Once rumored to be Jet Li's final wushu pic (period martial arts), the film had sizable expectations built up amongst genre fans to see if Jet Li would go out with a sizable punch and kick. While it's fairly conventional, Li fans were mostly satisfied with the result - a nice mix of bone-crunching action and emotional bite - which now gets a high-def scrubbing with its Blu-Ray debut.
The film is based on famed martial artist Huo Yuanjia (who died in 1910) - the Chinese equivalent of Wyatt Earp in the sense that a real person has become mythified over the years with a number of film/tv adaptations. Yuanjia founded the Jingwu school that Bruce Lee was famously a member of in 'Fist of Fury' as well as Jet Li in his remake 'Fist of Legend', and this biopic tackles the few well-known highlights of his life while effectively filling in the smaller moments.
Jet Li apparently wanted to get away from all the flashy CGI fights and excessive use of wire-fu as he and famed choreographer Yeun Woo-Ping (who directed a good Yuanjia biopic himself back in '82 called 'Legend of the Fighter') mostly approach the fights with a eye towards realism.
Ronny Yu directs, which might have raised a few eyebrows if only aware of his recent work i.e. 'Freddy vs. Jason' and 'Bride of Chucky', but those odd Hollywood horror entries were a distinct left turn from some great Chinese pics like 'The Postman Fights Back' with Chow Yun-Fat and 'The Bride with White Hair' earlier in his career.
Abandoning the stylization and grandeur of pics like 'Crouching Tiger...' and 'Hero' as well as the stuffiness, 'Fearless' goes back to the once oft-treaded basics which is now a refreshing change in pace.
The film starts off in Shanghai in 1910 as Yuanjia preps to take on four foreign challengers. With three behind him, Huo prepares to take on his most challenging adversary yet, Japanese champion Tanaka (Shidou Nakamura).
From here, the story flashes back to Huo's childhood in beautiful northern China where his father (Collin Chou, who took the Matrix 2 and 3 role Jet Li turned down) refuses to train him so Huo continues to do so anyway in hiding. Years later after proving himself, Huo becomes borderline arrogant in his skill and is hell-bent on becoming known as the territory's best fighter.
Victorious in a number of fights, much to the chagrin of best friend Nong (Dong Yong...yep) who worries about the constant fights, Huo's arrogance gets the best of him which leads to the death of a fellow fighter that also results in the loss of his best friend.
Needing to rediscover humility, Huo travels to the quiet rice farms of Southeast Asia to find himself and eventually finds peace amongst the farmers and a blind peasant girl (Betty Sun). Finding nobility, he returns to China a changed man, which has him battle the foreign fighters with both grace and skill - the battle against Tanaka being the climatic showdown.
At this point, it's doubtful to assume that this would be Li's last wushu pic (heck, it could even be argued that 'Forbidden Kingdom' is wushu), at least I certainly hope not if he continues to waste his considerable talents in films like 'The Mummy: The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'.
At 44, he's still capable of taking on punks half his age and in the realm of wushu, aging is a sign of greater skill and wisdom; grand masters at the top of their game, so I see no reason why Li can't be comfortably kicking arse for the next 30 years.
The director's cut included here goes a great deal in improving character development as well as upping the ante on the action from the neutered PG-13 American theatrical cut. Giving more life to the film as a whole, scenes get to breath as well as including whole subplots, fights and characters that were cut out (including, almost blasphemously, Michelle Yeoh! - who was cut completely from the theatrical version...).
If the only version of the film you have seen is the theatrical cut and you were underwhelmed, this director's cut should be given a chance to prove itself as its superior in almost every way.
This Blu-Ray includes the theatrical version as well as the unrated version with all three presented via seamless branching. I doubt I'll partake of the theatrical, but big-time kudos to Universal for presenting all three version of the film on a single BD-50 dual-layer disc.
'Fearless' made its high-def debut on HD-DVD almost two years ago and it looks like the same great 1080p/VC-1 encode was used here. Detail and color is outstanding and the wide, open landscapes of China look amazing. A Mandarin DTS-HD lossless aud track is provided, an improvement over the Dolby Digital+ of the HD-DVD, and it's expectedly rocking.
Special Features are a bit lacking with only a lone extra, a sixteen-minute featurette 'A Fearless Journey', with the usual cast/crew interviews and behind-the-scenes. I guess the big plus of the disc is the seamless branching of the three versions.
Most martial-arts fans responded well to the film but it certainly hasn't been regarded as a classic. And while I wouldn't necessarily call it a classic, the director's cut helps the film move closer to great from good.
Li opens up a bit more here in the thesping department and the action, while not jaw-dropping, is frequently impressive. An easy recommend for fans of Li and the genre and definitely a rental recommendation for the few underwhelmed with the theatrical cut.
Jet Li's Fearless is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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