FEARLESS

"He has to lose"

For as long as he could remember Huo Yuan Jia (Li) wanted to be a great martial arts fighter, just like his father. As he became the most skilled fighter in Tianjin, he soon became overly confidence and arrogant thinking he was unbeatable but when personal tragedy struck because of a fight, he retreats to the country to reassess his life. In 1910 the West comes to China and they quickly take over, humiliating the martial arts and the way of life. Huo Yuan Jia decides to take on their champion and prove that China has great fighters.

Jet Li stars in his self-proclaimed last martial arts epic and this time he leaves myth and legend behind to portray a real life Chinese hero.

When it comes to defining the greats of martial arts, Jet Li will be in most people's top three of all time and if this is his last epic in the genre, then he goes out fighting. The real life story of the man who brought honour back martial arts in China at a time when it was losing its identity and forgetting everything about it heritage.

Jet Li and director Ronny Yu vividly bring the story of Huo Yuan Jia to life. Chinese and Asian cinema has started to set the standard when it comes to recreating historical tales and stories, whether they are factual or fictional. After the success of films like 'Hero', 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', 'Seven Swords' and 'House of Flying Daggers', new standards were set, not just in the Far East but also in world cinema for authentic beautifully shot historical drama.

Master choreographer Yuen Woo Ping is the man behind the fight scenes again and as usual they are quite simply stunning. From Huo Yuan Jia's first fights in Tianjin to his final, four fight confrontation in Shanghai, each fight is brilliantly choreographed as you might expect but there are still problems. The main problem with some of the scenes is that you can tell that they are wire assisted. While this might not be a problem when it comes to mythical or legendary epics like 'Hero', this movie is based upon a real person and real fights so if they look too extraordinary they lose all sense of realism.

Jet Li performance as Huo Yuan Jia is one that highlights again that he is not just a martial artist but also quite a capable actor. This is a story about redemption, grief and honour with each of these emotions needs to be played with skill in order to make the character's journey believable. If this is Jet Li last martial arts epic, he has proved here that he can do more than just fight.

'Fearless' is an interesting story of early 20th century China which is only let down by some unrealistic fight sequences. Beautifully shot and expertly played, this is a film that martial arts fans will adore and everyone else will enjoy.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Hero

House of Flying Dagger

---

The Usher Home | Hush, Hush... | The Big Story | The Usher Speaks

Stuck @ Home | Coming Soon | Links | Contact the Usher

2006