A LEGEND – Review

I’ve been such a huuuge Jackie Chan fan for so long I never pass up one of his releases, even though he’s been largely coasting on fumes for a while. In his prime, no one from ANY country crafted and executed scintillating action with comedy and charm like he did. But he turned 70 last spring (April 7, for those who want to celebrate his next birthday), and understandably can’t do what he did in front of the cameras, despite the amazing degree of agility and stamina he still has after so many years and so many injuries.  Just what’s been recorded in the legion of outtakes during decades of credits would have killed most mortals – including the dudes from those “Jackass” programs.

A LEGEND is a dramedy that dives into historical fantasy, as present-day archeology professor Jackie pursues ancient artifacts in a mostly wrap-around format, with elaborate staging of ancient battles between the Han Dynasty and the Huns, all triggered by finding a key relic from that era. Jackie and his students have the same recurring dreams about those ancient events, in which they looked exactly like several of the main figures. A much younger-looking Jackie was a general for, of course, the good guys. Events of the two periods are paralleled, as the quest for a hidden treasure-filled, power-granting cache drives both eras’ plot-lines.

The story is rather stale and much longer than it needed to be. It runs over two hours for maybe 90 minutes worth of content, with too much exposition dragging down the pace. But several battle scenes are epic in scale, backed by some gorgeous art design. In those major clashes, there’s considerably more blood and gore than in most of Jackie’s films. There’s also considerable CGI mastery in the mix, NOT including whatever they did to make Jackie look young in the historical sequences. Joan Rivers’ plastic surgeon delivered a more realistic appearance than what he got.

Throughout the film, most of the action, drama and romance are carried by Jackie’s handful of rather bland young co-stars, with relatively little of the Jackie we’ve all admired. But in the climactic sequence, he’s back for a typically frenetic fight with fast action and some of his signature comedic reactions. Patience with all that went before is rewarded… at last.

Several lyrical scenes rival the likes of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON for color and scope. One might enjoy this even more by fast-forwarding through chunks of dialog for undiluted focus on the good stuff.

A LEGEND, in Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles, is available on digital Bl-Ray or DVD from Well Go USA starting Tuesday, Jan. 21.

RATING: 2 out of 4 stars