I was so pleased to see this movie! As a longtime Jackie Chan fan I have waited for him to arrive at a point at which he would stop trying to play young men and step gracefully into his maturity. In his autobiography, I Am Jackie Chan: My Life In Action, he said that he was unsure how his career would progress as he aged and that his agent had suggested he use special effects. Additionally, he was worried that his English was (at that time) so broken that it made it difficult for him to act in American films because he had to think so much about talking! I thought as I read his concerns that I would really like to see him change genres and go from straight action to films that incorporate action with more story and give him a chance to show off his other abilities, which are numerous! That’s exactly what this movie does.
This is an epic action film with two settings: Hong Kong and the early Qin Dynasty. Jackie Chan plays a modern day archaeologist (Jack) who dreams of having been Emperor Qin Shihuang’s legendary General Meng Yi in a former life. In his dreams he is bound to protect the emperor’s betrothed, Ok Soo. He also finds that he loves her, but as a trusted general, he is unable to act on this love. When Jack is hired to explore the tomb of the Emperor and seek the secret of immortality, he jumps at the chance to learn more about Ok Soo.
The movie is lovely to watch. Jackie Chan co-directed this film with his old friend and associate, Stanley Tong.(Rumble In The Bronx, Supercop, Police Story, and others.) A great deal of care went into sets, costumes, special effects, and of course, stunts and choreography. The scenes in the secret tomb are impressive and beautiful. This Chinese film was made on location in Hong Kong, China, and India. The scenery is often breathtaking. The movie was filmed in the languages of it’s locations and time periods (relieving Jackie Chan of the hassle of English, at least until the dubbing!) The story is a little weak, but compared with a standard action film, it is good. The movie has action, drama, comedy, and a bit of tenderness. Of course, Jackie Chan dazzles with his stunts, and makes us laugh as always, but he also gets the chance to direct, do some serious acting, show off his horsemanship, and sing!
As always, he brings the idea of responsibility into the film with the message that the treasures of a country are not souvenirs to be hauled off and displayed in the museums of other countries. In the process he shows us some of China’s treasures like the terracotta warriors of the Qin Dynasty and The Great Wall. Preserving his country’s treasures is a running theme in many of Jackie Chan’s films, and he expresses the sentiment nicely here. He talks about this more in the Special Features on the DVD. I strongly encourage you to watch the Special Features and to watch the movie with Jackie Chan’s commentary.
I was impressed by a number of things in the commentary. First, by how much Jackie Chan’s English has improved since he did the commentary for Gorgeous a few years ago! He must work on it continuously, and he really sounds excellent. Second, I was impressed by what a responsible, nice guy he is! He tells the story of how, when he saw everyone throwing their trash on the ground during lunch on location, he started picking it up, then everyone else joined in. He explains how important it is to preserve and protect the environment while filming in wild locations. He expresses concern about the welfare of the horses in scenes where they have to fall or perform other stunts. He talks about how he works with other actors to help them perform their own stunts because they will feel proud of their accomplishment! Third, I was impressed with how much fun it was to watch the movie with him! It was like watching it with a friendly, precocious teenager who is rightfully proud of his accomplishments! He eagerly explains how effects were done and why, exclaiming, “Look at what we did here!” “We really worked hard to make smooth transitions!” “See how this works? I hope the audience likes it!” Really, watching the movie with his commentary is a joyous experience, and in the end when he said, “Thank you for watching! I hope you enjoyed the movie! Bye-bye!” I found myself waving at the television set!
Aside from the commentary, the rest of the Special Features are quite interesting. Be sure to watch the Featurettes. One is your usual “making of” piece, and it gives a lot of insight into not only the making of the film but the history upon which the story is based. Then there are two music videos of the theme song “Endless Love. One is the pop version, the other is the movie version sung very nicely by Jackie Chan! Two other featurettes are a short on the value of meditation and a spot about Jackie Chan’s charitable project – building “Dragon’s Heart” schools for the many poverty stricken children of China. The meditation spot, Will The real Swami Please Stand Up? from the Life Bliss Foundation: www.lifebliss.org, was included because of the levitating yogis depicted in the movie. It is interesting, informative, and helpful! The second featurette called “Jackie’s Kids” is rather amazing. In it Jackie Chan talks about the extreme poverty in China and recounts how he began building schools, at first on his own and then with help of his friends and other donors. He has a fund matching plan wherein he and other contributors match each dollar donated. All of the money goes directly into the fund to build the schools. At the time of the filming of the featurette, Jackie Chan Kids had built 17 schools!
If you visit his website, JackieChan.com, you will find his “online diary”. Recently (September 5, 2008) he wrote about the Chinese custom of addressing an elder or influential person with a familial noun. This is a sign of familiarity and respect. Jackie Chan, is often called “Dai Goh” or Big Brother. He says that, after 30 years in the entertainment industry, he is still able to maintain a presence. He gratefully accepts the sign of respect he has earned in being called Dai Goh by those in the industry both in China and in America. He says that he understands that he must live up to this term of respect. To this end, he says he tries to always maintain an attitude of equality and fairness and that sometimes it means sacrificing what he wants for the good of others. He says that even though he started his career as a “bad kid” and consequently faced a lot of bad influences, he was able to turn himself around and now he can honestly say that he didn’t let himself, his audiences, fans, and supporters down. And so he is proud that he has earned the respect of other people and they call him Dai Goh.
As I said before, I believe that this movie marks a “coming of age” for Jackie Chan. I am glad to see him stepping back just a little bit from the stunts and showing us his many other talents and abilities. I believe that, when viewed in this light, this movie goes far in establishing him as a serious film maker. I believe a lot of fans missed the point and tried to view it as only an action/comedy. Therefore they were not so pleased with it. People who complained that this was “not the same old Jackie!” have both missed the mark and hit the nail on the head! Well, of course it’s not the same old Jackie! Everyone grows up! Not everyone matures. In my opinion, Jackie Chan is doing both quite admirably!
