The myth

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Movie
German title The myth
Original title Shénhuà
Country of production Hong Kong
original language Cantonese
Publishing year 2005
length 118 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Stanley Tong
script Stanley Tong
Li Hai-shu
Wang Hui-Ling
production Solon So
Willie Chan
Barbie Tung
music Nathan Wang
Gary Chase
camera Wing-Hung Wong
cut Chi Wai Yau
occupation

The Myth ( Chinese  神话 , Pinyin Shénhuà , Cantonese  San4 Waa2 ) is a Chinese film with Jackie Chan that was released in 2005. The film was released alongside the standard film releases along with The Huadu Chronicles: Blade of the Rose and Rob-B-Hood on the DVD Best of Amazia - Jackie Chan .

action

About 2000 years ago, General Meng Yi was ordered to accompany Princess Ok-Soo from her homeland to the Qin Empire. There she should become the concubine of Emperor Li in order to maintain and strengthen the friendly relationship between the two empires. On the journey, they are attacked by a general from the princess' homeland, who claims them for himself. Meng Yi defeats the general in a duel and saves the princess. Meng Yi protects her on the way back to China , but Ok-Soo has to save his life several times. This is how they both fall in love. Ok-Soo shows her feelings for Meng Yi, but Meng Yi hides his because Ok-Soo is promised to the emperor and he is loyal to him. After an arduous journey, they reach the Qin Empire.

The Emperor of Qin is very ill, but was successful in finding the pill of immortality. The escort carrying the pill is ambushed by the rebels. On behalf of the emperor, Meng Yi rushes to the aid of the trapped with his troops and tries to save the pill of immortality. However, he has no inkling of the conspiracy of the princes and the prime minister and so Meng Yi also falls into the trap. Before falling in battle, he gives the pill to his deputy, Nangong Yan, who takes it to the emperor. But Nangong Yan and Princess Ok-Soo are accused by the conspirators as rebels and forced to take the pill of immortality. So the emperor dies and Ok-Soo, who doesn't want to live without Meng Yi, can never die.

Jack, a modern archaeologist of the present, sees himself in his dreams as General Meng Yi, who is supposed to protect the princess. One day his friend, the physicist William, asks him for help. Jack is said to support him in his research on weightlessness, because Jack wrote a report on a myth about the floating sarcophagus of an Indian Dassar king. Jack reluctantly supports William, fearing that William is planning a grave robbery in the name of his research .

You can enter the tomb unnoticed, where you will find the floating sarcophagus and a floating sword . Jack is intrigued by the inscriptions on the bottom of the sarcophagus, as they suggest that his dreams have a real background. In search of the cause of the floating sarcophagus, William breaks a strange stone from the decoration of a statue . Then the sword and the sarcophagus fall to the ground, whereby the lid of the sarcophagus opens and Jack discovers a painting of Princess Ok-Soo in the lid.

William steals the sword, the mysterious stone and the painting of the princess from the grave. Jack and William are hunted down by the believers and police for desecrating the sanctuary, but only William manages to escape by helicopter. Jack, who keeps the pursuers at bay, has no choice but to jump over the high cliffs into a river as the chopper is pelted with stones by the pursuers and has to turn. He drifts unconscious in the stream until the Indian princess Samantha rescues him. Samantha leads him to her uncle, a teacher of the Indian martial arts Kalarippayatu . During a sword fight with a warrior, Jack has a vision from the past of a fight between Meng Yi and the Dassar king. He also realizes that he is the reincarnation of Meng Yi.

After Jack is tracked down by the Indian police, Samantha helps him escape. Back in safety, Jack gives the sword and the picture to a museum , which arranges for the return of the items. During the handover, Jack and William get into an argument, as William claims the find for himself, but Jack generally condemns grave robbery. Disappointed, William turns to his former professor Koo. Jack and Koo are enemies since Jack publicly accused him of grave robbery.

