Fearless
05-06-2006, 11:00 AM
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Fearless
Jet Li's Best and Last Film, April 11, 2006
Reviewer: Shirlyn Wong "The Hippo" (New York, NY)
"Fearless" directed by Ronny Yu, is based on the life of legendary martial artist, Huo Yuanjia. Played by Jet Li, Huo Yuanjia was a highly publicized figure in Chinese history because he defeated several foreign fighters and was known for bringing pride to the Chinese during a time of Western Imperialism.
"Fearless" describes the life of Huo Yuanjia from when he was a little boy eager to get into fights; to his mastery of the martial arts in his adulthood. As a child, his ultimate dream was to become the number 1 fighter in his town of Tianjin. Throughout his life, he was challenged to many matches from fighters across China and continually won each bout. Although his greediness for physical superiority comes to an end when he realizes he has very little control of his life outside the ring. After a depart from fighting, Huo Yuanjia takes many years to come to terms with his martial art skill and realize what responsibility and power it truly holds.
By the early 20th century, foreign fighters from Russia and England made open insults to the Chinese calling them weaklings because of their fear to accept challenges by foreign fighters. During a fight in Shanghai, Huo became famous for the only fighter to accept a challenge by Hercules O'Brien. He won the fight and became the pride for the Chinese people during Western Imperialism. Within that year, he also founded Jing Wu Men martial arts school. It is this school, Jing Wu Men, where the movie "Fist of Legend" (1994 also staring Jet Li) begins. Many have stated that "Fearless" is the prequel to "Fist of Legend" because it tells the story of Chen Zhen, the pupil of Huo Yuanjia.
"Fearless" is a beautiful closure to Jet Li's kung fu film career. It is very beautifully shot with a strong storyline that continues through from beginning to end. The fight sequences are orchestrated by Yuen Wo Ping (Hero, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) and has a great mixture of Chinese martial arts with Western boxing and Japanese sword play and open handed fighting. It is very rare to see this mixture of styles so well cheorographed in a film.
Furthermore, the film pushes Jet Li's philosophy of martial arts. Jet Li's goal in this film was to convey his idea of what he believed "wushu" is (translates martial arts). In a press release, he describes the word "wushu" by breaking down the character "wu". The word is made up from the words "spear" and "to stop". Jet Li explains that these two words describe a balance of both fighting and peace. So the story of the film focuses on obtaining the skill of peaceful fighting. "Fearless" conveys this philosophy of martial arts without cutting back on the demonstration of true skill. Jet Li does his best performance and it is clear that he put his heart into this film.
Buy this DVD. It is a awesome if not best Jet Li movie. This is my favorite Jet Li Movie followed by Fist of Legend.
Great Story with great fighting scenes. I give it 4 Stars.
Reviewer: Shirlyn Wong "The Hippo" (New York, NY)
"Fearless" directed by Ronny Yu, is based on the life of legendary martial artist, Huo Yuanjia. Played by Jet Li, Huo Yuanjia was a highly publicized figure in Chinese history because he defeated several foreign fighters and was known for bringing pride to the Chinese during a time of Western Imperialism.
"Fearless" describes the life of Huo Yuanjia from when he was a little boy eager to get into fights; to his mastery of the martial arts in his adulthood. As a child, his ultimate dream was to become the number 1 fighter in his town of Tianjin. Throughout his life, he was challenged to many matches from fighters across China and continually won each bout. Although his greediness for physical superiority comes to an end when he realizes he has very little control of his life outside the ring. After a depart from fighting, Huo Yuanjia takes many years to come to terms with his martial art skill and realize what responsibility and power it truly holds.
By the early 20th century, foreign fighters from Russia and England made open insults to the Chinese calling them weaklings because of their fear to accept challenges by foreign fighters. During a fight in Shanghai, Huo became famous for the only fighter to accept a challenge by Hercules O'Brien. He won the fight and became the pride for the Chinese people during Western Imperialism. Within that year, he also founded Jing Wu Men martial arts school. It is this school, Jing Wu Men, where the movie "Fist of Legend" (1994 also staring Jet Li) begins. Many have stated that "Fearless" is the prequel to "Fist of Legend" because it tells the story of Chen Zhen, the pupil of Huo Yuanjia.
"Fearless" is a beautiful closure to Jet Li's kung fu film career. It is very beautifully shot with a strong storyline that continues through from beginning to end. The fight sequences are orchestrated by Yuen Wo Ping (Hero, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) and has a great mixture of Chinese martial arts with Western boxing and Japanese sword play and open handed fighting. It is very rare to see this mixture of styles so well cheorographed in a film.
Furthermore, the film pushes Jet Li's philosophy of martial arts. Jet Li's goal in this film was to convey his idea of what he believed "wushu" is (translates martial arts). In a press release, he describes the word "wushu" by breaking down the character "wu". The word is made up from the words "spear" and "to stop". Jet Li explains that these two words describe a balance of both fighting and peace. So the story of the film focuses on obtaining the skill of peaceful fighting. "Fearless" conveys this philosophy of martial arts without cutting back on the demonstration of true skill. Jet Li does his best performance and it is clear that he put his heart into this film.
Buy this DVD. It is a awesome if not best Jet Li movie. This is my favorite Jet Li Movie followed by Fist of Legend.
Great Story with great fighting scenes. I give it 4 Stars.
05-11-2006, 12:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Dunk'sDad,May 8 2006, 10:19 AM
I always figured that Jackie Chan would retire before Jet Li...I think Jet Li's in his early 40's, and Jackie's at least 50.
i was going to raise that point in my first post actually. jackie chan's so old now that he no longer does all his stunts 
05-15-2006, 02:28 AM
#6
Originally Posted by mooshy_sushi,May 7 2006, 06:40 AM
thats it!? hes done making films!?
05-20-2006, 10:03 PM
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Awww man
Most of his Hollywood flicks have been less than stellar which is sad b/c the man is amazing. It just puzzles me how with such grandiose budgets we never saw a truly amazing Jet Li flick from Hollywood?
Most of his Hollywood flicks have been less than stellar which is sad b/c the man is amazing. It just puzzles me how with such grandiose budgets we never saw a truly amazing Jet Li flick from Hollywood?
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05-23-2006, 04:43 AM
#8
Jackie Chan and Jet Li are suppose to be doing a movie together. Kind of skeptical of how it's going to turn out, but still can't wait to see it.
To stay on the topic, I thought "Fearless" was a pretty good movie. The story line was pretty good.
To stay on the topic, I thought "Fearless" was a pretty good movie. The story line was pretty good.
