The Myth

Image credit: Bluray.com

One of the many things that I love about cinema is its universality and the fact that popular traits and trends can cross the globe and settle in another country’s movies. Sometimes this migration works very well… and then sometimes it doesn’t, like last night’s pick: The Myth.

The film tells the story of archaeologist Jack (Jackie Chan) who is troubled by vivid recurring dreams in which he is an ancient general sworn to protect a princess named Ok-Soo. Despite recording his dreams in a journal, Jack is not driven to find answers to these dreams until an expedition with a scientist friend of his goes awry and he discovers there might be such a thing as past lives.

Made in 2005, The Myth is a classic example of Chinese cinema taking multiple leaves out of Western blockbusters’ books, trying to copy what’s popular. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, in this movie it doesn’t seem to have been done with any real understanding or sense of pace and, as a result, the movie suffers from this jagged plot pace that just doesn’t work.

Image credit: Conventionpan

The story itself is fine, though certain aspects of it are somewhat questionable, irritating, and/or pointless, with the film beginning as one story and then somehow developing a secondary plotline midway though (which I’m still slightly confused about). Mediocre characters and martial arts sequences populate the scenes, predictably but seamlessly transitioning from the present to the past in what can only be described as a cringing, wannabe epic fantasy puddle.

Despite its obvious flaws, there is a slightly humorous undertone to the film when we consider that Chan’s character chastises tomb raiders and people who deprive natural museums of their own cultural artefacts in a film that borrows pretty heavily from Western culture and doesn’t really have a feel of cultural authenticity. At the end of it all, I have to say that I was confused by this movie rather than entertained.

Director: Stanley Tong, 2005

Cast: Jackie Chan, Bing Shao, Weixing Yao, Hee-seon Kim, Min-Su Choi, Tony Ka Fai Leung, Maggie Lau, Leon Head, and Zhou Sun