Fearless — movie review

by Chris   ⋅   May 13, 2006   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

A nationalistic morality tale in the guise of martial arts epic (complete with underdog trappings), Fearless (aka: Huo Yuan Jia) tells the story of the life of Chinese national hero, and renowned martial arts master, Huo Yuan Jia.

The story opens in 1910 with Huo (Jet Li, Swordsman II, Fist of Legend) at a meet in Shanghai, a gauntlet match pitting Yuen against the best fighters of four countries determined to belittle China as they occupied its territories following the close of the Qin dynasty; namely America, England, France, and Japan. Huo bests the first three straight off, establishing the superior ability of the Chinese fighter, and getting the pre credits fights out of the way. As he sits back, waiting to meet the final fighter, he thinks back on his life, thus setting the true bulk of the story in action.

As a young man Huo was unable to train in the martial arts due to a severe case of asthma. Determined to show he was far from weak, he opted to train himself. As he grew in skill he set his sights on being recognized as the best fighter in the world. We meet the older Huo as he enlists in a series of fights, gaining fame, recognition, and a legion of questionable followers, all the while losing himself to arrogance. As they say, pride comes before the fall. When one of his followers is harmed in a dispute with a traveling martial arts master, the same master that bested his father when he was a young boy, Huo loses himself to rage, killing the master. But this act only sets further retributive violence in action, resulting in the murder of Huo’s family. This devastates Huo, and his life of fame is lost to a life of vagrancy, setting off across the Chinese countryside on a path of self-discovery. Only by learning the importance of humility, self improvement, and oneness with nature, can Huo realize his true nature (and that of martial arts), return home, and become the hero China so sorely needs.

The fights of Fearless, choreographed by Yuen Woo-Ping (Fist of Legend, The Red Wolf, The Matrix), are fairly unbalanced. Some are major edge of your seat set-pieces, while others prove merely yawners. The final fight with the Japanese Karate master is as brilliant to watch as is emotionally draining, and the restaurant fight with the Qin master is filled with violent crashings of the like which have made Iron Monkey and The East Is Red genre classics. On the other hand the initial three fights and the “platform” fight are all been-there done-that affairs.

What is far more interesting to watch, however, is Huo’s fight within himself. His transformation from cocksure asshole, to an emotionally and spiritually destroyed man, to near-Taoist monk/kung-fu master covers all of the bases of Campbell’s Hero’s Journey (see: Campbell and Cocktail), and as such his hero’s journey carries quite an emotional weight. Similarly, his realization and subsequent proclamation of the need to follow honorable pursuits and the betterment of one’s self rather than the acquisition of fame and conquests, is a nice change from the gung-ho machismo of recent cinematic heroes. Yuen’s character arc allows Li to run the full gambit of emotions, and as such, Li’s performance proves to be his best ever. Those that expressed concern due to this film’s marking his last foray into the martial arts epic, need worry not, for Fearless proves the Li is not only a wonderful martial artist, but also a competent actor. He will surely find a welcome place in further dramatic fare.

Finally, with Fearless Ronny Yu cements his directorial talent. Over the past 15 years he has had various hints at his capabilities, as evidenced by the amazing romantic sword and fantasy epic, The Bride with White Hair (and its lesser sequel), and some of his American horror efforts, such as the cult hit Bride of Chucky and portions of the silly-yet-fun Freddy Versus Jason. But these hits have occurred as often as his massive failures, most notably, for American audiences, Formula 51 and Warriors of Virtue. Fearless shows that Bride was not a fluke — but in fact an indicator of what Yu could make when given the right material. Whether capturing sweeping vistas or close quarters environments, his camera never lapses into lazy composition. While nowhere near the fashion spread beauty of Zhang Yimou’s Communist propaganda piece, Hero, it is certainly a cut above most Chinese cinema of the past year.

When all is said and done, Fearless will draw people in for its action, but it will retain their interest and be remembered for its engaging story and heartfelt farewell performance by Jet Li. It is not a perfect film, but it is an entertaining and inspirational piece, and a film I wouldn’t mind seeing again.

Chris Nelson is a Technical Writer in the Silicon Valley. He is currently studying for a Software Engineering degree at San Jose State University. He apologises for any oversights in his review, as the uproming finals week have him a little pressed for time.

Related Articles

• Summer Catch-Up 3: The Death of Summer (Tropic Thunder — Pineapple Express — Journey to the Center of the Earth — Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior — Walk All Over Me — My Science Project) +book and tv show reviews
• Dreamlogic.net’s Summer Wrap-Up. Movies, Games, and Books
• TRAILER WATCH . Sukiyaki Western Django, Jigayaku no uta, Get Smart, and much much more
• DoA: Dead or Alive — he said, she said — movie review
• Curse of the Golden Flower — he said, she said — movie review
• Beerfest — Silver Hawk — Leave it to the Nurses — capsule movie reviews