I like Jackie Chan. I really do. I have seen several movies starring Jackie Chan and they all seem to have a certain feel to them - the feeling that the story was written to set up situations that allowed for Jackie Chan's unique style of high-intensity, yet comedic, martial arts choreography. This style was definitely present in The Myth (or San Wa, as it is known in China), but it seemed to me that these scenes fit the story well and that the story was driving the movie, more than just Chan's athleticism. This may have had something to do with the historical scenes, where Jackie Chan plays a general in a Chinese army. In these scenes, he is dressed in armor and still fights very well. I guess part of the difference may be that when you see fighting like this in a movie such as 300, it's accepted as amazing warriors from that time period, whereas when you see this sort of thing in modern day, it's unexpected.

The story of The Myth is, "An unforgettable journey through time," as the DVD jacket puts it. I would have described it as, "A heroic love story that spans the ages." Jack (Jackie Chan), a world-renowned archaeologist who has stayed out of the field for ten years and claims several times in the movie that, "I'm no tomb raider," has begun having dreams filled with intrigue and adventure and centered around a beautiful woman from China's history. As the story progresses, it becomes apparent that these are not just random dreams, but actually memories from a past life, as the details he dreams of are geographically and historically accurate. In the story unfolded in Jack's dreams, a beautiful courtesan was given to a Chinese emperor and General Meng-Yi (also Jackie Chan) was placed in charge of protecting her. In the long journey to deliver her to his liege, she falls deeply in love with General Meng-Yi, but their love is, of course, forbidden. Back in the present, Jack's friend and associate William (Tony Leung Ka Fai) is greedy - not for money, per se, but for fame; he wants to be the world's most renowned scientist and, as such, tends to take archaeological finds from their resting places to study them, against Jack's wishes. When the people that fund William's research want him to investigate a tomb for artifacts that reportedly enable levitation, to help with his anti-gravity research, William uses Jack's recent dreams to convince him to help to get into the tomb. Adventure, and of course comedy, ensues.

The only thing about The Myth that I didn't like was that the default settings are for Chinese audio and English subtitles, so the first time I watched it, I watched it with subtitles, not realizing that I could have watched it in English. Truthfully, however, I didn't find the subtitles to be very distracting, and some of the dialogue was English, even in the Chinese Audio track.

The final part of the movie features a special effect based around the concept of an ancient culture having discovered a way to produce an anti-gravity field and having found a way to achieve immortality. While this last part does have some very obvious computer-generated effects, it provides an environment where fights choreographed with wires are more easily accepted.

I found the cinematography to be well done, and the action in The Myth to be a nice balance of comedic fight sequences reminiscent of earlier Jackie Chan movies and more believable fight sequences taking place in history. I especially liked the way that transitions were handled when shifting between the present and the past; there was always a similarity to the scenes, easing the transition, while still making it quite obvious that you're now in a different time period. I found The Myth to be very enjoyable and would recommend it to fans of Jackie Chan.