Fav Fight scene

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Jet Li's Fearless

I want to shake the hand of the man who made kicking artisitic.

Fearless is Jet Li’s final martial arts epic. This may be a strange sentence to many people, after all martial arts epic sounds an awful lot like an oxymoron. A look at Li’s English language filmography, most of which paired him with flavor of the week rappers, would further hammer home the concept of martial arts flicks as low rent popcorn fodder. But before making less then stellar films such as 2000’s Romeo must Die and 2003’s Cradle 2 the Grave, Li had an impressive repertoire of period pieces celebrating the history of martial arts and its role in Chinese culture. Anyone who’s seen Hero knows what I mean, these films are epic in every sense of the word with lavish scenery and deep emotional character driven plots, the best that action films have to offer.

Fearless may be the best possible example of this genre, following the fall from grace and eventual redemption of Huo Yuanjia. Li plays Huo the master of a martial arts academy who’s pride and thirst for victory eventually leads to the death of his family. After a self imposed banishment to the country side he learns that his skills should be used for the benefit of others. He returns and participate in a series of competitions intended to show the strength and dominance of the major foreign powers in China, but through his skill and sportsmanship Huo helps

Jet Li shines in this role capturing the emotions of a man humbled by his own arrogance with a subtlety rarely seen in a movie with so much kicking. The talent behind the camera is no less impressive, Director Ronny Yu is best known for making the horror movie Bride of Chucky but here his visual style and use of colour help make the films quiet moments as interesting and striking as the films action scenes. The fight choreography is stellar but when the man behind it is Woo Ping Yuen that’s to be expected. Woo’s credits include all three Matrix films both parts of Kill Bill, Kung Fu Hustle and many other stellar action movies, really if you se his name in the credits, you know the movie is worth the price of admission.

Fearless is the Citizen Kane of Martial arts movies, it’s an emotional story well acted with breathtaking visuals and enough fisticuffs to keep the most diehard action fan entertained. My one question is why don’t Canadians make movies like this. If we want people to be interested in our culture, let’s add some action to the proceedings. Sure some historical purist may have trouble with a butt kicking Laura Secord or Alexander Graham Bell, but our history could use a little dramatic license every now and then. But I digress, Fearless is an action film of significant artistic value and is also quality entertainment, it’s a worthy end piece to Jet Li’s impressive body of work in the genre.

I was amazed at how well the fight scenes were choreographed, but that is probably because I wasn't expecting much after seeing the bull scene. Snow wolf vs. Guangming was my favorite.