After analyzing the stone made of foreign material, which can actually cancel gravity, it turns out that it is a fragment of a meteorite that fell to earth at the time of the Qin Dynasty . Behind a waterfall, Jack and William, who has reconciled with Jack at Koo's behest, discover a large cave. The tomb of the Qin Emperor is believed to be in this cave. Jack enters the cave alone, but Koo, led by William, is already on his heels. Since they don't want to repeat Jack's daring abseil action through the waterfall, Koo's people blow their access to the cave free. Jack, who has already explored the cave further and has stumbled upon the entrance to the grave, passes out from the shock wave.

Ok-Soo, who lives forever and was locked in the grave with Nangong Yan, thinks Jack is Meng Yi, for whom she has been waiting for over 2,000 years, and brings him inside the grave. Since the largest fragment of the meteorite is located here, the entire structure floats. When Jack wakes up, he sees Ok-Soo in front of him. But the joy of having found Ok-Soo only lasts for a short time, because Koo and his people enter the burial chamber. Koo, who is only interested in the pill of immortality, is stopped by Nangong Yan, who defends Ok-Soo and the pill, while Jack fights Koo's minions in weightlessness.

William, who stayed at the entrance, tries to get more fragments of the meteorite. Jack gives one of the henchmen a push, which accidentally triggers a safety device for the grave and the grave begins to collapse. Jack, who defeated the henchmen, rushes to the aid of Ok-Soo, who is threatened by Koo after he defeats Nangong Yan. Jack and Ok-Soo flee to the exit. Koo ignores the collapsing grave because he is only fixated on the pill. Nangong Yan does not give up yet, but attacks Koo again and pulls him to his death.

At the exit of the cave Jack tries to help William, who was trapped when the trap was triggered, but can no longer save him. Ok-Soo learns that Jack is not Meng Yi and refuses to leave the grave with Jack. The princess wants to continue waiting for Meng Yi, because she does not want to accept that Meng Yi fell in battle and that her waiting was in vain, especially since he promised to return to her before he left. Jack manages to escape from the grave before it collapses completely.

At the end you see Jack who published a book about this myth and dedicated it to it out of mourning his friend William.

criticism

The Lexicon of International Films rates the film as “a furiously staged action spectacle by the well-established duo Stanley Tong (director) and Jackie Chan (actor), which juggles virtuously with two levels of time. The lustfully staged action adventure primarily draws on well-choreographed fights. "

Cinema, on the other hand, saw a “pompous saber rattle, stiff costume belt, but unfortunately too little of Chan's typical kung-fu slapstick acrobatics. The only real fun is the fight scene on a sticky assembly line - including an involuntary striptease by Bollywood bombshell Mallika Sherawat. "

Awards

Hong Kong Film Awards 2006

  • Nomination in the Best Film category
  • Nomination in the category Best Action Choreography for Jackie Chan, Stanley Tong, Tak Yuen
  • Nomination in the category Best Original Film Song for "Endless Love"
  • Nomination in the category Best Visual Effects for Wendy Choi, David Tso

Publications

The film has been released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc . Four versions are available on DVD that differ in terms of equipment. The rental or pure version only contains the film. The special edition contains two versions of the song Wujin De Ai ( 無盡 的 愛 , English Endless Love  ) on a second DVD - one in Mandarin Chinese by Sun Nan and Han Hong and one in Mandarin Chinese and Korean by Jackie Chan and Kim Hee-sun. There is also a making-of and several clips with “behind the scenes” information. A limited edition of this is also available, which also contains the DVD “My Stunts” by Jackie Chan. There is also the Premium Edition limited to 5,000 copies in the Steelbook, which, in addition to the bonus material of the Special Edition, also contains another DVD with additional background material and interviews with the cast and the director. The version of the Blu-ray Disc corresponds to the Special Edition of the DVD.

series

In 2010, a television series based on the film with the same title was produced in China. The story of the 50-part series has only a little to do with the film, as it is more about a real time travel than a reincarnation. Jackie Chan was one of the producers.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Myth. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 23, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ^ Review , Cinema