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September 22, 2005
JACKIE'S NEAR-MYTH
Reviews are in for Jackie Chan and Stanley Tong's recent collaboration and they seem to agree that it's close, but no cigar.
Elizabeth Ng at The Star says it's "basically an empty promise". You can read the full review here.
Variety seems dismissive but states that the flick "ranks far above such previous botched Chan-Tong adventures as "Jackie Chan's Police Strike" and "Rumble in the Bronx," and that it marks one of Stanley Tong's rare foray into period movies. It's actually his only "foray". You can read the full review here.
There's also some more favorable review on the Asian Cinema Discussion board over at the Mobius Home Video Forum.
September 22, 2005 at 10:06 AM in Reviews | Permalink
Comments
PLS MAKE PART TWO OF THE MYTH MOVIE, A CONTINUETION PART THAT THE PRINCES IS CARRIED OUTSIDE AND SEES THE 20TH CENTURY.
Posted by: roca robin | Dec 27, 2005 9:45:49 AM
I've been reading many posts and all of them seem to be missing the point: that the film is going between one lifetime and another, with a love that cannot be.
Many people are mad because the love wasn't a happy ending, therefore deeming it an incomplete, shallow and "unbalance " film because they can't face the fact that not all stories are "happy endings".
The other "unbalance" part of the film that people can't seem to grasp are the scenes going between his present and past life: they think it's poorly done, not well developed, etc...etc, when i think that they don't pay enough details to what the story is trying to build and because they can't handle the mental connections of both scenes, they deem it "bad directing" and "developement"....
Many people just keep on thinking that jack as the gen. of his past life is obsess/having an affair in the story, when in actuality, he was trying to protect her in order to safely escort her back to the safety of the dying emperors land--and in the process, happened to silently fall in love with her. But he knows his duty, and doesn't try anything, but only his best and loyalty to his position and emperor. In no way does that represent an "affair" the way some people depict it in their reviews: as if they were going behind the emperors back and covorting...
All in all, i thought that the film was good, you have to delve deeper than what's on the surface, like the psychological aspect of it, instead of trying to take everything as it is on the cover, thinking that people can't act enough. People, this is a bittersweet love story, which explains her restraints as she tries to hold her feelings in as well as does jack as the General. That doesn't mean they're bad at acting...
Well, I like the film, it was good, the cinematography was beautiful, the music poignant, and the actresses/actor were great.
One more thing, the reason that India was part of the film, if some people would pay close enough attention to the developing story from the beginning, is because it was said that emp. Qin had given it as a gift to the indian's...therefore they were there searching for it there in India...meeting up with the indian actress starring in the princess role. This area of the film focuses on brigning more details and developement about the character of jack as the general in his past and another peice closer to solving his flashbacks.
In general, people just don't pay enough details to the storyline, which is understandable if you at least attempt to look deeper than the shallow pools of physical fight scenes to satisfy your thrist for giving meaning to the film or a happy ending that represents reality:not everything is happily-ever-after.
Posted by: *myth* | Feb 13, 2006 2:11:40 AM
i agree. Some people write weird and plain silly stuff when they don't look at the content, and if they did, they don't pay much attention to the details in order to connect the story line. i find the movie good, even if it's not happily ever after or whatever. that's life.
Posted by: hahaha...agree | Feb 13, 2006 2:16:00 AM
yeah. prt 2 would b nice...haha...but i still like the film
Posted by: part 2?! | Feb 13, 2006 2:19:11 AM
Thank you! I've read film reviews and I did not understand why they were trashing it. I found the movie to be well made and the connection of the past and the present were well exlpained. The scenaries were extraordinarily beautiful and the princess is stunningly beautiful! Jackie's General character is as loyal as you expect a good general to be... No difference from what you've seen Western film like Alexander and Troy. I don't like the fact that he is loyal to an emperor who is famous to be cruel and ruthless to his subjects and families. I wish he would listened to the princess and ran away with the princess. After all the chaos and time passed, no one would have thought that they were still alive. They could have lived happily ever after somewhere far far away. But he is loyal because of his upbringings and being in the emperor's army all his life and following the traditions. That probably had cost us our "happy ending" right there but it makes the "myth" more compelling because now it needs to wait for thousands of years to complete. Even though it is hard to believe the princess is still alive after thousands of years. The storyline naturally worked because this is the emperor who was obsessed in building the Great Wall, a tomb with the terracotta warriors and a mausoleum to protect his life on earth as well as his life after death. After all, the emperor conquered and united China at the age of 34 and in his life time, he did look for medicine which will make him live forever numerous time (and so did most of the Chinese emperors following his footsteps). So, it is not out of the blue that such medicine ended up keeping the princess alive forever and it was ironic that Jackie's General character actually sacrified his life to get it. In a way, I wished the priness would have left the mausoleum with Jackie's archeologist character. But then, this kept the story in line with the title - "the Myth", For the audience who had gone through the adventure with the characters, we know that everything is "truth"! But to others, it is still a "myth".
Posted by: thank you! | Apr 23, 2006 10:12:09 PM
DEFINITELY SHOULD MAKE A PART 2...THIS MOVIE WAS GREAT!
i don't know why people are disliking the movie...i think that this was one of the best movies i have ever seen and i think that there should be a continuation to this movie
Posted by: D00T | Apr 30, 2006 6:15:43 PM
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