Fearless - A Grand Film that the old school fans will LOVE

[Guest rindge]

Folks, maybe it is me, but I have not seen any reviews of Fearless on this board. I just did a search and not much came up. Well, I just saw the movie and was blown away. I'm surprised by A. how good the film is and B. why no comments on the film by this esteemed group. Let me focus on item A.

1st let me say that I am not much of a Jet Li fan. I enjoyed Fist of Legend and Romeo Must Die (don't laugh, but I thought it was an enjoyable film), and Danny the dog (fighting only, the acting and plot were blah, but not many of his other films. I thought Hero was extremely overrated and used too much wire fu. That being said I went into this film thinking I would see a lot of wire fu - boy was I surprised. Wire fu, yes. Over the top - HELL NO.

This is the fourth movie I have seen with some variation of the Jingwu school. By far I think it is the best. Legend of a Fighter was my all time favorite, followed by Fist of Legend, and pulling up the rear was the film by Mr. Bruce Lee. With this film, my ranking has changed and Fearless goes to the top of the class.

Fighting: All of you old school cats (myself included) will enjoy this movie. As I watched the opening sequence I literally sat in my seat thinking the old action guys (Tang Chia, the Liu brothers, etc) would love this film. The opening scene was crisp. Great moves, Great pacing, great variety, and minimal wire work. I kept thinking that the old masters who directed the classics from the 80's would sit back and say "that's the way it should be done". I guess I should not be surprised that Yuen Woo Ping was the action director. That cat is still on top of his game. The fights throughout the rest of the film are also very good. After the opening scene the wire fu, picks up, but once again it is not over the top like Hero or Crouching Tiger. This movie brought back the essence of what we have not seen since the Shaws were rocking back in the 80's.

Acting: Okay, I am not a film critic, but we all know the bets films combine both great fighting and good acting. Once again, not being a big fan of Jet Li, I think he did a very fine job. Jet seemed to be a little "off" in the movie - sort of like how Fu Sheng is often portrayed. His mental capabilities seemed be not 100% there and he what seemed to be a little twitch. I assume this was part of his acting job. Jet pulled this one off very well. I don't think I have seen many Ronny Yu films - didn't he do the one about the fighting rabbits, gnomes, etc. If so, crazy ass film, but great fighting. Back to Jet and the other actors. Jet's childhood friend also did a fine job, but make no mistake Jet carries the films and not just with his fighting. His acting chops seemed to be quite fine tuned for this films. Can he take it to other genres? Not sure.

Plot: Typical legend of a fighter / fist of legend plot. It seems like part of the movie was cut. What happened to Jet's pops? The movie goes from Jet as a kid pounding his hand on the granite - which is probably why he is a little "off" in the movie - to being a man. No explanation on what happened to his father, how he learned kung-fu, or why he is slightly off. Anyway, the transition from kid to man was poorly handled. Legend of a Fighter handled the transition much much better. Does anyone know if something was cut? The other thing that was questionable is the time he spent in the mountains with the villagers - I understand why, but it didn't quite flow. Nonetheless petty complaints. Was it me or did anyone else pick up on the Killer constable type ending with the blind girl - I bet you Ronny was influenced by Killer Constable. The ending scene from Fearless is almost a 100% copy from Killer Constable.

Scenery: Who the hell comments on scenery? Me. One of the things I thoroughly enjoy about the Shaw films are the faux scenery. The beauty of these films shot in China is that they make full use that country's natural beauty. For me it was a plus.

Questions: were the subtitles true to the words being spoken? I am trying to learn Mandarin via Pimsleur, so I don't know much, but the subs did not seem to match the spoken word - at least not for the few words I understand.

So in summary - this films ranks up there (in my book) as one of the best martial arts films ever. Films like 8 diagram pole fighter are what I consider true classics. This films is in the same category. You can't beat a martiala rts films with an old school feel on the big screen with sub titles.... I hope others see the film and find it as enjoyable as moi. I look forward to comments from others.

Rindge

[Guest Chen Zhen]

this movie has been out in HK since like February..theres been tons of reviews and topics about it...the search feature on ezboard is, in fact, useless.

glad u liked it tho, its an exceptional film, and one of jet's best.

[Guest jmungus]

forgive me for not reading your contribution, for reasons CZ would already mention.

just today i ran into a guy who had recently seen fearless for the first time as well and he would say, and i quote, that it was nice for him to see that level of character development in a kung fu movie; but the setup with the historical background was a @#%$-up for the cartoonish fights that ensued.

Crouching tiger was by contrast set up as a fairytale and incorporated the super human action in a natural fashion. This film did not. It was interesting to see chinese preconceptions about us instead of the other way around for once though....... and he gave it 3 of 10 :x

:lol

[Guest Chen Zhen]

:lol

[Guest The Running Man]

You know...I would love to go one whole month while reading an article, review, comment, etc... on an Asian action film that doesn't use "wire-fu". Just once.

Once.

It's the stupidest term to have been invented since "chop-socky".

