Plaion Pictures 4K Mediabook Synopsis: In his dreams, Jack is the young General Zhao Zhan, who defends his country against the Huns during the Han Dynasty and falls in love with the beautiful Princess Meng Yun. While excavating a glacier, the archaeology professor discovers a jade stone that plays a crucial role in his nightly adventures. To uncover the secret behind his dreams, he and his team embark on a perilous expedition into the glacier's interior. Jackie Chan is back, and this time with double the punch. With spectacular action sequences and hilarious humor, this martial arts adventure is a true treat for fans. Stanley Tong (Rumble in the Bronx) directs the sequel to Jackie Chan's hits The Myth (2005) and Kung Fu Yoga (2017) with his signature fast-paced style. The transformation of the action icon into a 27-year-old warrior used the same technique that made Harrison Ford look astonishingly young in the last INDIANA JONES film. (139 Mins)

 

Views: Ever since it's release, fellow critics, friends and Jackie Chan fans have told me not to both with this latest Jackie Chan and Stanley Tong collaboration. Truth by told, I don't ignore anything my hero is a part of – but I'm also not a huge fan of the many projects this 'birthday sharing' duo of Asian cinema have delivered. Obviously, they certainly do have their moments – and many great ones at that – but they're never quite perfect and have gradually gotten worse as the years went on. Tong gained some experience in his younger days as a bit-part actor and stuntman on films like Red Spell Spells Red (1983), Long Road to Gallantry (1984), Winner Takes All (1984), and Magnificent Warriors, Iron Angels, Flaming Brothers, A Better Tomorrow 2 and Zen Master 6 in 1987, as well as serving as the executive director and martial arts director on the Iron Angels Trilogy (1987/88/89). But in 1991, Stanly got the chance to solo direct his own feature film – the very fun, and very hard-to-find, Stone Age Warriors starring Nina Li Chi, Elaine Lui, Dick Wei and gorgeous Fan Siu Wong. While not perfect, it was still enough to convince Raymond Chow to make him the director of Jackie Chan's box-office smash Police Story 3: Super Cop (1992) which would begin the long time collaboration between the two. These include Rumble in the Bronx (1995), Police Story 4: First Strike (1996), The Myth (2005), Kung Fu Yoga (2017), Vanguard (2020), and Project S: Once a Cop (1993) that saw Jackie cameo in drag as his Police Story character, Ka Kui, with the film playing as a sequel to Police Story 3: Super Cop following the continuation of Michelle Yeoh's much loved character. And then we have this, A Legend; the very belated sequel to their pretty enjoyable historical action-drama, The Myth...

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But wait! (I hear you say) Wasn't Kung Fu Yoga a sequel of sorts to The Myth? Well yes, in a bizarre roundabout way it was promoted as such and contained many connections to the original film. But if you look at the Wikipedia listing or IMDB for A Legend, we are now told to completely ignore what happened in Kung Fu Yoga and that it is, in fact, non-canon to the world of The Myth!

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It's at this point you just have to wonder what the actual fuck is going on in Stanley Tong's head!?! I mean, it's like he is infatuated with this story of past lives and the adventures of Jackie's archaeologist character – although if that was indeed the case, then why not give him the same name throughout all three movies? In The Myth, Jackie is known as Dr. Jack Chan & General Meng Yi, in Kung Fu Yoga it's just Jack, and here he is known as Professor Fang & General Zhao Zhan in the Han Dynasty. And to make things even more confusing – there's the Jackie Chan produced 50 episode television show of The Myth (2005) that saw Tong credited as the creative director. Bizarrely, another connection can be seen in Larry Yang's Ride On (2023). Here, Jackie plays a washed up stuntman who, with his stunt-horse, is brought back into the industry for one last hurrah. They soon find themselves on a Stanley Tong movie which just so happens to look like a big scaled sequel to The Myth – and I've always wondered, given that A Legend only came out a year later, where they actually shooting this at the same time?

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Coming in at 129 minutes, A Legend tells the tale of Professor Fang and his team who unearth an old shamanic jade pendant that, when in a meditative state, transports him and his assistant back to the Western Han Dynasty where they relive their lives as heroic Han generals. Here, they help rescue the Xiongnu princess, Meng Yun, from the Xiongnu warriors that are invading. But in reality, their past returns to haunt them, as a reincarnated warrior from Xiongnu lures them into helping him find a long-lost sacred site that holds secrets to their past; thought to be buried in time deep inside an ancient glacier. The conclusion sees Fang and his assistants fight for their lives, eventually winning the day and making it out of the glacier. Compiling his story into a book called A Legend, the professor is then seen doing a signing at a book store where director Stanley Tong makes an appearance (in what seems to be a de-aged version of himself), and a mysterious woman also approaches him – played by Kim Hee-sun, the original Korean actress from The Myth...

