Customer Reviews

Jackie Chan's The Myth

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

How could I resist the baaad pun? "Myth" is actually a renamed Chinese film from 2005 called "San Wa."

Briefly, Jack (Chan) is an archaeologist who dreams of a past life as a General (Meng Yi) in Ancient China.

When he's asked by a colleague, William (Tony Leung Ka Fai) to help find a scientfic discovery relating to defying gravity, Jack returns to China and faces his dream princess Ok-soo (Hee-seon Kim) and his own past failure as the General to protect her.

The story's a bit of Indiana Jones and a bit of the fallen Samurai myth. I very rarely watch subtitled films, but "Myth" was easy enough to follow and provided enough amusement to make the rental worthwhile.

The Myth initially feels like Jackie Chan is reinventing his Armour of God movies just as he recently reinvented the Police Story series, with a slightly darker tone. The film's two plot strands aren't always as complimentary as they could be, with the historical backstory of Chan's general falling in love with the Emperor's latest concubine far more interesting than the modern-day adventurer Chan's efforts to uncover their secret. It's not always successful, not least because of some poorly timed CGI, but it does offer an enjoyable fight on a glue factory assembly line that plays out like a demented version of twister and a spectacular battle scene (Stanley Tong is clearly a fan of Anthony Mann, copying several set-ups from The Fall of the Roman Empire) en route to the finale. And the last half hour is impressive stuff, be it a surprisingly bloody (for Chan) one-against-all battle that sees him fighting atop a mountain of corpses or the scenes in a giant weightless mausoleum that make imaginative use of superior wire work and which do carry a sense of wonder to them.

Surprisingly, the extras on the Asian 2-disc set are all subtitled in English, including the audio commentary, so for fans that might be a better bet than Sony's US release.

I really enjoyed this film and so did my kids. I heard about this film through a friend of mine and I must say that I was pleasantly suprised. The acting was pretty good and so were the action scenes. I would love to have seen this movie at the theaters.

Jackie Chan stars in one of his most grand and epic movies yet in this exciting action adventure film concerning a modern day archaeologist named Jack Chan who has mysterious dreams of being a great General from the ancient Chi'in Dynasty of China who falls in love with a Princess that he can never have as his own.

One day Jack's friend Tony informs him of an ancient anti-gravity device that can be found in an old tomb in Dasar, India and so the adventure begins. Along the way Jack and his friend get into all kinds of ruckus including lots of the trademark Chan comedy/martial arts fighting sequences, and even some ancient Chinese battle scenes featuring a 1500 person army and over 200 horses. The ancient Chinese costumes of the soldiers look very authentic and beautiful, and the scenery in the film features many wonderful and eye-popping places such as Hong Kong, Shanghai, India, Beijeng, and even the Great Wall of China.

One of the best scenes of the film involves the battle between the good guys and the bad guys in modern day China inside of a huge ancient Chinese Chi'in Dynasty mausoleum hidden within a gigantic enclosed cave behind a waterfall. Special rocks with mysterious powers cause the items within the tomb to be weightless as if in space and this setting is where the the final battle between good and evil takes place.

The movie is loaded with all the great and wild choreographed fighting scenes and zany stunts that Jackie Chan's movies are famous for. It also has a lot of heartfelt and touching moments to it as well, and there's even a love story involved on top of everything else. This movie literally has it all. Theres even a full length commentary from the man himself Jackie Chan as he tells you all about the behind the scenes making of the movie.

If you are a fan of Jackie Chan, or martial arts movies, or even action adventures, then you will not want to miss this great film!

Although Amazon says this is the full 122 minute version, they are mistaken. It is the edited-for-the-US-market 96 minute version. If that is what you are looking for, then this would get more stars. I've wasted several people's time and money over this mistake, but it is not what it says. The original Chinese version with English subtitles is the real 122 minute version.

The Myth 2.5/5
Cast: Jackie Chan
When I saw this movie for the first time I was very disappointed. It is not bad, but at the same time it is in no way in shape or form good. I am a big fan of Jackie Chan and loved his next work Rob b Hood. However this film lacks in ten different places. It's almost laughable how unprofessional this movie is. I saw clip art and a preview before I saw this movie and it looked pretty good.

It's three things you will notice when you watch this movie. One - they need a bigger budget ,two- they need a different director and three -they need a different screen writer. The only good thing about this movie is Jackie Chan and some of the fight sequences. I found this movie very cheap looking. It's kind of like a very low budget Hero. If Jackie would have got Tsui Hark to write it and Yuen Woo Ping to direct it. This movie could be much better. One thing I really like about this movie is the commentary Jackie Chan does. I always look forward to listening to commentary by Jackie Chan. One thing he reveals is that there was not a big budget. That make me wonder why would he even try to make a movie like this with such a small budget. The reason why I sound so disconcerted is because I keep thinking about The Myth that could have been a classic.

