User Reviews

It's worth seeing the movie just even for the rat glue factory scene. It's a wonderful Jackie Chan physical comedy combined with a really nice striptease from the super hot Indian actress. Sure to become a classic scene.

The rest of the movie constitutes of a historical "Hero" like war martial art action with some modern Jackie Chan slapstick. The plot is very tenuous and was probably written after someone wanted a story with Chinese history combined with a modern drive towards the nascent Chinese scientific and technological resurgence.

Jackie Chan plays an Indiana Jones like archaeologist which spirals into a Lara Croft style adventure of finding very strange but mindbogglingly powerful things. Meanwhile a very hazy parallel story runs of a concubine who falls for a general played by Jackie Chan a few hundreds years in the past. There is anti-gravity devices and immortality pills thrown in as well.

Though it does get really cheesy and maudlin at times, it's a really fun movie to watch.

Saw the movie today. Nice authenticity with the arms, armor and tactics of the Qin Dynasty (comtemprary of Republican Rome)and attention to detail. And a very beautiful Korean princess who looked every inch the role. Overall entertaining movie with signature JC fight scenes in the modern parts of the story. This new Indiana Jones type role for JC is certainly refreshing. The cop role is getting stale. The ending is also new for a JC movie, and perhaps indicates a certain coming of age - no more everyone happy, bad guys in jail, good guys get rewarded template anymore. The use of multiple languages by native speakers corresponding to authentic locations is refreshing (Mandarin, Korean, Cantonese, English, Hindi)- no more stilted "other" languages.

This is a much better movie than previous jc movies made in Hollywood! There is more of a story and more drama. The scenery is excellent. It really brings out the beauty China and India has to offer. After reading several comments from reviewers i can not understand that they did not like this movie. Yes it's more serious, yes it is not typical JC action. But people forget JC is not up to his stunts because of his age. Still he kicks ass like the martial artist he is. I am a Jackie Chan fan since i could watch movies (5 years old)! And i have always liked his movies until he made real bad ones in Hollywood! Since his return in Hongkong you can see the improvement (maybe freedom he has making this movie)! The use of CGI was fitting for this kind of story.Honestly i really was moved by the story. People who love action you will get what you want,amazing stunts and the best martial arts! Also you romantic lovers will not be disappointed! I have only one point of criticism and that is the abrupt ending! But overall one of the better (Jackie Chan) movies made these last years.

Credit to Jackie, he does try to do something different with his Hong Kong films. It would be easy for him to churn out countless sequels to already established series, but he does try to vary his output. Well, that is in as much as the constraints of his fans expectations and his established film persona will allow, anyway. The Myth, as a film, suffers paradoxically because of these two things; trying to satisfy by offering something new, while fulfilling audience expectation based on Jackie's previous output. The historical side of the film works best, providing Chan with a role (Army General bound by honour, compromised by love) that is unfamiliar and more interesting largely because of that. The action is more gritty and brutal in these sequences, with lots more blood on show than in typical Jackie fare. The present day character is classic Jackie, though the comedic set pieces and brief fight scenes don't have quite the inventiveness or sparkle of yesteryear. You can imagine the glue factory scene in particular being more involving and exciting if it had been choreographed twenty, or even ten, years ago. Stanley Tong's handling of the material is, due to the nature of his script, very uneven. The presentation of the modern day settings is fine, if a little uninspiring; especially when you consider some of the film's spectacular locations. However, the historical battles look and feel dull and lack any kind of epic quality. This may have been down to budget constraints, but watching the film you feel that if more clever camera-work had been employed, this effect could have been conveyed. Ultimately, it's a pity Jackie wasn't brave enough to do a straight, serious historical action/drama, because under The Myth's familiarity there's a different Jackie Chan film trying to get out.

The Asian movie producers have been churning out medieval swordplay-movies at high rates these last few years. Many of them of a high quality at that. So no surprise then that the demands put on the quality of those films have increased along with their numbers.

