Dir. Stanley Tong. HK-China.2005. 118mins.

The Myth is a misfire from three stalwarts of the martial arts genre: JackieChan, his long-time collaborator, director/screenwriterStanley Tong, and co-scenarist Wang Hui-ling,screenwriter of Crouching Tiger, HiddenDragon. An enthusiastic attempt at the Indiana Jones model, it has neither the pace, the tone nor the dialogue to accomplish themission.

Shotmostly in Mandarin and Cantonese with some English and Hindi, the filmuncomfortably tries to straddle several markets. It has found some favour within the forgiving Chinese market - the fightscenes should pass muster - but US audiences will not have the patience for itsnearly two-hour running time, let alone the subtitles. Home video should mirrortheatrical.

The filmopens in China's distant past as the Korean consort of Emperor Qin Shi-huang is under escort bythe emperor's trusted warrior General Meng-yi (Chan).The entourage is attacked by the forces of a rival prince and Meng-yi fights seemingly to the death to protect his charge.

But thisis all a dream: a recurring dream, it seems, of Jack (also Chan), a Hong Kongarchaeologist - and a stunningly successful one, given his vast waterfronthome, complete with sliding rooftop driving range.

EnterJack's friend William (Leung Ka Fai). Says Jack:"You're a physicist, I'm an archaeologist. How can I help'" William invitesJack to join him on a quest for the secret to anti-gravity, said to be heldwithin a mythical gem within a Hindu temple in India.

Ofcourse, when they get there, the local swami is making a show of his powers,one of which includes walking on air. It's ridiculously easy to find the gemstonebut in snatching it they cause the collapse of the temple - and the swami. (It'shard to imagine this sequence impressing Indian audiences. Perhaps theappearance at this juncture of Indian star Mallika Sherawat as Jack's rescuer is some kind of appeasement.)

Certainly,her presence seems beside the point until the film finally finds space for thegag set-piece Chan's public expects: in this case, a nicely choreographed chaseacross a fly-paper conveyor belt in a glue factory. This requires Chan and,more important, Sherawat to disrobe piecemeal tocreate an escape route across the stickiness.

Ah, butwhat about the general' Tong and his screenwriting colleagues don't find arhythm for their inter-era travel to bridge the gap between Chan's two roles.When the action shifts back to the general, who has somehow survived and isbeing cared for by the consort (Korean star Kim Hee-seon),it's very hard to care - especially when the worlds collide.

Thedenouement transpires in a mystical place known as the Heavenly Palace - wherethe consort has been waiting to be reunited with General Jack - and Jackfinally realises what was apparent from beginning:that William is duping him. Only the truly committed will be paying attentionby this stage.

All ofthis could be forgiven if the film had found a way to make this story work forChan. The mannerisms that make him effective in blockbuster roles such as Shanghai Knights - the happy-go-luckyglibness, the cheesy double-takes - are fine for archaeologist Jack but theyclang within his performance as the general, a role which demands some genuineacting.

Even ifChan's abilities were up to the challenge, the rest of the film is too facileto comfortably support inclusion of emotional moments.

Productioncompanies
JCE Movies
China Film Group Corp

HongKong distribution
EMP Distribution

Internationalsales
EMP Distribution

Executiveproducers
Jackie Chan
Albert Yeung
Willie Chan
Yang Bu-ting

Producers
Willie Chan
Solon So
Barbie Tung

Screenplay

StanleyTong
Wang Hui-ling
Li Hai-shu

Cinematography
Wong Wing-hang

Productiondesign
Oliver Wong

Editor
Yau Chi-wai

Music
Nathan Wang
Gary Chase

Maincast
Jackie Chan
Kim Hee-seon
Tony Leung Ka-fai
Mallika Sherawat
Sun Zhou