The Myth (2005)
The Myth (simplified Chinese: 神话; traditional Chinese: 神話) is a 2005 Hong Kong—Chinese martial arts fantasy-adventure film directed by Stanley Tong, starring Jackie Chan, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Kim Hee-sun and Mallika Sherawat.
Plot.
Based during the Qin dynasty, general Meng Yi (Chan) is tasked with escorting Ok-Soo (referred at times as “Concubine Li”) (Kim), a Korean princess, back to China to serve as a concubine for Qin Shi Huang, in an attempt to strengthen diplomatic relationships. Along the journey, a Korean warrior (seemingly her fiancé) attempts to seize her back, but Meng Yi saves her. Meng Yi protects Ok-Soo through their journey back, while Ok-Soo tends to his wounds. In the process, she begins to develop feelings for him but Meng Yi, while apparently harboring similar feelings for her, steps back, reminding her of her purpose of becoming a concubine in the interests of her people and successfully completes his mission. The Qin emperor becomes critically ill later and sends Meng Yi to find the elixir of immortality, the only thing that can save his life. Before leaving, Meng Yi discreetly confesses his feelings to Ok-Soo, stating “my heart belongs to you forever,” and Ok-Soo vows to await his return. The guards escorting the elixir are ambushed by rebels on the orders of the treacherous prince and chancellor.
Meng Yi hands over the elixir to his deputy, Nangong Yan, before dying in the ensuing battle. Although Nangong Yan manages to bring the elixir to the emperor, the prince and chancellor trick Nangong Yan and Ok-soo to test the validity of the elixir and force them to consume the elixir, condemning them to imprisonment in the Qin emperor’s mausoleum for eternity.
In the present day, Jack, an archaeologist (also Chan), is Meng Yi’s reincarnation, and he often dreams about his past life. One day, his friend William invites him on a quest to find a rare material that can create a field of zero gravity. They travel to a floating tomb of a Dasar prince in India, where Jack discovers a painting of the princess he has been seeing in his dreams. Jack also learns that during a mission to the Qin Empire, the Dasar prince brought treasures and women as gifts. In return, the Qin emperor offered him one of his concubines and asked him to choose, but refused when the prince chose his favourite, Ok-soo. Instead, the Qin emperor gave him a painting of Ok-soo and the Qin Star Gem.
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William removes a strange black rock from a feline statue, and accidentally collapses the zero gravity field holding up the tomb, resulting in its destruction. William manages to escape, but Jack leaps off a cliff and falls into a river. He loses consciousness and drifts along with the current until he is saved by Samantha, an Indian peasant girl. Samantha brings Jack to see her uncle, a Kalaripayattu (Indian martial art form) guru, who tells Jack to take the sword he found and fight with one of his students. During the fight, Jack has a recollection of a duel he had with the Dasar prince in his past life, and briefly recovers his fighting skills from his life as Meng Yi. Samantha’s uncle enlightens Jack about his past and future, and Jack succeeds in returning home safely, and he delivers the sword to the National Museum of China as a national treasure. His action angered Professor Koo, the leader of the syndicate that has been funding Jack and William’s treasure hunt.
Box office, Home media.
The Myth was released in Hong Kong on 23 September 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, and overseas for a worldwide total of $120 million. On 4 May 2009, the DVD was released in Cine Asia in the United Kingdom in Region 2. Another version, including “An Introduction to Cine Asia Featurette”, was released later in the United Kingdom on 28 February 2011.
Critical response.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 20%, based on reviews from 5 critics, with an average rating of 3.9/10. Styna Chyn, from filmtreat, wrote: “Even though Jackie Chan did not direct “The Myth,” (Stanley Tong), he did produce it; and his creative input echoes throughout this genre-bending action film. Shot in China, Hong Kong, and Hampi, India, “The Myth” is a comedy of epic proportions. Combining historical fantasy, martial arts, and science-fiction, Tong’s film follows archaeologist Jack (Jackie Chan) and scientist William (Tony Leung Ka-Fai) on their adventures in investigating the veracity of a myth involving immortality, levitation, and a Korean princess-turned-concubine for Emperor Qin towards the end of the Qin Dynasty.”
David Cornelius, from efilmcritic, gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote: “Once again, it’s time to lament that while Jackie Chan has spent the past few years churning out mostly mediocre-or-worse flops like “Around the World in 80 Days” or those damn “Rush Hour” sequels in Hollywood, he’s also spent the same time flying back home every now and then to make some darn-good-or-better flicks that, sadly, remain mostly unseen Stateside because they’ve been unceremoniously dumped onto DVD by the studios that pick up the rights to them but then never really bother to do anything about it.”
