Thursday, February 09, 2006
FEARLESS
Featuring: Jet Li
Brief Synopsis: Set just before the colonial times of China, a man wants to prove he is unbeatable. Does he manage it? Watch and find out!
Comments: Apparently this is Jet Li's final martial arts film before he ventures into 'real' or dramatic acting and it is a corker. In all honesty there is little surprise to the storyline because it is basically a man's journey from a troubled past into redemption. This sort of storyline has been done many times before and while it is a worthy lesson to know and learn, it become tedious and preachy when viewed in a 2 hour sitting. Honestly, from my point of view, you can only learn this lesson by acting living it out in real life. However many times you watch a film with this sort of moral storyline, it will not get inside your stubborn head unless you live through the mistakes yourself.
Anyway the martial arts is breathtaking stuff. It is worth watching the flim just for the fight scenes as they are choreographed superbly and it is starts to get difficult to know where the special effects start and real life finishes. He fights against people who have a similar style, who don't have the same style as him, who are bigger (make that huge!), where there is more than one opponent, with many different types of weapons, on different surfaces although one of the more impressive (although shorter) fights revolves around him doing it with one hand under an umbrella in pouring rain. I read in a review that there is no constant enemy for him to continually fight against but the enemy in this film is himself (sorry but I did warn you it was cliched!).
I did have a discussion with a friend about the martial arts in this scene and in another film (SPL). He said (and he's actually an instructor so he knows his stuff) that the fighting in this film is very artistic and stylised whereas SPL is more realistic with its hand to hand combat, struggles and take downs (and a lot more brutal). Just in case, you wanted to know!
There is one scene where I would suggest you walk out of the cinema and have a short stretch of your legs. It is when he ends up on some rural farm, meets a blind girl, rediscovers his zest for life (or something like that). Of the many films I have ever seen in my life, this possibly stands as the biggest waste of time. You would miss nothing at all if there was simply a note that said - he ends up on a farm, meets a blind girl which he sorta falls in love with but nothing happens, regains control of his life and decides he is better suited to go back to the city. That would be a lot better than wasting 20 minutes of reel time.
Things to learn from this film: Make friends with people who are clever. You can tell who they are because they will do their homework for you when you are both children...!
Rating: 7 .25/10
Featuring: Jet Li
Brief Synopsis: Set just before the colonial times of China, a man wants to prove he is unbeatable. Does he manage it? Watch and find out!
Comments: Apparently this is Jet Li's final martial arts film before he ventures into 'real' or dramatic acting and it is a corker. In all honesty there is little surprise to the storyline because it is basically a man's journey from a troubled past into redemption. This sort of storyline has been done many times before and while it is a worthy lesson to know and learn, it become tedious and preachy when viewed in a 2 hour sitting. Honestly, from my point of view, you can only learn this lesson by acting living it out in real life. However many times you watch a film with this sort of moral storyline, it will not get inside your stubborn head unless you live through the mistakes yourself.
Anyway the martial arts is breathtaking stuff. It is worth watching the flim just for the fight scenes as they are choreographed superbly and it is starts to get difficult to know where the special effects start and real life finishes. He fights against people who have a similar style, who don't have the same style as him, who are bigger (make that huge!), where there is more than one opponent, with many different types of weapons, on different surfaces although one of the more impressive (although shorter) fights revolves around him doing it with one hand under an umbrella in pouring rain. I read in a review that there is no constant enemy for him to continually fight against but the enemy in this film is himself (sorry but I did warn you it was cliched!).
I did have a discussion with a friend about the martial arts in this scene and in another film (SPL). He said (and he's actually an instructor so he knows his stuff) that the fighting in this film is very artistic and stylised whereas SPL is more realistic with its hand to hand combat, struggles and take downs (and a lot more brutal). Just in case, you wanted to know!
There is one scene where I would suggest you walk out of the cinema and have a short stretch of your legs. It is when he ends up on some rural farm, meets a blind girl, rediscovers his zest for life (or something like that). Of the many films I have ever seen in my life, this possibly stands as the biggest waste of time. You would miss nothing at all if there was simply a note that said - he ends up on a farm, meets a blind girl which he sorta falls in love with but nothing happens, regains control of his life and decides he is better suited to go back to the city. That would be a lot better than wasting 20 minutes of reel time.
Things to learn from this film: Make friends with people who are clever. You can tell who they are because they will do their homework for you when you are both children...!
Rating: 7 .25/10
