Ending... - Wu ji (2006) Discussion

[–] loverofflowertown 18 years ago

In my opinion, the girl still loves the general. And the general truely loves girl.
When the general was tied up and hanging on the second floor, this once extremely arrogant man felt bad because the girl was suffering because of him. He was not feeling sorry for himself. Girls can tell when someone really care about them. That is why the girl told the dying general "Let's go home together." The general made her promise 'Don't die. You must live a good life.'

Needless to say, the slave loves her. In the end, once the slave bring the girl back to the starting point, and she makes a different decision, they may never meet in the altered future. The slave was willing to do it. That is true love.
In a way, the bad guy Duke of North likes her also.

The point is -- lousy fate can not stop true love.

By the way, the slave was stabbed by the bad guy duke. The black feather cloth keeps the slave alive.

reply

[–] mary-383 18 years ago

Since the first time I saw The Promise, I have believed she loved the General, in fact both men.

For what its worth here's why I think so (spoilers for any reader who wasn't seen the film):
That great scene where she comes down off the horse and states that she wants to take a risk on loving him, the love scene itself, and later on how upset she was that the General wanted to return to the city.

Now all this is before she learned the General's secret but I think she knew he loved her and didn't stop loving him after the secret was revealed.

reply

[–] jason_gulisux 18 years ago

And that "snow in the spring", that has something to do with cherry tree flowers?

reply

[–] dsolidsnake 18 years ago

Hi everyone I am writing to ask if there is an alternate ending in the U.S release. I ask this because in a review they said that they changed the begining and end so that the U.S viewers would not be confused. I have the Hong Kong 2-disc version that is 20 Mins. Longer than the one everyone saw in the U.S and I loved the film. In my version Kunlun takes her back in time so that she changes her fate and the movie end the way the movie began by show the cherry blossom tree. What is the U.S version ending.

reply

[–] ajmal-m 18 years ago

who cares about the US version. US audiences arent very sophisticated so dont lose any sleep about how they may have dumbed down the US version.

reply

[–] ffordegroupie 18 years ago

only the unsophisticated of other countries are so stupid as to say that any country's audiences "aren't very sophisticated."

it's the only way morons in other countries can feel superior. losers.

reply

[–] Lord Quixote 18 years ago

Well, I'm from the US, I think most US audiences are unsophisticated. Just check out the local US Multiplex and you'll see what I mean.

reply

[–] dsolidsnake 18 years ago

Well ajmal-m before you go ahead and say crap like that let me tell you Europe,Asia and other countries bashed this movie that it was not very good. So don't go and think that the U.S is the only Unsophisticated audience.

reply

[–] leo_bfg 18 years ago

Look, it's a solid fact that intellectual movies, TV programmes and the like do not appeal to the masses in the US, for instance, the Murder One TV series, Shawshank Redemption (inital release), Donnie Darko (inital release). How many times have you heard of US test audiences causing changes to the end of movies because they are not "happy endings". Where's the integrity of the story?

Before you reply, I just want to mention one thing. The US managed to vote in George W Bush ... twice!!!

reply

[–] dsolidsnake 18 years ago

Hey I will not disagree with you on the george Bush votes. The world is going to hell in a handbasket with. And I will not disagree with you with Shawshank Redemption and Donnie Darko I love that movie and I love even more the Director's Cut. OH hell you are just right I am sick and tired of my fellow americans complaning on how they can't find a good TV show or movie when they can't realize the fact that they do come out but they ignore them. Look at cinderella man.

reply

[–] leo_bfg 18 years ago

That's extremely gracious of you. I did not expect that at all, esp. from someone across the waters.

To be fair, I picked those famous examples from my top film list, but there were others that did quite well in the US, like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, American Beauty and Garden State. Still overall, the US has missed out on some real gems. I think Scorsese may be right about going into small budget movies where the risks are higher in terms of story and direction. I still can not believe he has never won an Oscar. It ridicules the Academy Awards and shows it for the farce that it is. That and Braveheart winning Best Picture.

By the way, to make you feel a bit better, we British have missed out on a few quality motion pictures, like Gattaca and American History X.

No-one's perfect,
BFG: Nobody can eat 50 eggs

reply

[–] dsolidsnake 18 years ago

Ah I guess your right. Maybe one day all of my people will grow a decent brain and start to love movies for what it is. And the same thing goes to every other country that has clueless audiecnces.

reply

[–] thepoet26 17 years ago

One thing I didn't quite 'get' about the ending is how the slave was able to take the princess back in time to change the course of her life but he was not able to change the course of his mother and sister's life when he went back in time to see what had happened to them. Was this just a plot hole or did I simply miss the explanation for this?

Baba mi Ogun modupue

reply

[–] dsolidsnake 17 years ago

I think the black feather robe give him enough power to change the past.

reply

[–] thepoet26 17 years ago

then why didn't Snow Wolf simply run back through time to change the course of events that led to the destruction of his people? Instead he remained a slave when he could easily have changed it?

I liked the movie after the first viewing but plotholes like this make me see things differently.

Baba mi Ogun modupue

reply

[–] dsolidsnake 17 years ago

Cause he knew that with that cloak on he would never die. He was selfish and only thought about himself and noone else. And he was a coward cause he still could not defeat Wuhuan with or without the cloak. Just cause one could go back does not mean one can succesfully change the course of time.

reply

[–] thepoet26 17 years ago

Why couldn't he defeat Wuhuan with or without the cloak? The Snow People had powers that Wuhuan didn't possess so I don't understand why they just stood there and allowed themselves to be defeated anyway. Why couldn't they RUN?

