Week of September 20, 2006, Issue #570
FILM
Jet Li says a Fearless goodbye
STEVE LILLEBUEN / steve@vueweekly.com
By now, everyone knows what Jet Li can offer. His films either preach to the converted—those who appreciate the dynamics of a traditional martial arts epic—or scare away audiences that still view his films as no more than action pics in different packaging.Li himself seems bored with the genre, stating in several interviews last year that Fearless (Huo Yan Jia) will be his last film in traditional wushu style. Sure, we’re still going to see Li bust out his mad skills in future endeavours, but this is apparently the last time he’ll grace the screen in a period piece.
If that’s true, then his latest effort is a satisfying swan song for a career that helped bring Chinese filmmaking back into the American mainstream. For those who are fans of his body of work, however, this is definitely not Li’s best or most memorable performance; for those who haven’t given him a chance thus far, it’s still a film worth seeing, as Li portrays one of China’s most beloved historical figures—a man Li himself was deeply inspired by.
Fearless depicts the life and times of Master Huo Yuanjia, a hero in his native China during the turn of the 20th Century. It was a time when Chinese sovereignty was heavily threatened by foreign interests and Huo took on the challenge of defending his country’s honour by fighting foreign challengers. He therefore embodied the spirit of his people and showed the world that the Chinese weren’t as puny and inferior as some were arrogant enough to claim.
While the narrative has plenty of plot devices to explain his transformation from an egotistical revenge-seeker to a uniter of his people, it’s at least an exciting enough journey only slightly plagued by over-used archetypes. In one extended scene, for instance, Huo lives with a young and innocent blind women who both figuratively and literally can’t see who the notorious Huo is. She subsequently teaches him a thing or two about morality, being fairly rudimentary and uninteresting along the way.
Huo’s return from exile is probably the most entertaining part of his story. He takes on the challenge of fighting Hercules O’Brien (Nathan Jones), a giant of a man from America that you absolutely love to hate. In fact, the real life fight never occurred—it was tied up in red tape—but it’s one of those scenes that really sells the film so it’s hard to fault the creators for fudging history here.
Truman Capote once said that life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act. If you can say the same thing about filmmaking, then Li’s best work was probably a decade ago, before he even made his big break in America.
If we are going to say good-bye to Li’s work in this genre, then at least it’s with a film with only minor problems—including some overused CGI—to jar the audience.
Between the various fight scenes and Huo’s soul-searching in the quiet mountain regions of inland China, a touching story seems to find its way, paced nicely with its historical accounts and poignant message. V
Fearless (Huo Yuan Jia)
Directed by Ronny Yu
Written by Chris Chow
Starring Jet Li, Shido Nakamura, Betty Sun