The Myth

Credit to Jackie, he does try to do something different with his Hong Kong films. It would be easy for him to churn out countless sequels to already established series, but he does try to vary his output. Well, that is in as much as the constraints of his fans expectations and his established film persona will allow, anyway. The Myth, as a film, suffers paradoxically because of these two things; trying to satisfy by offering something new, while fulfilling audience expectation based on Jackie's previous output. The historical side of the film works best, providing Chan with a role (Army General bound by honour, compromised by love) that is unfamiliar and more interesting largely because of that. The action is more gritty and brutal in these sequences, with lots more blood on show than in typical Jackie fare. The present day character is classic Jackie, though the comedic set pieces and brief fight scenes don't have quite the inventiveness or sparkle of yesteryear. You can imagine the glue factory scene in particular being more involving and exciting if it had been choreographed twenty, or even ten, years ago. Stanley Tong's handling of the material is, due to the nature of his script, very uneven. The presentation of the modern day settings is fine, if a little uninspiring; especially when you consider some of the film's spectacular locations. However, the historical battles look and feel dull and lack any kind of epic quality. This may have been down to budget constraints, but watching the film you feel that if more clever camera-work had been employed, this effect could have been conveyed. Ultimately, it's a pity Jackie wasn't brave enough to do a straight, serious historical action/drama, because under The Myth's familiarity there's a different Jackie Chan film trying to get out.

Hong Kong action/historical/epic movie with full of over-the-top struggles , excitement , thrills , ingenious stunts , lots of brawls and brief touches of humor. This fun movie is plenty of intrigue , unstopped action , and overwhelming stunt-work with breathtaking ending images with the main characters flying here and there . Sympathetic archeologist Jack (Jackie Chan) keeps having reoccurring dreams of a past life, where he is the great general Meng Yi, who is sworn to protect a princess named Ok-Soo (Kim Hee-seon) . When a fellow scientist enlists his help locating the mausoleum of China's first emperor , Jack decides to go investigate everything with his friend William (Tony Ka Fai Leung) , assisted by the spirit of a noble princess .

This exciting movie is crammed of action-packed , fantasy ,overwhelming stunt-work and lots of fights .Amusing and colorful Jackie Chan entry in whic he takes on Chinese emperor and his army . It is a fantastic film with supernatural events in which the past collides surprisingly with the present . Jackie Chan is top-notch as a world-renowned archaeologist who has started discovering amazing visions and having mysterious dreams of a past life as a warrior in ancient China , as he becomes one army man fighting a group of heinous criminals and a lot of warriors and , of course , as always he makes his own stunts . Awesome , incredible stunts and brief comic touches , as usual ; the picture is better constructed than others directed by Stanley Tong . The lighting-paced storyline slows down at times , including some confusing and absurd lines in the script , but frantic action sequences make up for it . Spotlights movie include spectacular battle in which Jackie himself confronts an entire army and eliminates them all forming a mountain of bodies , among others . This is a phenomenal action/epic movie distinguished by nicely cinematography of the impressive sequences , shot on location in India, Xi'an, China and adding agreeable sense of humor.

The picture achieved big success in China and all around the world but in USA failed , similar to his American debut ,¨Battle creek brawl¨ that had a disastrous Box-office. Jackie Chan is a hard-working actor and director throughout his long and varied career . He went on playing ¨Cannoball¨ , ¨The protector¨ and "Rumble in the Bronx", until getting all American successes with ¨Shangai Knights¨ , ¨The tuxedo¨ , ¨Around the world in 80 days¨ and ¨Rush hour¨ trilogy , and the recent ¨Karate kid¨. Many of them Chan usually pays overt homage to two of his greatest influences as Charles Chaplin and Harold Lloyd . Of course , his biggest hits were ¨The Police story¨ series that won the Golden Horse Award , a Chinese version of the Oscar , the first was titled ¨Police story (1985)¨ directed by the same Chan , it was a perfect action film for enthusiastic of the genre ; the following was ¨Police story 2 (1988)¨ also pretty violent and with abundant humor touches . It's followed by ¨Supercop¨ or ¨Police story 3¨ and finally , ¨Police story IV : Crime story¨ . This picture ¨San wa¨or ¨The Myth¨ (2005) was lavishly produced by Jackie Chan himself , being compellingly directed by Stanley Tong and helped by Jackie Chan . Tong directed various Chan vehicles , such as : ¨Supercop I¨ , ¨Supercop II¨, ¨Rumble in the Bronx¨, ¨Vanguard¨ and ¨Kung Fu Yoga¨ . Rating : Acceptable and passable , the picture has its sensational moments here and there , but also with abundant humor touches mostly provided by its agile star , the super Jackie Chan , stunningly accompanied by Tony Ka Fai Leung , Kim Hee-seon and Mallika Sherawat . It's a perfect action film for enthusiasts of the genre and especially for Jackie fans .

