A review by Nasri

Being a Jackie Chan fan and having a movie that is suppose to be epic in proportion, I was intrigued to watch the movie long after it was released.

It starts off well. With the opening scene of the Concubine Li and General Meng (Jackie Chan) first hitting it off whilst he is trying to save her from her death. The romance is still well, but the emotions are not explained as much except duty for country.

The Jackie Chan touch is still there. The fighting chronograph was done well. And his moves are as slick as before. You can get the usual good laughs of the fights as always.

But then the special effects used in the movie is more than necessary, climaxing to the point that even a horse can be fighting. The script is not well-developed as the touching scene in the ending lost its impact when General Meng lost his horse.

The relationship of the mythical anti-gravity stone to be found in India and the China is far-fetched but no explanation why his dream leads him there and why are the sword of a Qin General ends up being at king’s tome. And how did the levitation as a source of religion and the ancient India Dapar martial art link together? I really was looking at more explanation but the story went back to China.

The epic scene is not as high-tech as the Hollywood version where the numbers are massive and the fights are realistic. The battles here are staged and fake. Each warrior does not seem to be fighting as real as it can be. The real fight is always at the camera and if you look at the background, you will notice the fakeness.

In conclusion, the movie does have a few good laughs and the slickness of Jackie Chan’s moves and comedy. If you are looking for epic battles, you will be disappointed. Good thing I did not watch it on the weekend.