Fearless

[jethro]

Before watchign fearless I was afraid that this was going to be just another wire-fu movie. Other than a coulpe fo goofy scenes that didn't make much sense, this is an inspirational story about the man that is obviously known as one of the people who helped greatly with the development of the martial arts.

The movie starts otu with a bunch of martial arts action but I also enjoyed the story very much. Or maybe it is just too easy to overlook when the fight scenes aer so exciting. The battle with the swords blew my mind, the fight with Nathan Jones was better than Tony Jaa fighting him, and the end, well, the end.

[GeneChing]

We held our Fearless screening last night, so I got a chance to see it on the big screen with subtitles. The subtitles didn't reveal anything that I hadn't already figured out watching it without subtitles. It's really a simply movie - all this discussion of it having a profound plot just indicates how insipid most MA movie plots are. The sets were magnificent and it's encouraging to see MA films move away from the ridiculous low budget sets of years past. How many final fights did we have to watch in empty fields? A lot of the set details were lost on my little TV screen. Yu isn't as expansive a director as say, Zhang Yimou, when it comes to shooting good panoramas, but he pulls some beautiful stuff that deserves to be seen on a big screen. The choreography impressed me a lot less on the big screen then on video. Yuen Woo Ping relied heavily upon what I'm going to call the 'stripper pole' move where someone gets knocked off something, like the leitai or out of the ring or off some precipice and then swings around using some impossible physics to deliver a riposte. He also used a lot of weird kicks when being flipped, sort of a variation of the stripper pole, more impossible physics. That seemed rather unimpressive when Tony Jaa is doing these kinds of moves for real. Jet's stuff looks clean as always, but it was almost as if Yuan didn't know how to direct a martial artist anymore and failed to fully exploit Jet's talents. The 3-section scene, aside from a few spins, is mostly Jet doing right-hand baton work. He's not fully using the weapon. And I'm getting tired by Yuan's Matrix slow-down-the-blow cinematography technique. In my book, Yuan has lost the title of top martial arts choreographer to Jaa and to Donnie Yen.

But still, it's always great to see an MA film on the silver screen. I had a very enjoyable evening last night and look forward to Rogue.

[GeneChing]

I reviewed the big screen experience here. I hesitate in saying it was better because I felt I enjoyed the fights more on the small screen. Perhaps that's a primacy effect. The scenery was much better on the big screen, so it's sort of a push for me. The bottom line is that the experience is much different watching a film on the big screen vs. DVD. And to bring this back OT, if we want to keep seeing MA films on the big screen, we must go out and support them as much as we can...even the bad ones. I'm sure I spent a fortune at the old Great Star in S.F. Chinatown seeing a lot of horrid films, but I still went. And how I miss those days...

[charyuop]

The movie started pretty bad. No good story and usual Sci-Fi Martial Art which is a bad combination. But I admit that after the beginning I started liking it above all for the story than for the Sci-Fi Wushu. It could teach something to people who want to start Martial Art under the psychological aspect.

Great ending, I loved it!

[jethro]

Personally I thought that 3 of the fights were some of the most impressive I have ever seen. "The stripper pole" was nto overused or anything and I thought some of it worked quite nicely on the lesser action sequences. And not exactly a complex plot but this movie had a lot more feeling than most kung fu flicks. I went in expecting somethign huge and I was surprised to get more than I expected. Woo-ping was always good at the acrobatic type of choreography, I think he has evolved very nicely throughout the years with this being his best work yet.

[MOVES]

To tell u the truth i dont like these kinda films as a martial artist , there just over the top man its just a big dance scene . Check em out no one moves like there a fighter there just busting moves tech after tech ,all this flying and doing jumping spin kicks one after the other and they dont even hit . Its the kind of thing your layman to martial arts thinks is cool , gimme old school flicks / Bruce Lee anyday or like Wesly Snipes now thats proper !

[MightyB]

...gimme old school flicks / Bruce Lee anyday or like Wesly Snipes now thats proper !

I have to call shennanigans here. Come on- spinning round kicks, punching guys through walls leaving perfect man shaped holes, hanging hook punches, the staff fight in 'Enter', the knife ricochet in the 'Boss'...

Everyone knows that movie-fu was developed because real fighting translates poorly to the big screen- BL even used movie-fu (see above). Heck-- it took about 6 films before Wesley could satisfactorly even do movie-fu. His first couple of 'fight' movies stunk. He got passible in the Stallone/Bullock movie and then he came out swinging in Blade--- but before that...