This is not your average swordplay-movie. Rather this is half "Hero"-like medieval battle/romance and half Asian "Indiana Jones"-like present day action. Jackie Chan has a part to play in both eras, and he does a reasonably good job although the present-day character seems to be more his style.

I didn't enjoy this movie very much, i can say that right away. For me it had several problems that over-shone the entertaining aspects. First of all the split between medieval time and present day was unfortunate. Not least because they were like two completely different movies in style. While the medieval part was serious and heavy with concepts of honor and love, the present-day part was more standard Jackie Chan-fare. He was running around kicking and fighting while doing acrobatics, all this mixed with slapstick comedy. The contrast between these two styles became too much for me to accept.

The directors ambitions were what bothered me most about this whole project. It seems to me like he wanted to make something he could neither afford nor handle. He wanted to transcend the time-scale and the genres, and when he was done he ended up with two halves that didn't make a whole. And those halves were not that great to begin with. The special effects feel half-done at times, and some of the medieval battles look downright awful. Cutting techniques and low-grade CGI are used to try and spice things up, but it doesn't really help. Also the movie felt to me at least 30 minutes too long - a feeling that was getting stronger when in the end of the movie we lapse into a few minutes of what is basically a music video that shows flashbacks to earlier scenes...

In my opinion the present-day part of this movie would have been enough. An Asian version of Indiana Jones starring Jackie Chan is a great idea to begin with (and it's not a brand new one either, remember "Armour of God" and "Condor"?) and it would have been enough to support this film. As it is now we get short but enjoyable pieces of present-day action mingled with slow and many times dreary medieval parts. Not recommended.

5/10

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.

I saw The Myth's world premier at the Toronto Film Festival. It seemed like an odd combination, with Jackie Chan's entertaining choreography and the writer from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

That's the way it played out too, great physical stunts and gags interspersed with heavy Chinese mythology, centering around the tomb of Emperor Qin. Unfortunately the two didn't meld together particularly well, and Jackie doesn't have the range to carry off the more emotional scenes.

A fun outing though, because Jackie's stunts are inspired (the glue factory fight alone is worth the price of admission). Some great locations too. Just leave as Jackie arrives at the mausoleum to spare yourself the lousy computer graphics and incomprehensible cultural references.

Firstly I should say that the costume is really ridiculous. What the soldiers wore in Chin Dynasty has nothing to do with what we saw in the film. The armors and helmets looks rather ancient Roman than Chinese.(especially the helmet and the god damn feather on it.As I know,none of the dynasties in China's history ever developed a taste like the feather-on-the-helmet thing) Then comes the Korean princess.The nation of Korea came into being years after the perish of Chin,so what's the princess doing in a time long before her born.

I don't know if any of you noticed that at the Korean troops at the beginning of the movie is wield katanas, which are typical Japanese weapons came into being around the time of Tang Dynasty of China(that's a whole lot of years after Chin) At a scene Jacky told the Korean princess that Xianyang (the capital of Chin) is right past the Greatwall. Truth is that the Greatwall is near Beijing,and Xianyang is right by the side of Xi'an(where I'm living at the moment).Man that's thousands of miles away! And such mistakes run all through the movie.I know as a movie it is entertaining, but as a history-based movie it sucks a little...

What do you expect when you see a movie like this? Something huge with thousands of extras and perfect computer effects? Check. Archaeology action like Indiana Jones? Check. Tragical love story with beautiful lady? Check. Speedy stunts, fights and fun like in the good old Jackie Chan flicks? Check. Judging by the sum of its parts, this ought to be the greatest movie of the 21st century. In reality, it's not quite so. 2 tremendously entertaining hours, yes, but not a perfect movie.

What are the reasons? I'd like to name three. First, I always see Jackie Chan with a helmet, desperately trying to keep a straight face, when I am supposed to see the general. He just isn't that type of guy. The dreams or historical flashbacks are therefore less convincing than the scenes from the present day. Second, the whole anti-gravity stone thing has much too much Spielberg in it. The myth could have remained a myth, in other words: the audience doesn't always want a scientific explanation why things happen, especially if it's as unlikely as this one. Third, I think what neither worked well in this movie is the villain. From the moment he appears and does the usual "I'll steal the big Blah to rule the world" villain routine, the rest becomes predictable. If the screenplay had dared to move along a different path, it would have evoked less of the "seen it before" feeling. I enjoyed it, but regrettably it's not without the little flaws mentioned.