Jackie Chan's The Myth has two great action sequences and a couple of super-hot chicks...and that's about it. I've seen the original Chinese cut and I've seen the shorter US version, and my opinion of both is about the same--the longer version just has more dull stuff in between the sequences of cool stuff.
However, this movie has major story problems that have nothing to do with editing. The biggest story problem is that the most interesting, most fun character in the movie, an incredibly gorgeous kung fu fighting Hindu chick, well-played by Mallika Sherawat, is only on screen for about 12 minutes in both versions! The sequence she's featured in really works, as her natural comic style fits in with Jackie's slapstick action sequences very, very well. His character should have met her much earlier in the story and then she should have stayed with him throughout the rest of the adventure, adding more fun, a touch or romance, better story development, and some sex appeal.
A secondary story problem is that the "ancient China" sequences are slow and dull. I wish the US version had cut those parts down even more and given us a 1 hour 20 minute movie.
A third story problem is that the sci-fi/mystical elements of the story are, to be blunt about it, idiotic, resulting in dialog like "Science has proven that spinning an object extremely fast makes it lighter." Wha? I read Science Digest, and that's never been mentioned.

So, I think there is about 30 minutes total entertainment in this mess, but it is worth the time for the true Chan fan.

The Myth brings to the screen the story of a Chinese archaeologist who is haunted by a Chinese general's past from centuries ago. Urged on by recurring dreams and a nudge by an old friend, Jack embarks on a quest to find answers to an ancient mystery. As he gets closer to the solution, however, the general's past comes dangerously close to catching up with him.
The film combines romance, drama, action and adventure in an effort to follow in the footsteps of other great Chinese films of recent years.
The film goes back and forth between the present and the past, however, it might as well have remained in the past as most of what occurred in the present either did not make much sense or it was badly done.
The setting, costumes, the music, and the battle sequences are great, though the acting, the plot, and the ending (!) were mediocre, average, and way below average respectively.
In a nutshell, it's probably not a movie you would want to add to your collection, but it will provide for an evening's entertainment. 3.4 Stars
For some truly AMAZING films the following are highly recommended to those with a soft spot for all things Chinese: A Battle of Wits, Seven Swords, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The House of Flying Daggers, The Promise, and Hero.

Chan brings his unique blend of martial arts mastery and pratfalling physical humor to this enjoyable movie. The central mystery arises from a modern archaeologist with recurring dreams of a time millenia ago. In those dreams, Chan plays loyal general Meng Yi, dedicated to preserving the life of lovely princess Li. The modern character (named Jack Chan, for some reason) awakens each morning even more certain that some reality underlies that dream.

The dramatic buildup falters a bit early on, but really gets moving when his modern benefactor and nemesis emerges from the shadows. Then the race is on, with Jackie/Jack/Yi and sidekick traveling the east in search of - well, that seems a bit murky. Along the way, Jackie executes some of the funniest martial arts choreography ever. The gorgeous babe on his side trip to India gets a few good kicks in, too, not least in that hilarious routine on the conveyor belt.

The final sequence combines a James Bond setting with flying warriors from the wu shia tradition. It also reaches into bits of Taoist alchemy that Western viewers might not recognize, but don't need to. This never rises above the "good entertainment" category - but it does offer good entertainment with a delicious non-Western flavor.

-- wiredweird

Lately I'm on a martial arts kick (no pun intended). Very much enjoyed the visual artistry of fare such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Curse of the Golden Flower, Hero, Iron Monkey and House of Flying Daggers. But, I've always been a fan of Jackie Chan's "modern" work. Can't wait to pick up The Forbidden Kingdom, too...

I think this movie does a beautiful job blending the old-school and the modern, the "art house" style and the "Jackie Chan over-the-top martial arts" style.

The "Jackie Chan" modern stuff takes place more-or-less in the present day, where "Jack" has strange dreams of ancient China and a beautiful princess. The "art house" stuff is packaged in flashbacks and visual exegesis about the "actual" events Jack is remembering from a past life. Eventually, the two worlds / times collide at the end of the movie.

Quite an enjoyable piece of work. I didn't even realize it existed until my roommate bought a copy at Hollywood Video. I decided I needed my own copy (being both a Jackie Chan fan and an asian "art house" cinema fan).

I'd certainly give this a recommend to anyone who like either Jackie Chan or the "art house" style of the movies I mentioned previously.