Anyway, as been said, there's been playing of talk on this film on the forum before. You just have to manually search it through the pages as the search engine sucks.

As for the film, I was sadly disappointed. It was good, but the movie had no soul in it. Sure, you see a lot of these dramatic scenes in the film, but they mean very little since the film doesn't have anything that builds up to them. It's no coincidence that Ronny Yu was "advised" to cut 30-40 minutes from the film. What exists are a bunch of fight scenes that happen almost one after another but everything in the middle comes across as empty and cliched. That's cause all of the meat of the film was almost entirely taken out so then now you are left with very little weight.

It's really sad to see this because I honestly believe that if what was taken out was put back in it could have easily been a masterpiece. As the current version stands it is nowhere near a masterpiece. It's simply a good movie with astounding action scenes. For most films that would be great...but for this film that seriously had far more potential than that it is a disappointment.

I only hope that the director's cut be released on DVD.

[Guest DragonMa55]

A director's cut is getting a release towards the end of the year from what I've heard.

[Guest jmungus]

It's the stupidest term to have been invented since "chop-socky".

sooo true. but much worse than chop socky imo.

with the chop 2 the sock, ive learned to accept and use it like ie the black community would take the n-word, claiming exclusive 'ownership', reverse its meaning and use it in their own ways.

wire-fu on the other hand i couldnt manage to accept yet; especially when used to describe the entire late 80s-to mid 90s era/catalogue of movies i prefer to call 'new wave'; or even worse- say wire-fu and mean anything with that type of action in it, completely distorting the lines between ie fearless, matrix & moon warriors.

fine by me if s/o uses 'wire-fu' to describe one particular segment in a fight, but thats about as far as it can go, if u ask me :b

A director's cut is getting a release towards the end of the year from what I've heard.

yeah, surf kfc and learn more about it (the kfc article also links to a nice off-site ronny yu interview. with the original statement bout the upcoming hk release of the fearless DC, as well as info on yu`s upcoming project, the adaptation of the [way cool !!] action laden vampire-anime feature 'blood: the last vampire')

[Guest Chen Zhen]

ive learned to accept and use it like ie the black community would take the n-word, claiming exclusive 'ownership', reverse its meaning and use it in their own ways.

truest story ever told right there.

[Guest BKarza]

So far, I've only seen the non subbed version. Not really a problem.

I found it to be quite interesting, then drop off to being alright in the end. Agreed it looked great. The shots of the the town were something else. The camera was back and angled in such a way as to be able to truly see the size of that place.

I saw the fights via youtube first and that turned out to be a bad thing. I didn't know that all of the fights were for the most part were in the beginning! I found him really interesting when his character was cocky, loud. He's never really played that type. It felt so fresh. I liked it. DtD and then this. BUT, when he changed and the times changed, it felt just like the Wong Fei Hong OUaTiC stuff. Add to the fact that the hair and clothes were the same and...it felt the same.

Fights. No comment now. Hot. Cat I know really liked the sword battle in the restaurant. I thought that was very tight as well.

I can't see where another 40 minutes will make it better. Seems like it will just make it 40 minutes longer. Michelle Yeoh, olympics, one of the worst thai fights done ever, + what? I didn't find it that deep. To add time and still not be that deep is...

Well a smart person can create moneymaking opportunities by putting it out that the movie was cut. Folks will obviously clamor. You release theater version first. Folks buy. THEN, boom, "hey we're going to release a director's cut". Mo' money, mo' money, mo' money.

Yes, Yu did the "Rabbit" movie. I knew the title 3 seconds ago. Someone will look it up.

In the end I liked the look of the film, the fights and the first part/half were his character was interesting.

[Guest The Running Man]

I can't see where another 40 minutes will make it better. Seems like it will just make it 40 minutes longer. Michelle Yeoh, olympics, one of the worst thai fights done ever, + what? I didn't find it that deep.

+what? + character development, building up of moments, etc...you know, all those things that actually make great movies great.

You really think the deleted footage simply consists of just Michelle Yoeh, Olympics, and a fight scene you don't like? It's obvious from the existing version that development has been cut out almost entirely. I know this because I can feel that the necessary beats the movie is acting is if it has are missing and that effects the movie severely. Ronny Yu even commented this himself and even Jet Li is not happy with the current version.

As it is now, it's just a collection of awesome action held together by a half baked story. And when I mean half-baked, I mean that it has an interesting story to tell, but it lacks bridges to it's moments and thus, I can't really care much to what's going on. And sadly, this current version of the film just will keep giving the genre in general a bad name to those that want to believe that martial arts films, or action films in general, don't care about story or characters and ti's just all about action. And that's sad since this movie really was above that I can feel it watching it.

[Guest rindge]

Karza, glad to see you senjoyed the flick. I highly suggest watching it on the big screen with the subs - a great experience.