Jackie stars as an archaeologist who falls asleep and wakes up as a general in another time. The movie is an epic, with a stunning soundtrack (that I still listen to to this day), beautiful visuals and a grander storyline than his other movies. He always gets the girl.

I guess the biggest question left after seeing this film was 'what was it trying to be'? Was it trying to be Indiana Jones? Was it trying to be The Matrix? Was it trying to be Crouching Tiger? Was it trying to be Ben Hur? Was it trying to be Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure? Unfortunately, I don't think the producers and Stanley Tong asked that question, let alone answered it, before they started shooting The Myth.

The overall plot concept had some promise - I've seen far worse stories that translated into enjoyable film viewing experiences. Unfortunately for The Myth, some of the best plot aspects were underutilized (Indian temple, anyone?).

For me, the highlight of the film was five minutes of comic relief during a fight scene in a rat glue paper factory - yes, "rat glue paper".... The rest more-or-less wrote itself, but it was amusing.

The visual effects ranged from excellent (the final levitating mausoleum), to what looked like a high-school visual arts project gone wrong - very inconsistent production values with respect to the visual effects.

Ever since Jackie Chan's rendezvous with Hollywood in Cannonball Run (1981) (which incidentally was advertised in Hong Kong as Jackie "co-starring with Bert Reynolds"), he has been true to his unique brand of action – part comedy, part choreography, part acrobat – but never true martial arts such as what Jet Li delivers. (A remote analogy of the Sphinx – part woman, part beast, part god - but nothing of a man in it). And this went on for what seem like an eternity, both in local and Hollywood productions. Then, approaching mid-life, Chan started to try new things – e.g. pure romance in "Bo lei jun" (or "Glass bottle") (1999) and pathos in "New Police story" (2004).

In "The Myth", he takes things even further, by giving us both an old clowning around Jackie Chan and a new all serious Jackie Chan, in two parallel stories, present and ancient. Good intentions and efforts notwithstanding, Chan's portrayal of a general of woeful countenance in the ancient Qin dynasty is just not convincing, maybe because of things as a simple as his stature or that his face is too familiar. As a result, the love story on which obvious emphasis has been placed never quite gets off the ground. What we are left with then is pretty much the old Jackie Chan flick. Still, with the multi billion dollar (HK$) budget, an international cast and some pretty clever ideas (as the "rat glue factory scene" everybody mentioned), this movie IS entertaining. As well, although the "historical" portion is not exactly a resounding success, it does add another dimension to the movie.

One final note – at half-century point, Jackie Chan finally yields a bit on his resistance to wire work and CGI. While we are all proud of his steadfast determination to do all the dangerous stunts himself, the laws of nature dictate that there are things that you just can't go on doing forever.

Hong Kong action/historical/epic movie with full of over-the-top struggles , excitement , thrills , ingenious stunts , lots of brawls and brief touches of humor. This fun movie is plenty of intrigue , unstopped action , and overwhelming stunt-work with breathtaking ending images with the main characters flying here and there . Sympathetic archeologist Jack (Jackie Chan) keeps having reoccurring dreams of a past life, where he is the great general Meng Yi, who is sworn to protect a princess named Ok-Soo (Kim Hee-seon) . When a fellow scientist enlists his help locating the mausoleum of China's first emperor , Jack decides to go investigate everything with his friend William (Tony Ka Fai Leung) , assisted by the spirit of a noble princess .

