Plot
Martial arts legend Jackie Chan stars as Jack, a world-renowned archaeologist who has begun having mysterious dreams of a past life as a warrior in ancient China...
Release Year: 2005
Rating: 6.0/10 (6,709 voted)
Director:
Stanley Tong
Stars: Jackie Chan, Hee-seon Kim, Tony Leung Ka Fai
Storyline Martial arts legend Jackie Chan stars as Jack, a world-renowned archaeologist who has begun having mysterious dreams of a past life as a warrior in ancient China...
Writers: Stanley Tong, Hui-Ling Wang
Cast: Jackie Chan
-
General Meng Yi
/
Dr Jack Chan
Hee-seon Kim
-
Ok-soo
Tony Leung Ka Fai
-
William
Mallika Sherawat
-
Samantha
Ken Lo
-
Dragon
Rongguang Yu
-
Zhao Kuang
Ram Gopal Bajaj
-
The Guru
Min-su Choi
-
General Choi
(as Choi Min Soo)
Jason Chong
-
Jack
/
General Meng-Yi (English Revoice)
Kumman Gopakumar
-
Dasar Policeman
Hiro Hayama
-
Tiger
Jun He
-
Phoenix
Leon Head
-
Dr. Smith
Sasidharan Nair Sajith Kumar
-
Dasar Guard A
Biju Kumman
-
Dasar Policeman
Filming Locations: Anjanadri Hill, Hampi, Karnataka, India
Box Office Details
Budget: $15,000,000
(estimated)
Gross: HKD 70,000,000
(Worldwide)
(28 September 2005)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Philippines:
|
Hong Kong:
|
Canada:
(Toronto International Film Festival)
Did You Know?
Trivia:
When Jack is talking on the phone in the car, his contacts display lists Stanley Tong as a contact. Stanley Tong directed this film, and is also credited for numerous behind the scene roles.
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes:
In the end of the movie, when Jack closes the book, on the cover it is written "The Mnth" instead of "The Myth". The difference may be hardly noticeable because of the stylized characters.
User Review
A Nutshell Review: The Myth
Rating: 8/10
This film was pretty hyped up for many reasons. Jackie Chan, after the
relatively successful return to HK movie industry with the release of
New Police Story, teams up once again with Stanley Tong (Rumble in the
Bronx) for starters. Tong wrote the story of The Myth, casting Jackie
Chan in a never seen before role (yes, audiences are tired with his cop
roles already) as a Qin dynasty general. What's refreshing too is that
the role requires the use of a real weapon (a sword in this case),
rather than having JC's character improvising with tools from his
environment.
As most would already know from the trailer and poster, JC plays Jack
Chan (about time they come up with better names too), an archaeologist
who dreams about a Korean princess whom he's escorting to the Qin
emperor as his new concubine. It's a recurring dream, and before you
can say "Indiana Jones", he's off to locales he sees in his dream world
to try and unravel its mystery, while research companion Tony Leung
(The Lover) irks him along the way with tomb raiding in the name of
scientific studies.
The story, while it might be original for a Jackie Chan movie, seemed a
little cliché. It plays like a young boy's fantasy of snagging that
exotic oriental princess, enjoying the support of the troop masses,
having utmost loyalty to the king, and blessed with good fighting
skills topped with a signature sword. And with the Qin dynasty, you're
usually reduced to plots which may include the Great Wall, beautiful
consorts, or the pill of Immortality.
The Myth looks and feels like a classic JC movie in terms of production
values, like the familiar fight-with-the-baddies-acrobatic-stunts
scenes, and physical humour injected at certain points. However, I
guess with JC's age, the number of fight scenes have been reduced, and
somewhat slowed down deliberately. The fight at the Rat Glue Factory
stood out for being a combination of both brawn and injected
situational humour. On the other hand, The Myth signifies new
developments in a typical JC storyline, with the introduction of
drama-mama romance (nothing much romantic though, with being comatose
in all the good bits and lots of lingering stares), and a surprise(?)
epilogue for his Qin character. And the "No blood no sex" unofficial
clause goes out the window too.
Despite its huge budget, the special effects were not refined, which
was a pity. The "blue screen" effect is obvious, even to the untrained
eye, and there were a tad too many "lazy extras" who, in wide angled,
supposedly big epic fight scenes, just stood, danced, moved around,
anything but fight realistically. The original Highlander perfected the
art of transitioning between flashbacks and present time, while The
Myth falters, looking seemingly forced and contrived at times, or opted
for the cheap way out - the blackouts.
As with most JC films, the women here play "flower vases". But I'm not
complaining. Kim Hee-seon was beautiful in her role as the princess,
and in the blooper reel, she was actually speaking Mandarin, and having
a hard time remembering her lines. Mallika Sherawat was sizzling as she
dandied around in flimsical dresses, while executing those high kicks,
and I guess the entire run up to the Rat Glue Factory might turn out to
be a fan favourite.
Many in the audience were surprised when the characters started
speaking in Cantonese (for settings in modern day Hong Kong), and the
local censors had no issue with that, instead of dubbing over the lines
with Mandarin. Now that's a thumbs up.
So enjoy The Myth for what it is, just don't expect too much from a
simple predictable storyline, and for some illogical and improbable
scenes (I can't stand the horse back-kicking bits) that plays out like
Michelle Yeoh's The Touch or even JC's own The Medallion.
0