Archeologist Jack keeps having reoccurring dreams of a past life, where he is the great General Meng Yi, whom is sworn to protect a Korean Princess named OK-soo. Jack decides to go investigate everything with his friend William. Martial arts legend Jackie Chan stars as Jack, a world-renowned archaeologist who has begun having mysterious dreams of a past life as a warrior in ancient China. When a fellow scientist enlists his help locating the mausoleum of China's first emperor, the past collides violently with the present as Jack discovers his amazing visions are based in fact. Assisted by the spirit of a noble princess… This movie sets a strong example of what NOT to do in the various genres it tries (and fails miserably) to represent simultaneously. <br/><br/>At one moment this movie is a direct "Hero" ripoff and that is one of it's modes/story lines. At other moments it is a lame duck impersonation of Raiders of the Lost Ark or Tomb Raider. these two movie styles are juxtaposed upon each other as Jackie plays the lead hero role in both time frames. <br/><br/>In Hero-ripoff mode Jackie is totally unconvincing as a Qin general- these days he is looking far too soft paunchy and weak for the role. Too much Hollywood and not enough realism scuttle any ability of the viewer to take this part of the movie seriously. It's a bad joke. It's the same as if Will Shatner was trying to play captain Kirk today- it is embarrassing to see an old Jackie in general's armor playing this role, not inspiring.<br/><br/>The other Tomb Raider/Raiders of the Lost Ark plot mode is pointless and boring as Jackie does all sorts of implausible crap and finally degenerates into his usual Abbott and Costello/Charlie Chaplin slapstick mode to fill in the plot holes and help suspend your sense of reality. A sword fight in a temple quickly becomes farcical and simply made me want my life back instead of watching this CRAP. A lot of the same idiotic stupidity is available in a similar super-stupid early offering of Jackie's- Armor of God.<br/><br/>This movie falls flat on it's self indulgent face. These two genres could theoretically be mixed properly if you had some good people playing the parts that looked rough and tough enough to play the roles. Having a script that doesn't totally suck would help too. All I see in this movie is a lot of milktoast Hollywood decadent paunch in fake armor plodding through a crappy script.<br/><br/>AVOID THIS MOVIE IT IS A TOTAL WASTE OF YOUR TIME.<br/><br/>Little kids and retarded people will find this movie entertaining.IF you liked this and you aren't under the age of 14, please consult a physician. I saw the gala of this at the Toronto Film Fest. Halfway through the movie I leaned over jokingly and said to my girlfriend, "This is the worst movie ever," having forgotten about Weekend at Bernies 2. Fifteen or so minutes later, the guy next to me said the same thing to his girlfriend. That gives you an idea. The highlight is the 'glue scene' which is the only thing that kept this 1/4 th of a star above 0, which is why it beat out Weekend at Bernies 2. I don't know if the ending was worse than Revolver's because we walked out before it happened, and we weren't alone. Sorry Jackie, I loved you in Rumble in the Bronx and Shanghai Noon. 1/4th star should round down to zero stars, but this review thing defaults to at least 1.
Frodgar replied
369 weeks ago