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Fearless (2006)

Director: Ronny Yu

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From Time Out London

Billed as Jet Li’s last martial arts epic and his swansong to wushu, this proficient if prosaic period picture never quite ascends the heights of Li’s ‘Once Upon a Time in China’ nor affects the visual splendour of his more recent ‘Hero’, but it at least feels authentic and full-blooded. Loosely based on the life of martial arts master Huo Yuanjia (Li), whose famed Jingwu fighting school Bruce Lee attended in ‘Fist Of Fury’, the film begins in 1910 with Huo taking on three out of four foreign fighters in a Shanghai competition before flashing back to his beginnings as the son of provincial Chinese champion. Humiliated in a scrap with a local bully, the young Huo vows never to be defeated again, devoting himself to emulating his father, although any subsequent success is blighted by an overwhelming arrogance and inner torment. Following a family tragedy, Huo flees to the countryside, learning humility and respect through his friendship with Moon (Sun Li), a blind woman in a small farming community, eventually returning home to found his Sports Federation and begin the call for all China to reunite against the influx of Westerners and their values.

Li’s fans shouldn’t feel short-changed by the varied and plentiful fight scenes which, in contrast to, say, ‘Kung Fu Hustle’’s CG-enhanced chopsocky, rely less on major wirework and effects trickery than on bone-crunching action, celebrated action director Yuen Wo Ping’s crisp choreography and Li’s quick fists and feet. Yu, back from his Hollywood sojourn with ‘Bride of Chucky’ and ‘Freddy vs Jason’, is less successful, however, in dealing with his star’s limited emotive abilities, the message-heavy script’s melodramatic philosophising and a sappy ending.

Author: Mark Salisbury 2006-06-20 09:54:03

Time Out London Issue 1870: June 21-28 2006

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anonymous said...

Posted on Mar 20 2008 00:51 "melodramatic philosophising and a sappy ending"? anything to back that statement up? what exactly is MELOdramatic about the philosophic themes touched upon by the film (taoism, confucian ethics, buddhism)? what exactly is sappy about the ending? it underlines the message of the movie, it sums up its philosophy and it simply fits.
"limited emotive abilities"? i think you do not know asian cinema well enough to judge this. the film expresses many of jet li's personal ideas (check out his site) and thus is - even as he himself stated - a rather personal one for him. thus, if he chooses to present his emotions in a certain way in such a context, his depiction is the most realistic one there is.
it is uninformed claims and broad judgements like this that give movie critics a bad name.

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