This exciting movie is crammed of action-packed , fantasy ,overwhelming stunt-work and lots of fights .Amusing and colorful Jackie Chan entry in whic he takes on Chinese emperor and his army . It is a fantastic film with supernatural events in which the past collides surprisingly with the present . Jackie Chan is top-notch as a world-renowned archaeologist who has started discovering amazing visions and having mysterious dreams of a past life as a warrior in ancient China , as he becomes one army man fighting a group of heinous criminals and a lot of warriors and , of course , as always he makes his own stunts . Awesome , incredible stunts and brief comic touches , as usual ; the picture is better constructed than others directed by Stanley Tong . The lighting-paced storyline slows down at times , including some confusing and absurd lines in the script , but frantic action sequences make up for it . Spotlights movie include spectacular battle in which Jackie himself confronts an entire army and eliminates them all forming a mountain of bodies , among others . This is a phenomenal action/epic movie distinguished by nicely cinematography of the impressive sequences , shot on location in India, Xi'an, China and adding agreeable sense of humor.

The picture achieved big success in China and all around the world but in USA failed , similar to his American debut ,¨Battle creek brawl¨ that had a disastrous Box-office. Jackie Chan is a hard-working actor and director throughout his long and varied career . He went on playing ¨Cannoball¨ , ¨The protector¨ and "Rumble in the Bronx", until getting all American successes with ¨Shangai Knights¨ , ¨The tuxedo¨ , ¨Around the world in 80 days¨ and ¨Rush hour¨ trilogy , and the recent ¨Karate kid¨. Many of them Chan usually pays overt homage to two of his greatest influences as Charles Chaplin and Harold Lloyd . Of course , his biggest hits were ¨The Police story¨ series that won the Golden Horse Award , a Chinese version of the Oscar , the first was titled ¨Police story (1985)¨ directed by the same Chan , it was a perfect action film for enthusiastic of the genre ; the following was ¨Police story 2 (1988)¨ also pretty violent and with abundant humor touches . It's followed by ¨Supercop¨ or ¨Police story 3¨ and finally , ¨Police story IV : Crime story¨ . This picture ¨San wa¨or ¨The Myth¨ (2005) was lavishly produced by Jackie Chan himself , being compellingly directed by Stanley Tong and helped by Jackie Chan . Tong directed various Chan vehicles , such as : ¨Supercop I¨ , ¨Supercop II¨, ¨Rumble in the Bronx¨, ¨Vanguard¨ and ¨Kung Fu Yoga¨ . Rating : Acceptable and passable , the picture has its sensational moments here and there , but also with abundant humor touches mostly provided by its agile star , the super Jackie Chan , stunningly accompanied by Tony Ka Fai Leung , Kim Hee-seon and Mallika Sherawat . It's a perfect action film for enthusiasts of the genre and especially for Jackie fans .

Being both Asian and Chinese I can't say I'm proud, with the slew of bad and cheap movies coming out of Hong Kong lately, I prepared myself to be disappointed by this one. I wasn't. Not that this is anywhere near being a good film. But if you're into Jackie Chan (Both his old and newer movies), and are looking for a fantasy adventure, you're in for a treat. While the script and scenes are cheesy and corny at best, and the special FX badly done, you can't compare it to Hollywood movies due to Hong Kong's "low-budget trying to reap big profits" way of doing things.

But this is indeed one of the better films this year. Great Jackie Chan-style fighting and comedy sequences, hot Asian chicks, and a brief take at ancient Chinese history is what this movie offers. I'd give it a 5, but plus 2 points for Hong Kong taking an extra step on this one.

This is a wonderful movie with a mixture of many cultures in it. Just try and admire this movie and you will notice how they merge everything together. The language used in this movie is of course Cantonese as it is a movie from Hong Kong. Then there's Mandarin and Korean language and also at some parts they spoke Indian (I have no idea it's Hindi or Tamil language). They also communicated in English because they wanted to potray the modern world as English is known as the international language. The actors also come from a variety of races. Though the things that occurred in this movie might seem quite far-fetched, the title "The Myth" explains it all. Whether it's comedy, love, friendship, past, present, technology or wonders, this movie got it all! By the way, the soundtracks match very well with the movie, I just can't stop listening to the theme song "Endless Love" sung by Jackie and Kim.

