Okay, what exactly does it mean that this is “Jet Li’s Final Martial Arts Movie”? Uh, did I miss something? Considering all of Jet Li’s movies been martial arts related or at least he has been kicking people in them does this mean he is going for dramatic roles next? Or, are we calling films like Unleashed, Cradle 2 the Grave and Lethal Weapon 4 not martial arts movies because the actual movie wasn’t of the martial arts genre? My guess is Jet is going to continue round housing fools in movies, but he felt a special connection to this storyline and it is going to be the last movie he makes based solely on martial arts. That said, it really is too bad it wasn’t a better movie.
I had high hopes for this pic based on the fact that I love Jet Li and the story seemed especially intriguing, but the story proved to be too big for a feature film. At least the story the filmmakers wanted to tell. Fearless tells the life story of martial arts legend Huo Yuanjia (Li) and it begins from his childhood to the day he passed away. Although he means no harm his lifelong journey to become the greatest fighter in his home region of Tianjin. He is inspired by a dream to never back down from anyone, but he allows his obsession and fame to go to his head. His rise to the top ultimately ends in shame and personal tragedy and he then wanders the countryside in search of where he went wrong, but in the beginning it seems as if he has gone off to die.
Ultimately his journey becomes more than he could have ever imagined as he uses his fighting to fight for his country as opposed to fighting for himself as he goes on to form the Jingwu Sports Federation.
The story is a great one, but the mere size of it and the way in which director Ronny Yu went in telling it seems a bit disjointed. There are too many lulls in the action and then several times the action seems a bit ridiculous. Aside from a scene where Huo takes on the monster white guy that Tony Jaa recently fought in The Protector one scene where he fights high above the ground there is a ton of wire work involved which really takes you out of the realism of the film. On top of that the acting and dialogue is a bit stale.
Fearless is in no way a bad film it just isn’t a great one, it just doesn’t stick with you once you leave the theater. Several of the fight scenes are amazing and the story itself is inspiring it just is a little too big for the filmmakers that took it on. In the hands of a director such as Zhang Yimou or Ang Lee it might have found more meaning, and on the epic side I would love to see what a director such as Ridley Scott would have done with this material. Unfortunately Ronny Yu doesn’t seem ready, perhaps he should just stick with the Freddy vs. Jason caliber films.