 

Let me start with the negatives first, and no, this film did not include any of those similarly inspired (Stanley Tong directed) scenes from Ride On (2023)! Let's be honest, A Legend was a sequel and film that no-one really ever asked for or needed, similarly to Kung Fu Yoga (2017). And much like it's predecessor, it's very loosely connected to the original source material – if not simply a remake of sorts, in the grand scheme of things. But the elephant in the room is quite clearly the use of AI to recreate the image of Jackie Chan at (specifically) 27 years old, which has left me with mixed thoughts, if I'm to be honest. The film-maker in me totally appreciates what Stanley Tong and his team were aiming to do in pushing their creativity and innovation while integrating AI with conventional film-making. It really wasn't that terrible during the action scenes, with short bursts of young Jackie's face flitting in here-and-there. But when it came to the longer scenes; such as the moments of drama and lingering shots of him out of his battle gear, it was quite obvious that this approach lacked the natural reactions and emotional depth of our much-loved action-hero. Saying that, it was still a bit better than the 'Playstation' type animation used to de-age him at the start of Kung Fu Yoga. But why they just didn't use a younger actor to play this role is beyond me! While he is a bit older than 27 and long been out of the loop since his big drug arrest back in 2014, Jackie's own son Jaycee Chan would have been the perfect person to play this role – which might just have been his perfect re-introduction back into the film world since his imprisonment. He's pretty much the double of his dad and has shown some great potential in the past, especially in the action department. Such a shame!

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But if you can get past that and get over some of the weaker plot-points, lesser impressive CG backgrounds, CG horse-action, and typical Tong traits, then you'll actually enjoy what A Legend has to offer. As with all of Stanly Tong's latest efforts, the film is slickly made and offers some genuinely gorgeous scenes and landscapes throughout. And while this was mostly filmed in China, there are a few CG inspired backgrounds that do look breathtaking in 4K, such as the final scene of a young Jackie galloping out of a glacial rainbow-coloured tunnel that sees him exit into a fantastical dream-like land. The film was beautifully captured by Tokyo Raiders (2000) director Jingle Ma, who also worked as the DOP on Jackie's Drunken Master 2 (1994) and Rumble in the Bronx (1995). Of course, 15 years earlier, he also directed Mulan (2009) with Vicki Zhao and Jaycee Chan (ironically) which had a similar period setting to this. The film also wins with it's great score and wonderful songs, with Nathan Wang utilising his music from The Myth which was a nice touch. Since then, Wang has composed the music for Chan's Chinese Zodiac (2012), Kung Fu Yoga (2017), Namiya (2017) and Vanguard (2020), as well as the Detective Chinatown series. Of course, the biggest highlight of the piece is incredible action scenes on offer, ranging from battles on horseback to slickly choreographed weapon's duals, and moments of the fantastical with a number of the major characters during it's historical flashbacks. These are handled by Jackie himself, Stanley Tong, and the great Yuen Tak who also worked on and appeared in The Myth – as well as having grew up with Jackie during his Peking Opera School days. But fans looking to see the real Chan in action will have to wait until the last 25 minutes, as most of his modern scenes as the professor are just drama-based. And, much like the two previous movies leading up to this, we get a fun throwdown in a epic looking glacial cavern that sees Jackie and company go up against the bad guys – although to be honest, it's a scene that could be easily cut-in with both The Myth and Kung Fu Yoga and no-one would know any better.

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While doubled and de-aged for the majority of the movie, Jackie Chan stills makes enough of an appearance as his modern-self for probably a third of the movie. And in that role of Professor Fang, we get that same old Jackie Chan that we've had in the majority of his works from the last 12 or 15 years, albeit for some titles that called for an outstanding role. Aside from the aforementioned end battle in the glacial cavern, which was quite enjoyable but as expected given who's involved, the most of (real) Chan's scenes are spent meeting people, explaining the set-up, and joking with his team. He is joined by Lay Zhang Yixing and Aarif Lee Rahman – his two handsome co-stars from Kung Fu Yoga, both of whom give a more memorable performance than before. As with Jackie's character, Zhang plays two roles; the first as his assistant Wang Jing and the second as his brother-in-arms Hua Jun, another general of the Han army. It's here that we get to see this Exo K-pop band member deliver some fantastic moves and take part in a lot of great action scenes. Likewise, the lovely Aarif Lee doubles-up also with the majority of his performance delivered as the brutal Xiongnu warrior, Heboar, before coming in again for the last act as a reincarnated version of himself to race Jackie to the prize. Aarif made quite the splash back in 2010 when he starred as the Little Dragon in Bruce Lee, My Brother and has a had a healthy acting career since, and made a cameo in Jackie's Ride On just the year before this. All are joined by actress Gulnezer Bextiyar, Li Chen, Shawn Dou, Max Huang, and Jin Qiao Qiao from the Jackie Chan produced Legendary Amazons (2011), with the wonderful Ray Lui making a guest appearance as a poorly tribe leader.

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Jackie Chan's A Legend isn't actually as terrible as many critics would have you think, and generally coming across as a beautifully made historical epic overall. Granted, I totally get why fans and viewers alike are bemused and upset with the results of the younger Jackie Chan, but it's really not a deal breaker when you focus on all the better things about it and as long as he keeps making films with Stanley Tong, this is the direction it's going to go. As a director of 7 features myself, albeit no-budget independents, I understand the work involved and appreciate the time and energy that goes into any film – but I'm not blind to the issues present in some of them. I'm just a 'glass half full' kinda guy! Whether it is taken as a stand-alone film or semi-sequel to The Myth doesn't really matter – the majority of viewers and critics will no doubt tear it apart because of that one mistake. But will Stanley Tong ever learn from his mistakes? I very much doubt it and we'll no doubt see another time-hopping adventure from him in the near future, with the legend that is Jackie Chan!

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Overall: While it carries many obvious flaws and is hardly unique in it's story, A Legend still keeps us entertained with it's beautiful scenery and highly exciting fight scenes!

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Plaion Pictures 4K Mediabook Extras: Cast & Crew Greetings, Music Video, Trailers