And if the slave could go back and change the course of the princess's life, I don't see why Snow Wolf couldn't have done the same if he'd so chosen. I understand that perhaps he was selfish but would he truly have preferred a neverending life as a slave over being able to go back to who he once was? It just didn't make sense...

Baba mi Ogun modupue

reply

[–] thestreetlighter 17 years ago

There's a lot of things that don't make much sense in the movie. I've become fully convinced that the director didn't really know what he was doing and had the characters do questionable and illogical things in order for the story to hold together.

reply

[–] thepoet26 17 years ago

On the surface, the movie seemed to be a lot better than the reviews it received. At least that's how I felt during the first viewing. Then in watching it again, I began to ask all of these questions and see just how little the story made sense. This COULD have been a really good film if those details had been handled and Chen had tied up those loose ends.

Baba mi Ogun modupue

reply

[–] dsolidsnake 17 years ago

Well dude you are reading in to this a little bit to much. But let me take a crack at it. Just cause they could run fast does not mean they know how to fight. They were all a peacefull clan who did not belive in killing.Wuhuan on the other hand even though he was not fast he was an expeirence killer since childhood. And maybe after a certain amount of years they can't go back and change a certain time cause a barrier blocked them. So with the cloak the barrier can be broken. And Snow wolf just cared about himself and no one else. And another thing Sow wolf loved the idea that he can not die as long as he possesed the cloak. For some people immortality seams like a wonderful thing.

reply

[–] pleiotroph 17 years ago

I saw this movie a while ago, and I thought it was definitely a good movie.

I agree that the northern duke wanted to recruit an assassin from the Snow People, and they were all threatened with death unless someone volunteered.

It did seem that the Snow People were portrayed as a peaceful and spiritual people, and did not believe in killing. They also did not fear death, and thus they died tragically without resistance, in accordance with their spirituality. This sort of understanding might have been been too hard to understand for the critics who trashed this great movie with a **1** !! (662 votes were a 1! -- some persons definitely have a malicious agenda against this movie for some puzzling reasons)

Thus Snow Wolf's big internal anguish was to go against the most sacred values of his people by volunteering to be an assassin-killer, working for the killer of his people, and by fearing death.

Also in the movie Kunlun didn't kill anyone, even though he obviously had the power to be the best warrior.

While the Snow People were known to be fast, maybe they weren't all super fast. Snow Wolf needed the magical cloak to go back in time for any duration, but Kunlun could go back in time for a short while without the cloak!

So at the ending, Kunlun's powers to go back in time increased greatly with the assistance of the cloak.

This movie was a good romantic fairy tale with an uplifting ending, and may have dissappointed people who expected this movie to be a pure martial-arts with a high body count.

The whole story of the movie had a fair bit of integrity and sense. It was about the desires that one chooses to be the goal of one's life, and how it may not be what makes one truly happy. It was also about the concept of feeling trapped by fate (a common theme in asian culture), and giving hope that fate can indeed be changed for the better.

reply

[–] dsolidsnake 17 years ago

[Also in the movie Kunlun didn't kill anyone, even though he obviously had the power to be the best warrior.]

Sorry dude but your are wrong on that fact. If you saw the american release then yeah maybe he did not kill no one but I did not see the American version. But in the Hong Kong version he did kill some one and it was Wuhuan. After Wuhuan Killed the general Kunlun pulled Wuhuan to him with the rope he was tied up in on the tree and he stabbed him in the chest. But he was also stabbed in rerurn but if you meant that since he went back in time so he technically did not kill no one then yeah you're kind of right. But he also technically did kill.

reply

[–] dongnl 17 years ago

This film is made up of discrete stories, the film as a whole is nonsense at all.

I couldn't see what is the meaning of life of the slave Kunlun. He totally obeyed general Guangming; gave away his love for princess Qingcheng to the general; and showed no desire to revenge Duke Wuhuan who massacred his tribe.

For princess Qingcheng, the only point I think that makes sense is her childhood 's wrong choice of rich over love. She loved Guangming only because she thought he saved her life. But later she acknowledged that it was Kunlun saving her. Still after that it was not clear who she really loved, Kunlun or Guangming. And in the end I didn't see her regret for making the previous choice (indeed she did cry, but cry doesn't always mean regret, there should be obvious indications of her regret).

General Guangming is a too-complex character. At first he seems a heartless warrior when killing slaves; later a coward when sending back Kunlun in his armor ('cause he feared losing bet); then a liar to make the princess think he saved her (Kunlun did); and finally a true lover who would like to lived with the princess than to fight. It's not superlative to say he has at least two or three characters within one man. In other word, this is simply not a consistent character.

Duke Wuhuan is the only one I find more reasonable than the previous threes. He is clever but wicked. The noticeable detail is that he was the boy at the beginning got mistrusted by the girl (later princess Qingcheng).

In conclusion, can anybody tell what the main theme of this movie is. Does it tell stories of promise, heroes, war, love, or revenge? Maybe it shows everything a little bit and as a whole nothing. That's why I feel this movie is made up of totally discrete stories and could not be a memorial work though being the most expensive Chinese movie (35~42 million USD).

reply