The Myth — movie review
Jackie Chan has been in more than his fair share of misses these past few years. The Tuxedo. The Medallion. Shanghai Knights. Even his HK effort, The Accidental Spy proved more than a little disappointing. After being mired in Hollywood purgatory he made his triumphant return to Hong Kong cinema in last year’s New Police Story. Fresh, dangerous, and fiercely kinetic, New Police Story gave fans everything they had been missing. To say I was looking forward to Jackie’s next HK venture after viewing New Police Story would be an understatement. Now, in 2005, Chan has released The Myth.
Written and directed by Stanley Tong (Police Story 3 and 4, Swordsman II), The Myth tells the tale of archeologist Jack (Jackie Chan), who suffers from recurring dreams of ancient China. In the dreams he is Meng Yi, a Qin dynasty general, assigned the task of protecting Ok Soo, a Korean princess, and gift to the First Emperor of unified China, Qin Shi Huang. Enter William (Tony Leung Kai Fai), a physicist and friend of Jack, who is searching for a way to make heavy items lighter, and thus, more easily transportable. He mentions that there is a little known myth regarding the First Emperor’s place of burial, involving a massive, floating stone coffin. Believing there must be some validity to the story, and thus some long lost technology to be discovered, William recruits Jack to accompany him on his mission. But, as with most ventures these days, their good natured intentions toward discoveries in science and history fall to the wayside, as their corporate sponsor’s greed and hunger for power takes hold. As the story plays out Jack’s dreams of what may possibly be his past life are inter-cut with his modern day Indiana Jones adventure.
The problem with The Myth is that neither story reaches a sustainable momentum until the film’s climax, and the majority of the action sequences are pretty old hat. When Jack and William fight off some Indian warriors at holy site, Jackie seems tired and a bit slow compared to his earlier antics. When the Ancient China storyline takes over, there are some excellent sword battles, but I was never really interested in Jackie Chan lopping off heads with a sword anyway. But don’t get me wrong, there are some key sequences that make this films worth watching, including a tar-paper-strip-converor-fight with Jackie Chan and pop star Malika Sherawat fighting side by side, and one battle scene in ancient China where Jackie stands godlike atop a mountain of bodies. And then, of course, there’s the film’s finale which I won’t spoil for you.
Possibly influenced by Jackie Chan’s work as a Hong Kong travel ambassador, the Myth goes to great lengths to show gorgeous pictures of China. In one of the opening sequences we have a semi-gratuitous shot of the Hong Kong Convention Center, which was featured quite strongly in Jackie’s New Police Story and Gen X Cops, and in others sweeping shots of the Chinese countryside and the Great Wall. Every time the story switches between ancient and modern the filmmakers made sure to use a common reference framing. For example a pool of water cuts to a similarly framed pool of water in the next timeline. One odd thing about the shots, however, is that every long shot with Jackie in ancient China seems to have its aspect ratio shrunk horizontally, making everything, including Jackie, taller and skinnier.
The Myth is quite an unbalanced film, but its metaphysical meditations, trademark Chan action, and tomb raiding storyline do keep you interested for the most part. It’s definitely not one of Chan’s best films, but at least it’s not one of his worse. All in all, it’s still miles better than the American efforts.
About the Author