A production that greatly resembles 'Hero', just that the added modern-ancient switch was decently amiable and nicely done. In my opinion 'The Myth' would suit the Asian and South-East Asian market more, since only Chinese (and Oriental Studies scholars) can understand this film thoroughly. People who knew nothing beyond pieces of puzzles formed from 'Hero' would think it's another lame Jackie Chan production. Below-par visuals, especially the floating grave yard scene (please hire someone from Hollywood if you're considering these 'ummph' types of scenes). Great music, however, weave together with the pleasant plot creates an extraordinary feeling never once found in 'Hero' or 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon'. Goofs spotted, even by non-professionals like me. A great step in melting Chinese, Indian and a little Korean culture into the whole movie. After all, the Whites have their dark ages and Chinese have their stance before as warriors and lords as in 'Lord of the Rings'. Congrads and my deepest salute to Koreans who learned Mandarin in this production.

The Myth Mr. Black's Grade: C- Starring Jackie Chan .

Jackie takes on two roles, a modern day archaeologist and a Qin Dynasty warrior over two millenniums ago. So, with The Myth you have two movies in one, a modern tale and one thousands of years ago. Neither one really works. You end up with two minor love stories, two plot lines that will eventually intersect, but don't make much sense.

Anyone expecting this to be Jackie Chan's House of Flying Daggers can forget about that. Look, I am normally pretty forgiving towards Jackie Chan's films in terms of plot, so let's look at the action scenes! The film opens 2000 or so years ago with a small, over the top battle on horses. Pretty silly really, one of those scenes where the two leads take a break in the action to stare longingly into each others eyes with the music blaring in the back ground. There is a fair bit of sword work is this, and it is certainly the bloodiest Jackie Chan film I have seen.

It may sound silly, but personally I prefer Chan's films to be grounded in reality. When he ends up with some type of super powers, like in the god awful The Tuxedo, you just lose me. I do not like to see Jackie fight 100 people at once, or fly through the air. He is at his best when he uses his surroundings to get the better of his enemies, rather than using 'wire work' and bad CGI to get the job done. There is one classic scene in a glue factory that really got at the crowd clapping, vintage Chan.

But one great action scene and a one very beautiful actress do not make a great movie, even with Jackie Chan.

It's worth seeing the movie just even for the rat glue factory scene. It's a wonderful Jackie Chan physical comedy. Sure to become a classic scene.

The rest of the movie constitutes of a historical "Hero" like war martial art action with some modern Jackie Chan slapstick. The plot is very tenuous and was probably written after someone wanted a story with Chinese history combined with a modern drive towards the nascent Chinese scientific and technological resurgence.

Jackie Chan plays an Indiana Jones like archaeologist which spirals into a Lara Croft style adventure of finding very strange but mindbogglingly powerful things. Meanwhile a very hazy parallel story runs of a concubine who falls for a general played by Jackie Chan a few hundreds years in the past. There is anti-gravity devices and immortality pills thrown in as well.

Though it does get really cheesy and maudlin at times, it's a really fun movie to watch.

Emperor Qin and Korean princesses have both become clichés in films bearing the unmistakable mark of spinning China-related buzz themes. We've seen Qin, allegedly first ruler to unite most of what today is known as China, in Hero and a bunch of other releases, and Korean lovelies have graced at least Musa and more recently Tsui Hark's Seven Swords.

The former, perhaps, stands for thinly veiled references to China's nationalist comeback and unification, while the latter could be a form of hankering for a return to the days when the country held sway over supplicating tributary kingdoms with a thing for sending sultry concubines to an overbearing emperor. Naturally, this could be totally wrong, and in fact The Myth et al simply think they're catering to audiences of the day.

