Thoughts on Jet Li's Fearless
After much anticipation the recently released Hong Kong DVD of Fearless - the film Jet Li claims will be his final wushu picture - has passed into my greedy hands. I hesitate to call what follows here a 'review' per se, since I have non of the needed language skills and the DVD does not include English subtitles. Yes, I ran a review of Tom Yum Goong in similar circumstances but this film - unlike that one - actually features a plot and some performances that go beyond the butt whuppin'. So what you're getting is by no means a complete review, but a collection of my impressions of the film.
First question: can Ronnie Yu and Jet Li still bring it old school style? Oh, yes. Yes, they can. The film is beautifully shot and with the exception of the improved effects could very easily have been a product of Hong Kong's golden age. It's been a while since Hong Kong made a film like this - overtly political, nostalgic, set in colonial times, etc - and this is a good one. I don't believe that it cracks Li's top tier of films and it will be a very hard sell to mainstream US audiences - more on that in a bit - but it is very, very good.
First, the quibbles, and there are a few.
Jet is getting old. At forty three he's not over the hill yet but he is beginning to show his age and this impacts things in a few areas. I have never enjoyed Li in 'goofy young master mode' and that is intensely the case here. When it comes to physical comedy Li is no Stephen Chow, and never has been, but he just looks silly when playing the young version of Huo Yuan Jia for laughs in the early going. Not only is he obviously far older than the character he is playing at this point but his version of youth consists too much of stumbling about and mugging for the camera. Thankfully this phase is over quickly and Li's undeniable screen presence begins to shine through once he is allowed to tap into the impatience, anger, and tragedy of the character.
More important to the martial arts fans out there, Li is visibly beginning to slow down. He is nowhere close to being over the hill yet but he has definitely crested the peak. The fights are still spectacular but if you were to compare this film side by side with Fist of Legend - an interesting project considering the interlocked characters and Yuen Wu Ping's work on both as fight choreographer - and it is clear that Li is no longer capable of things that once seemed to come effortlessly. Again, he is still one of the very best in the world but the decline, though slight, is apparent enough to make you wonder how much it played in to his decision to step back from wushu film.
On a related note, there is a surprising amount of technical trickery in the fight scenes, both in terms of wire work and altered film speeds, to goose things up a bit. While not nearly as intrusive as it is in many films the wires feel strangely out of place in a film that purports to be a straight ahead bio-pic. Again, compare to the 'set up the cameras and let 'em fight' approach of Fist of Legend.
And finally - the good stuff is coming - there is the comment made earlier about western prospects. Fearless is one of those films clearly made for a primary audience very well versed in the source material. Huo Yuan Jia is a legendary figure in China, one the film maker's can be certain their entire primary audience will be well familiar with and that allows them to take certain shortcuts and press certain buttons that simply will not resonate the same way with less knowledgable audiences. The political situation around the master's death seems largely taken for granted, the mid section of the film plays like a Coles Notes primer on his life more than an in depth drama, and it is very unlikely that audiences outside of China will appreciate the emotional crescendo of his death in nearly the same way that the Chinese would.
And now the good stuff.
Ronnie Yu is back. The Hong Kong A-lister dropped way down into the B - arguably even C - ranks when he made the move to Hollywood. It's been a long time since he had a high end film to work on and he hasn't lost a step. His camera is nimble, the staging is excellent, and it's just fantastic to see the man behind The Bride With White Hair back doing what he does best. Yes, he kept Freddy Vs. Jason from sucking as bad as it could have but is that enough to make up for his prolonged absence from martial arts films? Not by a long shot.
Production values are excellent with full marks going to a stellar design team. The environments are richly realized and recapture the colonial feel of so many great Hong Kong classics. Is it a bad thing to be so happy to see a big ol' pair of mutton chops on a boorish Brit? I think not.
Li himself. I have said many times that I do not believe Li gets the credit he deserves as an actor and I stand by that statement again here. Yes, he has his limitations - see the above 'young master' comments - but the man has an undeniable screen presence and the ability to convey volumes while doing very little. Playing Huo Yuan Jia gives Li very large shoes to fill and he does an admirable job on the dramatic front.
And, finally, the fights themselves. Has the combination of Jet Li and Yuen Wu Ping ever failed to impress? Nope. And while their work here may not rise quite to the heights of their work together in Fist of Legend there are many - myself among them - who consider that film one of the absolute untouchables of martial arts film. Their work in Fearless is inventive, engaging and breath taking. Li faces up with a wide array of opponents, each with a unique fight style, and aquits himself very, very well. The Nathan Jones fight offered less than I would have hoped but the sequences against a sword weilding Chinese master, British spear man and the final battle against a Japanese samurai are all top notch.
If Li holds true to his word and calls it a day on the wushu front with this one then, sad as it will be to see him go, he will at least be going out on a high note and on his own terms. I stop short of calling it a classic but it is very good.
