A Legend

With every new iteration of the Stanley Tong/Jackie Chan collaboration machine the list of things you can meaningfully say about it grows smaller.

In general all of Jackie's films shot in mainland China share the same core problems: weak narrative thrust, forgettable storylines, cheap-looking visuals, generic action scenes, an underutilized Jackie and a big focus on his young co-stars who frankly can't act and aren't overburdened with charisma. There is still a world of difference between the cinematic prowess of Hong Kong and China and it's a huge disservice to the vast number of creative, passionate people in China that movies like this are accepted as standard.

'A legend' actually starts off decent enough with an okay action scene but immediately afterwards the story comes to a screeching halt and makes only shy confused attempts to start moving again. The jumping back and forth between the past and present barely worked in 2005's The Myth and it's almost a burden to watch here as it needlessly stretches the runtime. It's an aimless gimmick that never comes together into a coherent narrative. I was honestly struggling to stay awake after the first half hour.

That's it, that's basically the review in a nutshell. I haven't been this bored by a Jackie Chan movie since the early dark days where he still had to work for known hack Lo Wei. There's plenty to nitpick here like the uncanny valley de-aged Jackie, the awkward acting and the complete stock character of the entire production, but the main crux of why the movie fails is that it's boring. There's no energy to any element of it, everyone is seemingly just going through the motions. I think what strikes me the most about all these recent films is just how little they utilize Jackie Chan's unique sensibilities. If you think of all his classics and even his lesser titles they are all so fundamentally Jackie, they're basically a genre of their own. The style, the humour, the stunt work, the choreography, the creativity. All glued together by his unique personality and so uniquely him. No one else could have replaced him in his films, not even equally legendary actors with a similar style like Yuan Biao and Sammo Hung. Now in these new films anyone could have played these roles and it wouldn't have made a difference. It's clear he's mainly used for marquee value and not much else.

At this point in Jackie's career you almost have to ask him "are you doing ok, man?" because there's no way a talent, an artist and a legend of his caliber is happy with the last fifteen years of his career. I hate to say it but after seeing his mainland efforts, especially his work with Stanley Tong I'm actively clamoring for a return to his hollywood days. With the exception of Shanghai Knights and parts of Rush Hour 2 they may not have come close to his best work in Hong Kong but unlike A legend, Vanguard or Kung Fu Yoga at least they weren't painful to watch.

Of course you can't expect him to be at the top of his game at his age. We'll never see him jump from building to building again but that's fine. He more than earned his place on the throne of the stunt world. The fact he's even alive after everything he put himself through is worth celebrating. He's physically still more than capable of doing great martial arts scenes though as the finale of Chinese Zodiac and bits of Ride On can attest. His "older brother" Sammo Hung is still kicking ass both in front and behind the camera as anyone who's seen Walled In can attest, making quality films with ingenuity, skill and heart much like the classics they used to make when they revolutionized action movies in the late 70s. Jackie could have retired after New Police Story and his oeuvre would stand out as a legendary achievement in world cinema. Alas for every gem like the Foreigner or Shinjuku Incident there are now ten at best forgettable flicks that waste his talent and charisma.

If you really have to see it because you're a completionist do yourself a favor and just skip everything but the fight scenes. There's nothing that stands out about them but at least they're mostly decent.

Set during the Han dynasty era, general Zhao Zhan (Jackie Chan) and his friend Huajun (Lay Zhang) save Princess Mengyun (Gülnezer Bextiyar) from a ruthless Prince Hu Duna (Aarif Rahman). Zhao Zhan and Huajun fall in love with Princess Mengyun. In the present world, archeologist Professor Fang (Jackie Chan) starts dreaming about Han dynasty era, particularly his past self and soon his student Wang Jing too starts to have the same dream. With these lives interconnected across eras, it is upto Fang to find the proper closure to all these characters spread across two different timelines.

Stanley Tong has tried to milk the sequel factor to The Myth but sadly, A Legend simply doesn't have anything going in it's favor. The Myth had it's entertaining moments, merging two different timelines in a better way. This is exactly where A Legend fails as there is no sync between Han dynasty era and modern times segment nor does the love story from the flashback work. Worse, the flashback takes majority of the screen time with a de-aged Jackie Chan and it only ends up dragging the story. The usual Jackie Chan fun elements are nearly non-existant till the climax fight which by then is way too late. The screenplay is dated and tries hard to recreate the same template of The Myth. In that attempt, the film fails to entertain and the decision to fill in majority of the film with the flashback was a blunder.

This movie shouldn't use soundtrack from "The Myth (2005)" which is real legend movie.... I fell asleep watching this 2024 legend movie. Jackie Chan is my Childhood favourite action actor but the other actors in this movie are not playing their roles properly. Jackie Chan's1900's and early 2000 movies are way more better. I feel sorry Jackie Chan getting older. If he's still young, he'd probably choose better new actors who could perform as nearly as Jackie did. Some action and face reaction are not alive and realistic. I hope Jackie Chan can find characters who could act the scene like it's really happening and give performance from heart and soul.

Even the first movie "the myth" was not critics' favourite. This one has however has so many improvements because of the 19 years worth of technical developments. The cinematography and fight scenes are spectacular. You will feel like you are watching old school Wuxia dramas since this movie has more flash back ancient scenes than the modern ones unlike the myth. May be Jackie Chan is too old to do so many fight scenes in his modern form. That's where the uncanny CGI young face of him comes in. It completely can't show any emotions at all. It's like a slap in the face towards Jackie's acting ability. Overall, if you can neglect his funny face and especially if you are a fan of crazy ancient battle scenes, you will enjoy it like I did. A little problem is that It felt like I am watching two movies at the same time between flash back story and modern story especially also because the movie is 2:09 hours long. So when the long flash back scenes are over, you are exhausted to continue watching the modern era final scene although we got to see the classic Jackie's comedic fight scenes in the end.

Watching any form of modern Jackie Chan film comes with its fair share of challenges but A Legend hits a new low for the ageing martial arts star, in this so-called legacy sequel to The Myth. Sure, the film is lavishly produced, with plenty of sweeping landscapes, and suitably epic set pieces, however, it commits the cardinal sin of being unmistakenly boring and a slog to sit through thanks to some abysmally erratic pacing. The film tries to cram in way too much for its runtime and feels like two distinctly different movies crowbarred together, it's rather sad since I know Stanley Tong has been capable of so much better. The elephant in the room is of course the horrific de-ageing job done to Jackie Chan during the scenes set during the Han Dynasty, it looks like someone just got a picture of his face and slapped it on the body of a younger actor, it can be genuinely disturbing at times. If you're expecting Jackie to throw a few moves, then you'll have to wait till the last act before he finally gets down to business. Although it sadly stands as a consolation prize and comes too little too late. I will say however, I did like Nathan Wang's musical score despite the very cheesy and stereotypical soundscape. There's a noticeable lack of adventure in A Legend, it falters with a largely self-serious tale of action fantasy and a central romance that feels more cringey than it does profound. I highly doubt Panda Plan is gonna be much better.