It’s kind of surprising that there hasn’t been a single hit movie called The Promise, right? I mean, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo made $45 million at the box office, but the most successful The Promise — an obviously generic title that I’m shocked Nicholas Sparks hasn’t grabbed yet — is from 1979, but let’s pretend it doesn’t exist, because it stars Stephen Collins.
That should be an easy enough hurdle for 2017’s The Promise to leap.
Set during the downfall of the Ottoman Empire, the latest film from Terry George (Hotel Rwanda and Reservation Road) stars Oscar Isaac as a medical student who strikes up a relationship with an Armenian woman (Charlotte Le Bon), which doesn’t sit well with her boyfriend, played by Christian Bale. Batman or Poe Dameron: Who will she pick? (The better dancer, I hope.)
Here’s the official plot description:
Empires fall, love survives. When Michael (Oscar Isaac), a brilliant medical student, meets Ana (Charlotte Le Bon), their shared Armenian heritage sparks an attraction that explodes into a romantic rivalry between Michael and Ana’s boyfriend Chris (Christian Bale), a famous American photojournalist dedicated to exposing political truth. As the Ottoman Empire crumbles into war-torn chaos, their conflicting passions must be deferred while they join forces to get their people to safety and survive themselves.
Based on the trailer, The Promise, with its lush set-pieces and era-appropriate costumes, looks like a sweeping epic from a different time; it for sure would have been nominated for a Golden Globe a decade ago. Then again, unlike Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale are timeless.
