A Legend
Not all of Jackie Chan's punches and kicks land in "A Legend."
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I’ve been a Jackie Chan fan ever since I was a teenager in the mid-1990s and it was Stanley Tong’s “Rumble in the Bronx” that turned me on to the comedic martial artist. The frequent collaborators have reteamed yet again for “A Legend” (now available on Blu-ray, DVD and VOD), a sequel of sorts to their films “The Myth” and “Kung Fu Yoga.”
The story itself is fairly silly. Chan is Professor Fang, an archeologist working on an excavation alongside his protégés Wang Jing (Lay Zhang) and Xin Rang (Xiao Ran Peng). They unearth a jade pendant which allows Fang and Jing to travel back in time through their dreams assuming the respective identities of Zhao Zhan and Huajun, Han Dynasty generals serving under Commander Huo Qubing (Shawn Dou). Zhan and Huajun befriend and both have romantic intentions towards Princess Mengyun (Gülnezer Bextiyar). They’re attempting to protect the Princess from Hun Prince Heboar (Aarif Rahman), who wants her for himself.
We bounce back and forth through time and touch upon the dig that’s being overseen by shaman expert Hubbard (also Rahman). A prospective romance between Jing and Rang also merits some screen time serving up the film’s funniest moments. (I was especially tickled by Rang sporting a skirt in subzero temperatures because Jing tells her she look good in ‘em.)
“A Legend” is definitely a weird flick. AI is employed to de-age Chan in the past segments – occasionally it looks awesome, but more often than not it’s awful and distracting. It’s also strange that our male leads are afforded the opportunity to play dual roles whereas the female leads are limited to one part apiece. While I liked each of the actresses it would’ve made more narrative and thematic sense to have one of them assume both roles and I probably preferred Peng.
There’s cool and fun action to be had and it’s impressive to see the 70-year-old Chan still throwing hands and kicking feet despite a lifetime of having put his body through hell … even if some of it is understandably achieved through CG, creative camera angles and doubles.
“A Legend” doesn’t live up to its title as it’s fairly mediocre. This one’s mostly for Chan die-hards only.