Jackie Chan spans time in The Myth, a more or less family-friendly, 2005
adventure flick that gets a lot of mileage out of its hodge-podge concept and
Chan’s accrued goodwill and likeability before ultimately collapsing under the
weight of less-than-stellar execution.
In the modern portion of the film, Chan stars as
archeologist Jack, who finds himself beset with strange and powerful period
piece dreams in which is recast as General Meng-Yi, a duty-bound warrior
struggling with newfound feelings of love and infatuation. Along with ambitious
scientist William (Tony Leung Ka Fai), Jack discovers a precious ancient sword
and a magical gemstone, leading them to the entrance of a mythical mausoleum
built in 221 BC by Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of
A vast royal tomb that took more than 35 years to construct, and required the
work of more than 700,000 forced laborers, this tomb holds the key to mysteries
linked between past and present.
The closer Jack moves to revealing the hidden treasure of
the Qin Dynasty, the more these two worlds collide violently, with Meng-Yi, a
loyal army leader who’s fallen in love with a Korean princess, Ok-soo (Hee-seon Kim), meant to
be married to Emperor Qin, holding the key to the safety of both the tomb and future
generations. Working with his Supercop
(aka Police Story) collaborator,
director Stanley Tong, Chan dreams up some nice stunts, which are choreographed
between the two of them and Richard Hung. The execution of the archeological action-adventure
elements are reminiscent of Chan’s Armour
of God movies, but the chief problem is that the CGI work in The Myth is clearly not up to snuff, and
it jerks one out of the movie at key moments, badly.
in a regular Amray case, and is presented in a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen
transfer. Its audio is presented in an English language Dolby digital 5.1
track, with alternate subtitles in English and Spanish. A nice slate of bonus
material anchors this DVD release, most notably Chan’s first full-length audio
commentary track. In inimitable Chan style, he talks comparative budget figures
(saying The Myth would have cost $150
million with American union rules and crew size), good-naturedly calls out a
costar’s fear of a helicopter ride, and talks about the transportation
difficulties on this movie versus an American film. He also discusses the
movie’s reliance on practical effects work and his preference for one-on-one
fight scenes, in the process anecdotally illuminating key differences between
Asian and American genre cinema.
clips, finds Chan only half-jokingly revealing that the movie is a historical
rip-off/homage to Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon. Slightly less interesting is a throwaway four-minute clip, entitled
“Will the Real Swami Please Stand Up?,” in which Swami Nithyananda talks about
his meditation techniques and healing centers, which he touts as unlocking
one’s deep-seated inner consciousness. Finally, a three-and-a-half-minute
segment entitled “Jackie’s Kids” opens likes a joke, with Chan talking about “a
family sharing one pant” [sic], but is actually a moving snapshot of his vast
charity work through his Dragon’s Heart School Foundation.
total. One concerns a booby-trapped entrance to the emperor’s tomb, and another
sequence showcases a secret entrance to an Indian temple; the most interesting,
however, might be an ice cave scene where the princess uses a little body
warmth to help keep General Meng-Yi alive. Rounding out matters are a
collection of previews and two “Endless Love” music videos, one a Mandarin pop
version of the song. To purchase the movie via Amazon, click here. C (Movie) B+ (Disc)