Whichever the case may be, this large-scale release works neither as an allegorical exercise nor a straight blockbuster. Instead of at the very least providing something moderately innovative to cling to, it rehashes everything from Crouching Tiger and Tomb Raider to abysmal The Touch with Michelle Yeoh. The Myth follows several other Jackie Chan calamities where the addition of "the" to titles translated into sheer mediocrity: The Tuxedo and The Medallion were both disappointments, and we fear this current effort might eventually be sequeled by The BS. It dashes hopes our Chanster may have finally rediscovered his old path to riches, a sentiment brought to life following successful New Police Story. Alas, such is not the case.

Jackie, formerly Mr. Hong Kong, presently Mr. Greater China, helped produce this project, working together with Stanley Kong in the directorial seat (Kong previously helmed a few Police Story movies and also rather good Swordsman 2). In The Myth, Emperor Qin's once again revered religiously and followed without question by zealous subordinates who make no mention of his reputation for brutal conquest and mindless warfare. At least Hero by Zhang Yimou was more even-handed, not to mention Chen Kaige's Emperor and the Assassin, where they openly depicted him as a butcher, albeit one ultimately loved by the people. It isn't clear which Qin emperor we're talking about in The Myth, though, since his exact name is never spoken nor do we get to see him, but the love-thy-government message comes across loud and clear.

Unlike the other movies mentioned, this current affair doesn't try to be a historical epic. In fact, it has nothing to do with grandiosity save for dabbing in some of the most teeth-grindingly ugly animation and CG effects ever. When the pixellated blood starts spurting, you'll cringe too. Things get off to a long-winded start in an overstretched scene showing General Meng Yi (Jackie) fighting to deliver fresh booty Princess OK Soo (Kim Hee Seon) to the emperor, set against feeble attempts from her Korean compatriots to stop the nefarious exchange. There's way too much generic pomp and too little bonafide action in this segment, and it ends up as uninspired as Kim's career (she shone once in 2000's Bichunmoo, but not since). It's also immediately obvious JC wasn't into making the movie: he looks veritably switched off, with a kind of blank/tired face that persists throughout.

The ancient-setting plot, where general and offering become lovers, intertwines with the present day via strange dreams experienced by archaeologist Jack (JC again), who perceives himself to be Meng Yi in these visitations. Jack also lives on a super-posh barge in HK's Victoria Harbor for some odd reason. Don't ask. Eventually, colleague and friend William (Tony Leung Ka Fai) turns up, asking for Jack's help in pursuing a new lead regarding levitation techniques dating back to antiquity. Moralist Jack refuses, not wanting to engage in any more pillaging of national treasures, but after token coaxing, tags along as the pair head out to the mystical land of Dasar, a dead ringer for India by any other name. There they pick up the trail and the movie's sole saving grace, busty beauty Mallika Sherawat. Although her role amounts to pittance really, she's quite the looker and stands as our only fond memory from The Myth.

Later Jack and William make it to Xianyang, site of Qin's capital, where we naturally get force fed footage of Xian's tourist cash cow, the Terracotta Warriors (Bingmayong). Additionally, new characters arrive to inject a miniscule dose of interest to proceedings, thanks in part to Sun Zhou's menacing charm (he also appeared in Emperor and the Assassin as Prince of Yan). Sun does greedy sponsor Mr. Koo (translated as "ancient" or "old", by the way), the film's only real bad guy. Intermittently, we get more flashbacks to the third century, as Meng Yi and OK Soo engage in very little ado over nothing. There's some trite fighting, tepid romancing, and that's about it. Likely you'll find the modern bits vastly livelier, but even so, The Myth is only as effective as its parts, and those all fall short. A typical example is veteran actor Yu Rongguang, used herein as a rival general in Qin's massive military, a part so brief you barely notice him.

Brainless plots can be propped up by use of clever cinematography and snazzy effects, but The Myth has none of those, looking and feeling flat compared to other entries in the field, nor does it possess anything of significant interest. It isn't a pretty movie like several of its thematic predecessors, and certainly doesn't enjoy the same imbued-with-history gloss. As a home video rental in a few months you'd be alright watching it as an excuse to kick back and down some pizza, but if we're to continue supporting Jackie's advances the guy ought to do the decent thing and authorize movies worth the ticket.

Rating: * *