This movie is available for purchase at www.edaymovie.com

Rating:

4.5

Year of release: 2005

Genre: action

Director: Stanley Tong

Action directors: Jackie Chan, Stanley Tong, Yuen Tak

Producers: Willie Chan, Solon So, Barbie Tung

Writers: Stanley Tong, Wang Hui Lung, Li Hai Shu

Cinematography: Wong Wing Hang

Editor: Yau Chi Wai

Music: Nathan Wang, Gary Chase

Stars: Jackie Chan, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Kim Hee Seon, Yu Rong Guang, Ken Lo, Maggie Lau, Patrick Tam

Rated IIB for violence and disturbing imagery

DVD Information

Company: Joy Sales

Format: widescreen

Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin

Subtitles: English, Chinese

Extras: trailers, making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes, director's commentary, highlight reel, deleted scenes, music video, premiere footage

Notes: One of the better HK DVDs I've seen in quite a while. The 2 discs have a good deal of extras that are actually subtitled and the film itself looks and sounds great.

Related links:

Jackie Chan biography
Movie Review index
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The Myth

Jackie Chan's last few films haven't with that much success, either from critics or fans. Unfortunately, The Myth isn't going to do anything to stop the seemingly inevitable decline of Jackie Chan's mega-star status. To its' credit, the movie looks great and there are quite a few action sequences, several of which are up to Jackie's usual high standards.

Sadly, though, most everything else falls flat, starting with the film's pacing. Clocking in at over two hours, The Myth feels much too long for a Jackie Chan movie, especially since there are several scenes and characters that could have easly been lost in the editing room. There's also some really lousy CGI displayed here, most noticeably during some of the stunts, which tend to kill both the excitement of the stunt itself and the momentum of the scenes surrounding it.

More damningly, there's just no soul displayed during the proceedings (which is a bit ironic, since the plot concerns an archeologist who keeps having dreams about a past life). There's just simply very little of the fun or thrills one expects from a Jackie Chan project. After seeing this and efforts like The Medallion and The Tuxedo, one has to seriously wonder just how long Jackie Chan can keep working in the business. For someone that has long been promoted as one of the toughest guys working in action films, it seems like an injury won't kill him, but the embarassment of appearing in sub-standard efforts like The Myth just might.