Thoughts on Jet Li's Fearless

Starting to feel like the review of our movie's been officially scrapped...

:(

I thought the same exact thing about Li as the "young master". You could practically see the pain in his face as he grinned as wide as he could, non stop for the first 30 minutes or so. It hurt...

I'm not all that well versed in his life, but from what I read in a WikiPedia article on him (take that as you will), the film took a good deal of liberties with the events of his life - namely the death(s) early on. These were the emotional highs of the movie, so if they are a bit of a stretch then they do lose a little authenticity. Still a surprisingly inspiring film.

Nathan Jones' fight definitely was a let down from his work in Tom Yum Goong, but man just seeing him on screen makes me happy. I don't see why Fox didn't just cast him as Juggernaut and save a ton in effects.

Great Review. Loved the movie. Thanks!

Your review has some misunderstanding, probably due to language issue?? Jet was not playing a goofy young master. The first part was when he was younger but still in his 30s with a small daughter. I enjoy him playing that cocky fighter tremendously, much like he played the bad guy in LW4 and The One. And I agree that Jet Li does not get the credit he deserves as an actor and the undeniable screen presence and the ability to convey volumes.

Nope, I got that and I liked the cockiness and swagger of the younger phase it was when he went for goofiness with the little girl that I had some trouble. For all of his enormous skill I just don't think Jet does physical comedy well at all.

You mean the little girl who played his daughter. Yes I hate that scene too the little girl wasn't even cute but it was only a two second scene. It really doesn't warrant such a bad review on his 'goofiness'. It wasn't meant to be any physical comedy. Comparing to FOL is also unfair, FOL was not well received in Asia and Jet had to close his production company after that because general audiences just did not like that kind of filming style. Moreover FOL was twelve years ago. I just hope you guy doesn't overplay his so-called retirement. I really don't want to see him go, he is best in period piece, and there are many Chinese historical hero he can play. I hate to see some non MA star pretending they can wield a sword, its so fake and they do not have the aura of a warrior. Remember Jackie Chan was still at career height when he was Jet's age.

How on earth do you figure comparing Fearless to Fist of Legend is unfair? Same star, same action director, and for all intents and purposes Fist of Legend is a continuation of this story. Same time period, same political situation, Jet's playing Huo's top disciple, and the events of Fist of Legend are triggered by the events at the end of Fearless. It's a fantastic point of comparison ... you really can't ask for better unless he goes out and makes another one directly about Huo himself.

And we're not the one's saying he's going to go, he's saying it himself and has done so repeatedly. Unless he has a major change of heart Fearless is his final wushu picture.

And when Jackie was Jet's age now he was making First Strike, Mr. Nice Guy, Who Am I and Rush Hour. Not exactly top flight stuff, though not truly horrible yet, either. Jackie's best stuff happened in 94 / 95 when he would have been three years younger (I believe) than Jet is now. It's been a steady decline in his skills since then and if Jet feels that he is cresting the wave and would rather pack it in than make his equivalent to The Tuxedo then I can't really blame him. I'd love to see Jet keep making a-list stuff but the body does slow down eventually ...

this movie rocked. would love to see the longer version someday but.

I disagree with the comment about his acting comical in the beginning. From what I understand of the story and the character, he played that part like a father goofing off with his child like any parent would. When not with his daughter, he played his character outside of his family life as being overly competitive in an arrogant fashion. On my part, I felt he did a great job and has come a long way as being more than just a martial art/action star. He's proved he has a lot more than that. Jet Li's advantage over other guys like Jackie, Donnie, or a Wu Jing is that he's not only charismatic to watch on screen but he is a better actor. But, you are right that he isn't convincing as a youth. Perhaps when the subtitled version is released, people can get a better understanding that he wasn't trying to be comical.

I recently created a english subtitle file for this film using a couple of files floating around and some help from friends.

http://www.joshuapettigrew.com/Other/FearlessEngSubs32206.zip

Let me know if this file can be improved.

Kennywong, good post!

There is still ten years in Jet before he made 'Tuxedo'. He only said he has talked everything about wushu (spirit side) in Fearless, so he has nothing more to say about the subject. I think the media has taken everything out of context.

Fearless was absolutely one of the best movies ever made. The fighting scenes were just brilliant and Jet Li's acting was excellent whether he was playing a cocky character or not. I don't understand why you people are criticizing his acting. Tell me, what parent doesn't goof off with his or her toddler? It's a parent instinct and who said anything about him trying to be a comedian. No one said that he was trying to be the next Stephen Chow so there is absolutely nothing wrong with him being father like. Not to mention the little girl was cute and what is so wrong with acting goofy? Fearless sends out a moral to people and so does Jet Li through all his movies. Just because there's one or two scenes that people don't like doesn't mean that the whole movie is crap. It was a brilliant movie with great acting, morals and excellent stars so good on you Jet. I just want to know why you had to die. My mum and I had tears springing to our eyes!

Fearless was absolutely one of the best movies ever made. The fighting scenes were just brilliant and Jet Li's acting was excellent whether he was playing a cocky character or not. I don't understand why you people are criticizing his acting. Tell me, what parent doesn't goof off with his or her toddler? It's a parent instinct and who said anything about him trying to be a comedian. No one said that he was trying to be the next Stephen Chow so there is absolutely nothing wrong with him being father like. Not to mention the little girl was cute and what is so wrong with acting goofy? Fearless sends out a moral to people and so does Jet Li through all his movies. Just because there's one or two scenes that people don't like doesn't mean that the whole movie is crap. It was a brilliant movie with great acting, morals and excellent stars so good on you Jet. I just want to know why you had to die. My mum and I had tears springing to our eyes!

fearless was a really good film but we understand that he wanted to do it in his own language for his last film.
the fighting scenes was brilliant

It's all subjective! Jet is still the best even now that he's older! Fist of Legend was undeniably great with real-time fight scenes, but the fight scenes in Fearless were also awesome.