The Myth
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| The Myth | |
|---|---|
 The Myth film poster |
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| Directed by | Stanley Tong |
| Produced by | Jackie Chan, Solon So, Barbie Tung |
| Written by | Stanley Tong, Hai-shu Li, Hui-Ling Wang |
| Starring | Jackie Chan, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Kim Hee-sun, Mallika Sherawat |
| Distributed by | Emperor Motion Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 11 May 2005 |
| Running time | 118 minutes |
| Language | Mandarin, Hindi, Korean, Cantonese |
| Budget | ~ $15,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
The Myth (Chinese: 神话; pinyin: Shenhua) is a 2005 film directed by Stanley Tong.
[edit] Plot
- Tagline: A legend resurrects. An epic hero rises.
[edit] Story of Meng Yi
Meng Yi (played by Jackie Chan) was a brave and loyal general serving the Qin emperor. He was sent to escort Princess Ok-Soo (Kim Hee-sun) from Korea back to the Qin capital city. Princess Ok-Soo had been sent to be the First Qin Emperor's first concubine, in exchange for the Emperor's promise not to invade and conquer her homeland.
On their journey from Korea, she fell into constant dangers. Especially from a Korean general who wanted both to save her from being a concubine and to marry her. Each time, she was saved by Meng Yi. Eventually, the two fell in love. However Meng Yi hid his feelings as he owned his allegiance to the Qin Emperor and Ok-Soo was going to be the Emperor's concubine. Ok-Soo had no such dilemma and openly displayed her feelings for Meng Yi.
Later, the Qin Emperor became very ill, but succeeded in finding the immortal elixir. Yet, the guards escorting the elixir were ambushed by rebels, and Meng Yi pursued the rebels with his troops and waged a fierce battle. He didn't know that a conspiracy was formed by the prince and the prime minister, made a coup d'etat and buried the emperor alive. Although slain in battle, Meng Yi managed to hand over the elixir to his deputy, Nangong Yan. Sadly, Nangong Yan and Ok-Soo were accused as rebels by the conspirators. As punishment, they were forced to drink the immortal elixir and were then thrown into the great mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, to live imprisoned forever. So, the Emperor, who wanted to live could not live, and Ok-Soo who wanted to die could never die.
Princess Ok-Soo declared, that she would wait for Meng Yi to return from his expedition to retrieve the immortal elixir. She is able to do so, after taking the elixir together with Nangong Yan, who protected her while awaiting Meng Yi's return. She waited for over two thousand years, living in a floating palace built by the Qin Emperor, until Meng Yi finally returns.
[edit] Story of Jack
Jack is the reincarnation of Meng Yi and works as a modern day archaeologist. He often dreams of himself as a general, rescuing a far-away princess from danger. One day, William, a friend of his who works for a secret foundation, asks for him to find a rare material as a favor. This rare material has ability to make a field of zero gravity. His travels take him to the floating tomb of a Dassar King, where he finds a sword related to his past life. Apparently, in the past life, Jack as Meng Yi fought a Dassar King over the emperor's concubine Ok-Soo. To honor this fight, the two warriors agreed to exchange their swords. So, the sword found floating beside the floating coffin of the Dassar King is indeed that of Meng Yi. Jack's pal, William (Tony Leung Ka Fai), causes some trouble in the tomb by removing a piece of rare material from a statue. This action causes the zero gravity field inside the tomb to collapse, bringing down the floating coffin and sword. When the coffin smashes to the ground, it's lid is opened and a painting of Ok-Soo falls to Jack's hand.
Jack then ends up being chased by the sect members and the police. After being left by William aboard the fleeing helicopter, Jack jumps over a high cliff into a river. He loses consciousness and drifts along the stream, until an Indian girl (Mallika) rescues him.
The girl takes him to her uncle, a teacher of Indian martial arts, who enlightens him about his past and future. During a sword match with a local warrior, Jack had a vision of the past match between Meng Yi and the Dassar King, whose body lays inside the floating coffin.
