San wa (2005)

Director:

Stanley Tong

Writers:

Hai-shu Li (writer)
Stanley Tong (writer)

Release Date:

23 September 2005 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Loyalty | Meteorite | Waterfall | Chinese | Martial Arts

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Jackie Chan	...	General Meng Yi / Dr Jack Chan
Hee-seon Kim	...	Ok-soo
Tony Leung Ka Fai	...	William
Mallika Sherawat	...	Samantha
Ken Lo	...	Dragon
Rongguang Yu	...	Zhao Kuang
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ram Gopal Bajaj	...	The Guru
Min-su Choi	...	General Choi (as Choi Min Soo)
Jason Chong	...	Jack / General Meng-Yi (English Revoice)
Hayama Go	...	Tiger
Kumman Gopakumar	...	Dasar Policeman
Leon Head	...	Dr. Smith
Sasidharan Nair Sajith Kumar	...	Dasar Guard A
Biju Kumman	...	Dasar Policeman
Sunil Kumar Kumman	...	Dasar Guard B
Maggie Lau	...	Maggie
Jing-kei Liang	...	Governess (as Liang Jingke)
Xuetong Li	...	Curator
Karimbil Nidheesh	...	Dasar Policeman
Sudhanshu Pandey
Bing Shao	...	Nangong Yan
Qiao Shun	...	Eunuch
Zhou Sun	...	Mr. Koo
Patrick Tam	...	General Xu Gui
Ken Wong	...	Rebel General Meng Jie
Wei Xing Yao	...	General Shen
Tak Yuen	...	Dasar Monk (as Richard Hung)
Jianzhong Zhang	...	Official

Also Known As:

Shen hua (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
The Myth (International: English title)
Time Breaker (Hong Kong: English title) (working title)
Titanium Rain (Hong Kong: English title) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and some sensuality. (edited version; previously rated R for some violence)

Runtime:

Philippines:117 min | Hong Kong:122 min | Canada:118 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

China | Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin | Hindi | Korean | Cantonese | English | Malayalam

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Taiwan:PG-12 | Indonesia:Dewasa | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Singapore:PG (theatrical) | Philippines:PG-13 | Hong Kong:IIB | Malaysia:U | Germany:16 | Australia:M | USA:PG-13 | South Korea:12 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Anjanadri Hill, Hampi, Karnataka, India

Company:

China Film Group

Trivia:

Jackie Chan was stabbed in the arm while filming a stunt.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the first sword fight, Jackie's character accidentally impales his opponent, at an angle upward through his back. Upon the camera moving away and then back, the sword is suddenly through his opponent's stomach, completely level.

Soundtrack:

Endless Love

Two halves not adding up to a whole

The Asian movie producers have been churning out medieval swordplay-movies at high rates these last few years. Many of them of a high quality at that. So no surprise then that the demands put on the quality of those films have increased along with their numbers.

This is not your average swordplay-movie. Rather this is half "Hero"-like medieval battle/romance and half Asian "Indiana Jones"-like present day action. Jackie Chan has a part to play in both eras, and he does a reasonably good job although the present-day character seems to be more his style.

I didn't enjoy this movie very much, i can say that right away. For me it had several problems that over-shone the entertaining aspects. First of all the split between medieval time and present day was unfortunate. Not least because they were like two completely different movies in style. While the medieval part was serious and heavy with concepts of honor and love, the present-day part was more standard Jackie Chan-fare. He was running around kicking and fighting while doing acrobatics, all this mixed with slapstick comedy. The contrast between these two styles became too much for me to accept.

The directors ambitions were what bothered me most about this whole project. It seems to me like he wanted to make something he could neither afford nor handle. He wanted to transcend the time-scale and the genres, and when he was done he ended up with two halves that didn't make a whole. And those halves were not that great to begin with. The special effects feel half-done at times, and some of the medieval battles look downright awful. Cutting techniques and low-grade CGI are used to try and spice things up, but it doesn't really help. Also the movie felt to me at least 30 minutes too long - a feeling that was getting stronger when in the end of the movie we lapse into a few minutes of what is basically a music video that shows flashbacks to earlier scenes...

In my opinion the present-day part of this movie would have been enough. An Asian version of Indiana Jones starring Jackie Chan is a great idea to begin with (and it's not a brand new one either, remember "Armour of God" and "Condor"?) and it would have been enough to support this film. As it is now we get short but enjoyable pieces of present-day action mingled with slow and many times dreary medieval parts. Not recommended.

5/10