film, The Promise. First the long trailer sent Cannes into an
early frenzy, and then the completed film set box office
records in China. Now, however, things have started to go a bit south. Recut, retitled, and dumped by the Weinstein Company, the
film is suddenly without North American distribution. And, most disappointingly, it might not actually be very good -
at least, that is, if today's Hollywood Reporter is anything to go on.According to Kirk Honeycutt's review, the effects in the film - which is being viewed by its producers as a Hero/ Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon spectacle - are so bad as to be distracting. That's trouble, if it's true. We're so spoiled now by the magicians who can make a giant ape so convincing that people actually think it deserves an acting award that anything less seems "exceptionally fake," which is how Honeycutt describes the CG work in The Promise.
Man. I really, really hope he's wrong - I was really looking forward to this one. Have any of you readers been lucky enough to see the film in LA? Care to share your thoughts?
