JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

patrickfrandji What a powerful movie based around the beauty and horror of the human race. It's sad to know that these events keep happening throughout history yet only a few of them make it to our history books taught in school. Beautiful movie, thank you to all who made this happen.

aydincan-polatkan It's really really sad to see such a cheap propaganda in a shape of polygamic love story, trying to show at his weakest, poorest times, helpless Ottoman Empire like the Nazi Germany maybe even worse. The scenario is logically incorrect, consists piles of lies and unrealistic accusations. All of the characters in the movie are made up, none exists in history, events are unknown, without any proof or fact, basically fiction from evil lobbies.You know what they say: throw dirt enough, and some will stick... this is the main focus but it falls short.

alessacarri The promise is a movie that promises you that something Eye catching is going to happen but it doesn't. The movie starts really quick with wonderful wide shots with a obviously high budget, very pleasing to see but nothing new. We get a love aspect quick and sponteanous, the building of the love is the same old, same old. One thing it surprises me is that they didn't really exploit Christian bale's talent, his character was missing something, I couldn't get if he was going to be bad or good, there were glimpses of him doing maybe something to make a plot twist but that didn't not happen. The 'plot twist' wasn't that but Ana drowning, bad timing, what a tragedy. The end was quick as the whole movie, they are all in peace now but there was so much missing. I know this is a movie based on historical happenings but from a Cinematographical perspective this movie lacked so much and it was made with a basic structure of the typical Drama, War and Love movie.

kamlis I think the film maker needed to ponder this question long and hard before taking his 100 million dollar budget and diving in. I chose to watch this film partly because I am a history buff and partly due to the strong leading actors. But it was immediately apparent that this film vehicle is not at all worthy of their acting abilities. At times it was almost painful to see how difficult it was for them to inject any life or believability into their characters. And it is very hard to connect emotionally with characters who do not seem real.Let's start with one of main characters - Ana. She is a French-educated Armenian governess for a prominent Armenian family in Constantinople. She is also having an affair with the American journalist. Now it is very doubtful that this affair was secret -- word got around fast in those days -- but how is it that her employer allows such a loose woman (this was 1914, after all) to educate his children AND even tells his nephew Mikhael that she would make a good match for him? Not believable. The other main characters could have been done well if they had been written well. But the film was so intent on giving us the details of the historical conflict between the Ottomans and the Armenians in their empire, that there really wasn't time to properly develop the characters. They were shallow at best and I just could not get to the point of catharsis. I usually cry in films depicting such tragic and moving events, but to my surprise, I did not shed a tear until the end when the narrator relates the wedding of Mikhael's niece and we read the words of William Saroyan.So if the intent of the film was to tell us all of the events of the Ottoman-Armenian conflict, then give us a documentary please! I would actually be interested to learn about why the conflict started. Was there a Hitler lurking in Anatolia? Or was it a bit more complicated than that? Or, if the film maker really wants to have a love triangle (or quadrilateral since there were actually 4 lovers if you count Mikhael's wife) AND educate us at the same time, please try a mini series. Then there would be time for character development and the sweep of history.The director of photography did not help this film either. Some of the outdoor scenes are shockingly bright and seemed very out-of-step with the subject matter. And the editing? I am no film-maker, but there seemed to be some very sloppy editing going on in the battle scenes especially. All in all I got the impression that this film was rushed into production. Why? I really would like to know.It is truly a pity that trolls posted 1-star ratings in the thousands before the film was even in wide release. While the film is of poor quality, I do not think it deserves such a low rating. But the thousands of 10-star ratings? This film is so far from perfect that the high ratings seem like a mockery. What, have these people never seen a truly well-made film?