Jet Li stars as Huo Yuanjia in his final martial arts film, Fearless. Set in 1910s China, it follows a local wushu master as he first becomes the champion fighter of Tianjin and then goes on to represent his country’s honor against pompous European intruders in a martial arts tournament.
Fearless is a return to the meat and potatoes of martial arts. Some of the recent martial arts epics that come to mind, such as Hero or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, are filled with graceful fight scenes but they too often stray into the realm of fantasy where characters blatantly defy the laws of gravity by floating on treetops to cross blades. Fearless pushes much of our Physics I test material to the extreme, but it never ventures into the impossible. Li’s stunts are beautifully choreographed and are impressive to say the least, but all the while stay plausible.
The fight scenes are fast-paced and gritty but they’re also graced with a finesse that only a veteran of the martial arts like Jet Li can deliver. Scattered abundantly throughout the movie, each fight scene is unique and captivating and each shows that Jet Li wishes to hold nothing back in his retirement from the martial arts silver screen. In one scene reminiscent of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, an opponent in a fight screams something along the lines of “Head of Iron” and blindly charges headfirst at Huo Yuanjia, who settles the matter with a swift and comically decisive kick directly to…the head.
To me, the movie has the pace and styling of a classic American boxing film. Huo Yuanjia starts off reckless and cocky, totally unaware of the consequences of his actions. He fights, wins, and then drinks every victory off with his growing band of followers. When his new friends screw up and drunkenly trick Huo Yuanjia into making a fatal mistake, Yuanjia hits rock bottom and loses everything. It is then and only then that he realizes the error of his ways and the true meaning of his family’s discipline of wushu. He then prepares himself for his return to the martial arts world with a newfound appreciation for life.
When Yuanjia returns to the world, he finds that the influence of the Europeans has permeated every aspect of Chinese life. The ultimate insult to Yuanjia, though, is the blatant disrespect with which the new foreigners treat his fellow countrymen, including the labeling of China as “the sick man of Asia.” When European fighters begin challenging Chinese martial artists with the sole purpose of humiliating them publicly, Yuanjia steps up to the defense of his country’s pride and enters an unabashedly unfair four-on-one tournament against three of Britain’s best fighters and a martial artist from Japan.
All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. Jet Li is by no means known for his acting prowess, but he does a good job of making the scenes in between fights more than just filler material. His real gift to this movie is the amount of emotion he conveys in each of his fight scenes. I could commiserate with him in the tournament scenes as he fought his uphill battle. In stark contrast to the stoic and vigilant fighting style seen in the end of the film, the conceited Yuanjia in the beginning shines while being jocular and witty in fights. Also, the apparent lack of computer generated effects makes this film look even more down to earth and, for me, made it much more enjoyable. I’d happily recommend this movie to fans of both martial arts and action movies.
