Fearless Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

Fearless

This, apparently, is Jet Li's last pure martial arts film. What the 43 year old will do from here on out is unclear but at least he's quit while still in good enough shape to go out with an interesting film.

For the first hour Fearless is everything you want from a martial arts film. The fights are tightly packed together with only a little space left for plot and character. The fights are coreographed by the great Yuen Woo Ping, best known in the US for The Matrix but reknowned among Kung Fu movie fans as the director of, among others, Iron Monkey and Drunken Master. Here his coreography is graceful but hard hitting, it flows beautifully but remains largely grounded with only minimal use of wires and CG.

Even as he approaches his mid 40's Jet Li is still a breathtaking martial artist, his speed really is awe inspiring and, crucially, you believe he could best each of the fighters he comes up against.

What Jet Li isn't, though, is a great actor and this hurts the second half of the films. Huo goes into exile and learns some life lessons and here the pace flags badly as the fun of the fights vanishes and the whole thing becomes rather po faced. Even on his return home much time is eaten up with worthy speeches before the ineveitable last reel showdown.

Ronny Yu returns to China for this film and it looks just as good as his Hollywood work and the fight scenes retain all Yu's customary style but he too seems a little lost when the films slows down in the middle.

If you can retain patience and interest over the half hour of, essentially, waiting time in the middle of the film then this is a decent finish to Li's martial arts movie career, fight wise it's often brilliant but if you simply want to see a great Jet Li movie start with Once Upon a Time in China or Hero.

An inspiration

This movie is not just an simple story of a martial artist. It is a biography, an inspiration, a valuable lesson and a way of thinking and behaving in life. Martial arts are synchronised in perfection and the environment is perfectly equilised with the story’s narration. Take your time to read the subtitles allowing yourself to ‘live’ the moments. It is worth watching for those who enjoy mental stimulation, adrenaline and purity in romance.