I might like to see the gap filled in (assuming it is) between him going from childhood to manhood and how his pops died. If they can't fill that void I'm not sure 40 minutes more of story with minimal fighting will ad to the film. As you can tell by my post I walked out of the theatre stoked. Reminded me of the "good ole days".. I have not felt that good since I walked out the 1st Matrix movie...maybe Yuen Woo Ping has an effect on me...LOL

Peace

Rindge

[Guest limubai2000]

I really liked the film alot even with the heavy editing to remove the 40 minutes.

I can see why Jet Li called this his final wushu film as it really does a good job at exemplifying what martial arts is really about from a spiritual perspective. By having the fight scenes predominately in the beginning and taper off at the end it reinforced the fact that he (Jet Li) did learn that fighting in itself was not important.

I can only think the 40 minutes will restore more character development and story to the film. It would be nice to see Michelle's scenes and possibly her narration.

I did like that the leaps and some kicks were emphasized but not totally overdone. This lended the film more story credibility in my eyes than Hero or CTHD (gasp!), though the later is really a fantasy love store at it's core. I did not think the fights were cartoony, if you want cartoony fights then go see DTG as those look like they were lifted right out of a comic book, and they are well done for that style as well.

but the setup with the historical background was a @#%$-up for the cartoonish fights that ensued.

He obviously didn't see DTG yet.

I, like rindge saw the film on the big screen back in March on the big screen with subs and was really moved by it. Again seeing it here in the USA I was moved and now that I've studied the DVD a few times the film still continues to impress me especially the care given to teach the spiritual side of martial arts.

[Guest Chen Zhen]

absolutely loved this film. even with the hefty 40 min cut, this film really connected with me...which is just unheard of for a kf flick made as late as 2006. even if this was the final cut, im still very impressed.

[Guest shaolindogpaw]

i loved the film to. I've seen both the subbed and dubbed versions and there isnt a big difference. Each convey whats going on the screen well. This movie actually made me like Jet more and i went back and rewatched a bunch of his older movies.

[Guest kungfusamurai]

It was enjoyable. Certainly much better overall than The Protector/Tom Yum Goong, which I watched a few weeks before. I do agree that the fight scenes could have been done better. But it was old Yuen Woo Ping, so I guess we should have expected the CGI wire-fu. I can see why the family of the main character wanted to sue the makers of the film. It didn't paint a very flattering picture of Huo Yuan Jia, even if they did show his transformation into a more compassionate individual.

For a Jet Li flick, I'd give it a 7/10. For a kung fu film based on a historical story, I'd give it 5/10 because of the wire-fu.

KFS

[Guest W Hong]

I just saw this last Sunday in a theatre. This movie was a slight letdown, especially it was Jet's return to the H.K. movies in a way. Some of the action scenes didn't seem to be believable. Like for example, it didn't seem that realistic when Jet Li's character was holding on to that big American wrestler/fighter to prevent the wrestler/fighter from being stabbed by the pointed hooks on the ringside. Because of the wrestler's likely size and weight, it would probably be kind of hard for Jet to hold onto him, with Jet not exactly being big and muscular.

So this was just an okay movie, in my opinion, and I thought that some of the fight scenes were good while others were not.

Maybe it seemed like Ronny Yu was a bad choice to be the director anyway, because has he ever directed a H.K. kung fu movie that you liked?:

1. "Legacy of Rage"(maybe not exactly a H.K. kung fu movie,

but I still wish that it could've had more

kung fu especially w/ this being Brandon

L.'s only H.K. movie, and this movie was

just okay.)

2. "The Bride with White Hair"(I thought that this was just

okay when I think that I saw it

at L.A.'s Beverly Cinema. One of

the things that I can kind of

remember is Brigitte splashing

into the water a lot.)

I don't think that I liked his English language kangaroo kung fu movie, "Warriors of Virtue", either. It seemed to be a rip-off of "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Karate Kid", for one thing.

[Guest kungfusamurai]

According to the IMDB he co-directed Deadend of Besiegers. That film features some great fight scenes.

KFS

[Guest HAZ74]

Hi,

Just saw this here in Montreal. I've had the DVD with subs I got on line for ages. The cut was a little different; the scene with his dad punishing a young Jet Li after a scrap with another kid wasn't in the DVD. There were a couple other clips that were different, too. But nothing huge. I liked it. Gonna get the director's cut when it drops.

peace

h

[Guest Liu chung liang]

i would rather watch "Legend of a Fighter" over "Fearless" anyday. or even "Fearless Hyena" lol. for a big budget film, what jet and those who were involved in making the movie, should had done was really research HYJ's life etc. etc. and used it in the movie. it would had been a big plus if they went deeper into HYJ's martial arts background. like if they showed how he created his own style the Mi Zong Chuan or "Lost Track Fist" and where he got his nickname 'yellow face tiger'.... and all of that juicy stuff, then it would had been better. man some scenes in the movie really needed to be re-shot. fearless is just like another jet li movie. add it to his list of playing legendary chinese heroes.

jet as wong fei hung

jet as fong sai yuk

jet as huo yuan jia

and there are a few more i think.