Eye Candy #468 - "Jet Li's Fearless"

Jet Li’s Fearless: Billed as Jet Li’s last chopsocky flick (what kind of movies he’s going to make now, I have no idea, which I imagine is the same boat the casting directors are in). In addition to being his last film, this is the film which best personifies his philosophy about martial arts (referred to as “wushu” throughout the film).  Li is Huo Yuanjia, legendary martial artist famous for successfully besting foreign fighters at the turn of the 20th Century. The problem with Huo is that he doesn’t always act like the upstanding person. In fact, his vanity results in the death of his daughter and family, at which point he wanders the land to reconnect with himself, returning a stronger, more humble man concerned with strengthening the Chinese self-image. And when a contest is announced in Shanghai for the best German, British, Japanese, and French fighters versus the best the native population can offer, Huo is the only person to step forward for the task. He manages to best 3 of the 4 fighters but, fatally poisoned by skullduggery, he dies shortly following the conclusion of the fight. His martial arts school, Chin Woo, continues to this day. A variation of this same story was told in Bruce Lee’s “Fist of Fury” and Li’s earlier “Fist of Legend” (both of which are better movies than this one).  This is hardly Jet Li’s best movie. The script is laughable, the dialogue deplorable, and the people doing the English editing are pootastic. The previews would have you think this was the be-all-end-all for his oeuvre, and sadly it’s not. And it pales greatly when compared to movies like “Hero” (which I thought was phenomenal, and was better looking and had a better script). It’s unfortunate that Li decided to leave the stage with this film. C’mon, Jet, John Candy had no choice to leave us with “Wagons East” and Raul Julia had no choice to leave us with “Street Fighter”; you aren’t going to get a lot of romantic comedy roles. Look at Steven Seagal and Jackie Chan as proof.  Sure, we’ve got fights galore and that’s all well and good if that’s all you’re looking for. But it’s not enough for me. It's not as mystical as it wants to be and not as well-made as it is assumes it is.  Woodchuck sez, “For fans only. Everyone else will probably be disappointed.”