Saw the movie today. Nice authenticity with the arms, armor and tactics of the Qin Dynasty (comtemprary of Republican Rome)and attention to detail. And a very beautiful Korean princess who looked every inch the role. Overall entertaining movie with signature JC fight scenes in the modern parts of the story. This new Indiana Jones type role for JC is certainly refreshing. The cop role is getting stale. The ending is also new for a JC movie, and perhaps indicates a certain coming of age - no more everyone happy, bad guys in jail, good guys get rewarded template anymore. The use of multiple languages by native speakers corresponding to authentic locations is refreshing (Mandarin, Korean, Cantonese, English, Hindi)- no more stilted "other" languages.

This film was pretty hyped up for many reasons. Jackie Chan, after the relatively successful return to HK movie industry with the release of New Police Story, teams up once again with Stanley Tong (Rumble in the Bronx) for starters. Tong wrote the story of The Myth, casting Jackie Chan in a never seen before role (yes, audiences are tired with his cop roles already) as a Qin dynasty general. What's refreshing too is that the role requires the use of a real weapon (a sword in this case), rather than having JC's character improvising with tools from his environment.

As most would already know from the trailer and poster, JC plays Jack Chan (about time they come up with better names too), an archaeologist who dreams about a Korean princess whom he's escorting to the Qin emperor as his new concubine. It's a recurring dream, and before you can say "Indiana Jones", he's off to locales he sees in his dream world to try and unravel its mystery, while research companion Tony Leung (The Lover) irks him along the way with tomb raiding in the name of scientific studies.

The story, while it might be original for a Jackie Chan movie, seemed a little cliché. It plays like a young boy's fantasy of snagging that exotic oriental princess, enjoying the support of the troop masses, having utmost loyalty to the king, and blessed with good fighting skills topped with a signature sword. And with the Qin dynasty, you're usually reduced to plots which may include the Great Wall, beautiful consorts, or the pill of Immortality.

The Myth looks and feels like a classic JC movie in terms of production values, like the familiar fight-with-the-baddies-acrobatic-stunts scenes, and physical humour injected at certain points. However, I guess with JC's age, the number of fight scenes have been reduced, and somewhat slowed down deliberately. The fight at the Rat Glue Factory stood out for being a combination of both brawn and injected situational humour. On the other hand, The Myth signifies new developments in a typical JC storyline, with the introduction of drama-mama romance (nothing much romantic though, with being comatose in all the good bits and lots of lingering stares), and a surprise(?) epilogue for his Qin character. And the "No blood no sex" unofficial clause goes out the window too.

Despite its huge budget, the special effects were not refined, which was a pity. The "blue screen" effect is obvious, even to the untrained eye, and there were a tad too many "lazy extras" who, in wide angled, supposedly big epic fight scenes, just stood, danced, moved around, anything but fight realistically. The original Highlander perfected the art of transitioning between flashbacks and present time, while The Myth falters, looking seemingly forced and contrived at times, or opted for the cheap way out - the blackouts.

As with most JC films, the women here play "flower vases". But I'm not complaining. Kim Hee-seon was beautiful in her role as the princess, and in the blooper reel, she was actually speaking Mandarin, and having a hard time remembering her lines. Mallika Sherawat was sizzling as she dandied around in flimsical dresses, while executing those high kicks, and I guess the entire run up to the Rat Glue Factory might turn out to be a fan favourite.

Many in the audience were surprised when the characters started speaking in Cantonese (for settings in modern day Hong Kong), and the local censors had no issue with that, instead of dubbing over the lines with Mandarin. Now that's a thumbs up.

So enjoy The Myth for what it is, just don't expect too much from a simple predictable storyline, and for some illogical and improbable scenes (I can't stand the horse back-kicking bits) that plays out like Michelle Yeoh's The Touch or even JC's own The Medallion.

This is a much better movie than previous jc movies made in Hollywood! There is more of a story and more drama. The scenery is excellent. It really brings out the beauty China and India has to offer. After reading several comments from reviewers i can not understand that they did not like this movie. Yes it's more serious, yes it is not typical JC action. But people forget JC is not up to his stunts because of his age. Still he kicks ass like the martial artist he is. I am a Jackie Chan fan since i could watch movies (5 years old)! And i have always liked his movies until he made real bad ones in Hollywood! Since his return in Hongkong you can see the improvement (maybe freedom he has making this movie)! The use of CGI was fitting for this kind of story.Honestly i really was moved by the story. People who love action you will get what you want,amazing stunts and the best martial arts! Also you romantic lovers will not be disappointed! I have only one point of criticism and that is the abrupt ending! But overall one of the better (Jackie Chan) movies made these last years.