Binding: DVD EAN: 0578974001236 Format: Anamorphic Label: Emperor Manufacturer: Emperor Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Emperor Region Code: 1 Release Date: 2005-08-04 Running Time: 122 Studio: Emperor
Editorial Reviews:
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Jackie's "Wusha" Film ... Sort of: Some Nice Actions Make Up for the Lack of Thrills and Less-Than-Average CGIs Comment: Jackie Chan's `The Myth' is based on an ambitious idea - maybe too ambitious. Jackie plays two characters: Jack, Indiana Jones-like archeologist living in modern day China, and General Meng-yi, a loyal warrior of Qin Dynasty that existed in China more than 2,200 years ago. Now, while seeking for the artifacts of ancient China with a help of his buddy William (Tony Leung Ka Fai), Jack is annoyed by a strange dream he frequently sees, a dream of General Meng-yi, faithfully protecting a Korean princess Ok-soo (Hee-seon Kim).
[JACKIE'S WUSHA] So `The Myth' can be divided into two segments. One is the part about more traditional actions Jackie's fans have been watching (such as `Operation Condor') where Jackie's character gets involved in conspiracy or something. The other part would be a more unique and different experience for fans because this is his first attempt at the now trendy `wusha' genre, Chinese historical play where characters show superhuman skills at sword fight or martial arts, as seen in `House of Flying Daggers' or `Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.'
The results are a mixed bag. Up to the point where Indian princess played by sexy Mallika Sherawat appears, the film is pretty fast-moving, and the actions are largely good. The highlight is the comic action sequences in which Jackie Chan and Mallika Sherawat are both trapped on the rat paper (yes, I'm not kidding), and this is simply Jackie at his best, always surprising and funny with his ingenious use of props. And again I say Mallika Sherawat sexy, whose brief appearance here is almost stealing the show from the star.
But after that, the film slowly goes downhill, with the familiar plot about international conspiracy and big company, which are just boring. Tony Leung Ka Fai is given a thankless role, who doesn't have much to do, and the climax action scenes are done in the weightless subterranean palace, where the hero and baddies fight each other in a very strange way. The novel idea of non-gravity battle is silly and unexciting, and the obvious use of green screen does not help.
As to the wusha part of the film, though it is true that Jackie does his best, handling more serious theme than usual such as love and honor (and clearly more than enough money is spent), the ancient China part does not go together well with the modern part of which light-heartedness is gradually weighed down by the other part's seriousness. Maybe I have seen too many of Jackie's films in the past, where his actions are closely associated with comedy touch.
So, see this film as two films in one. Both are OK in their own ways, but to many fans these two halves do not necessarily add up to one. Customer Rating: Summary: One of Jackie Chan's better recent efforts Comment: The Myth initially feels like Jackie Chan is reinventing his Armour of God movies just as he reinvented the Police Story series, with a slightly darker tone. The 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 Chan's efforts to uncover their secret. It's not always successful, not least because of some poorly time 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 this Asian 2-disc set are all subtitled in English, including the audio commentary. Also included are two deleted scenes (though not the uncompleted tiger chase sequence), a 15-minute making of, several on-set featurettes, music video and a selection of trailers and TV spots.
