THE MYTH is a typical, by-now-patented Jackie Mix® of gag-filled fights, cornball period melodrama, hamfisted plotting to accommodate two attractive, fawning female co-stars and inconsistent pacing. Plus, the visual effects that are helping the 51-year-old Chan pull off his feats of daring are becoming increasingly obvious, at least in the first two-thirds of the film. This is normally not a bad thing, since everybody know's he's not crazy enough to do what he did 15 to 20 years ago, but as the effects are clearly INTENDED to make us think the stunts are completely real, their visible nature only makes one wish he'd just surrender himself to the CG world once and for all like most action stars.

Thankfully, that's EXACTLY what he does during the film's stunning final 20 minutes, set inside an ethereal, computer-rendered, gravity-deficient Imperial burial chamber (for which thousands of real-life buried terracotta warrior statues were only a diversion, according to the film's plot), as Chan, concubine Kim Hee-sun, Big Tony Leung and an assortment of bad guys led by Shao Bing indulge in some fanciful, gravity-defying fights on and around thousands of silent, FLOATING Qin Dynasty soldiers, horses and wagons protecting an enormous staircase leading to the Emperor's burial palace. The CG work in this sequence is exceptionally well done, although Chan purists will still likely balk that they were used at all, and yet, for once, the story in a Jackie Chan film builds to a sequence that simply couldn't be done justice by on-set props and wires.

Early on in the film, there's a giddy fight pitting Chan and Secondary Babe® Mallika Sherawat against the cops on a sticky conveyor belt in an Indian rat glue factory that effortlessly transports the viewer back to Chan's heydey in the mid-80's to early 90's. Indeed, barring the ending, which could leave viewers excited or indifferent depending on their overall tolerance for Hong Kong cinema and Chan in particular (personally, I loved it), THIS fight will probably be considered one of Chan's most entertaining concoctions in recent years, as the combatants lose more and more clothes to the glue beneath their feet!

There's also a decent battle early on when Chan and Leung, searching for the groundbreaking secret to levitation, disturb an ancient, floating Indian sarcophagus that sham holy men have apparently been using for decades to convince the commoners they have Divine powers, the exposure of which leads to a fun donnybrook in, on and around the fallen casket.

The performances from a diverse ethnic cast are on on par with those seen in other recent Hong Kong productions starring Chan, like Accidental Spy and Who Am I, among others: sincere but forgettable. Korea's Kim Hee-sun is given a relatively thankless role, suprisingly reminiscent of her performance in BICHUNMOO, that requires her to do little to do apart from fawn over protector Chan and scream his name in watery-eyed fear with the onslaught of each new set of foes, while India's Mallika Sherawat, hardly Kim's equal in acting, walks away with a far more memorable and spicy performance, no small thanks to Chan including her in the film's fanciful Indian market chase and fight sequence, one of the highlights prior to the final reel.

It's likely THE MYTH will face trims if it's to garner serious theatrical play outside of China and Hong Kong, the markets for which it was largely intended. Tighter cohesion is necessary. The presence of the girls will give it a shelf like in Korea and India and greater Asia, and it's certainly better, and more heartfelt, than some of Chan's recent offerings like WHO AM I? and THE ACCIDENTAL SPY (though nowhere close to NEW POLICE STORY), but it seems more likely headed to a premium DVD release on North American shores.