After saving Jack from the police, the girl helps him escapes back to his home. At home, Jack delivers the sword to China National Museum, as a national Treasure. This action angers the leader of secret organization, which has been funding Jack and William's adventure in search of the anti-gravitational material. The leader of this shadow organization is nonetheless the reincarnation of the Korean general, who vowed revenge to Meng Yi.
[edit] Conclusion
After extensive research, it is determined that the anti-gravitational material is indeed fragments of a meteorite that fell to Earth in the time of Qin Dynasty. Jack and William also discovered the exact location of legendary emperor's tomb, which is hidden behind a great waterfall. This massive tomb is believed to contain the largest fragment of meteorite, the power of which is great enough to enable the ancient Chinese to build a floating palace, intended as the imperial palace for Qin emperor in his afterlife.
Using state of the art equipment, Jack is able to reach the location of the emperor's tomb, where he meets Ok-Soo and Yan. The two immortals believe that Jack is Meng Yi, and greet him.
At the same time, the party of intruders led by the leader of secret organization enter the tomb. He insist Ok-Soo relinquish the immortal medicine. Yan refused the demand by stating that nothing will be taken away from the emperor's tomb. A large aerial fight begins raging between the two parties.
William, trying to collect a sample of the meteorite, pulls out a piece from a statue. His actions break the balance of the zero gravity field and the emperor's tomb collapses in on itself.
As he heads for the exit of the main chamber, Jack asks Ok-Soo to come with him. Ok-Soo refuses his offer since she now knows that Jack is not Meng Yi having heard William call his true name. Similar to a classic tragedy, she then flies back to the crumbling castle, where she holds her promise to await the return of the real Meng Yi. She does not know, however, that Jack is actually the reincarnation of Meng Yi.
Just as the villain approaches the fortress, Nangong grabbed the leader from under the steps as the staircase collapsed. In the end, they both perished.
William, who was trapped under a statue hurled at him during the fight, began to drown in the flooding hole. Jack promised that their friendship is forever before William drowned.
At the last moment, Jack escapes through the closing gate. Leaving behind his past life, this time forever. Later, back at his houseboat, it is revealed that Jack wrote a book out of his experience, which he dedicated to William.
[edit] Critical reception
In Variety Magazine, Robert Koehler wrote a generally negative review of the film:
"Resembling a story session where many ideas are brainstormed and few stick, The Myth messily reps Jackie Chan in epic mode as a contempo archaeologist drawn into a plot to plunder the treasure of the Qin Dynasty's first emperor. As part of a movement in H.K. cinema to return to the ambitious movies of yore, helmer Stanley Tong's multi-period adventure flirts with considerable entertainment on one hand and near self-destruction on the other. Whether Chan's star power will pull in enough international bizbiz is doubtful, though ancillary should flex muscles in most territories."[1]
David Nusair, writing for Reel Film Reviews from the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival, was even less impressed:
"That The Myth eventually turns into an almost interminable experience is a shame, given the light-hearted and genuinely entertaining vibe of the film's opening hour...Fortunately, The Myth contains several expectedly impressive action sequences - with a fight set within a rat paper factory an obvious highlight - although it's not long before such moments wear out their welcome. This is particularly true of an unbelievably tedious plot development towards the end, which finds all of the film's central characters forced to duke it out inside some kind of an infinite, gravity-defying mausoleum (!) Chan is reportedly looking to get away from some of the sillier films he's been churning out as of late, but The Myth certainly does not mark a step in the right direction"[2]
[edit] Box Office
The Myth was released in Hong Kong on September 23, 2005, and earned a strong HK $6,230,000 in its first three days. It ended its run with HK $17 million, making it the third highest-grossing domestic release in Hong Kong that year.
[edit] Cast
- Jackie Chan – Jack/General Meng Yi
- Kim Hee-seon – Princess Ok-Soo
- Tony Leung Ka Fai – William
- Mallika Sherawat – Indian Princess
- Patrick Tam Yiu-Man