The fight scenes in Fearless were done well and the wire work was transparent. Nobody flew- they pretty much kept to the laws of gravity with the big exception being the fight against the American wrestler.

And the 3 sectional staff scene was pretty cool.

[charyuop]

The fight scenes in Fearless were done well and the wire work was transparent. Nobody flew- they pretty much kept to the laws of gravity with the big exception being the fight against the American wrestler.

And the 3 sectional staff scene was pretty cool.

You forgot the fight on the elevated platform or ring or whatever you want to call it. But I agree, the wire parts were kept to kinda minimal.

Was the final fighter, the Japanese, a real Japanese? The feature of his face reminded me alot of a western person.

[Jimbo]

Gene:
Although I loved Fearless, and thought a few of the fights were very good (for me, especially the fight between Jet and the European fencer), I do agree that Yuen Woo-ping seems to have run out of ideas as far as choreography is concerned. I only have to think back to the pure choreography of movies such as Drunken Master, Magnificent Butcher, Dreadnaught, Legend of a Fighter, Drunken Tai Chi, etc., and compare that fresh creativity to his work since The Matrix.

Yuen's inspiration is no longer centered on traditional kung fu or Beijing Opera acrobatics, but now emphasizes almost exclusively modern Wushu and computerized effects. I don't mean to begin another discussion of "traditional vs. modern wushu", but gone are the days when all types of practitioners from traditional styles and former opera performers are lined up to appear in kung fu films. In fact, that era cannot be recaptured. The bulk of performers directed by Yuen now are either non-martial arts Hollywook celebrities or professional Wushu athletes from China. I think it's simply a matter of a changing world, one where there is little interest in kung fu films in general. I think also that all choreographers tend to run out of ideas at some point. IMO the same happened with Sammo Hung and in the U.S., Martin Scorsese's work is no longer what it was.

On a side note, having grown up during the "golden era" of KF films, I remember when seeing a KF movie in a theater was an exciting event in itself. They were usually in scummy theaters in the worst parts of town, but when a good one showed, the audience reactions and interaction with the movie were most of the fun; some of those moments remain some of my most memorable of watching movies. Nowadays, no matter how cool the action may be onscreen, audiences are so jaded by everything that there's nary a cheer or response anymore.

[MOVES]

[QUOTE=MightyB;711133]I have to call shennanigans here. Come on- spinning round kicks, punching guys through walls leaving perfect man shaped holes, hanging hook punches, the staff fight in 'Enter', the knife ricochet in the 'Boss'...

Ok fair point if not weak those scenes are few and far between ! Staff fight ? u mean when Bruce is in the under ground chamber if so you must really dig Jet because its far more real then the sweeping pretty dance scence of modern hong kong M.A films . Also half the actors in these films admit to knowing nothing about martial arts there basicly dancers chineese performers and it shows theres no sence of timeing, counter attack, or focus just a constant flow of spining and jumping on and on it goes to no effect . Then u take the likes of Bruce or Wesley who do know martial arts and it shows ok not every thing is realistic but way way more so than the likes of Hero/ Fearless etc . But every one to his own its all cool

[jethro]

Gene:
Nowadays, no matter how cool the action may be onscreen, audiences are so jaded by everything that there's nary a cheer or response anymore.

Oh man, I have to disagreee with Jimbo. There was just something about that duel to the death that Yuanjia had with master Chin.

It is sad how nobody really gets loud. I was literally the only one. I was louder at this movie than 'The Protector'. And I swear I didn't cry at the end.

[jethro]

[QUOTE=MOVES;711284]

I have to call shennanigans here. Come on- spinning round kicks, punching guys through walls leaving perfect man shaped holes, hanging hook punches, the staff fight in 'Enter', the knife ricochet in the 'Boss'...

Ok fair point if not weak those scenes are few and far between ! Staff fight ? u mean when Bruce is in the under ground chamber if so you must really dig Jet because its far more real then the sweeping pretty dance scence of modern hong kong M.A films . Also half the actors in these films admit to knowing nothing about martial arts there basicly dancers chineese performers and it shows theres no sence of timeing, counter attack, or focus just a constant flow of spining and jumping on and on it goes to no effect . Then u take the likes of Bruce or Wesley who do know martial arts and it shows ok not every thing is realistic but way way more so than the likes of Hero/ Fearless etc . But every one to his own its all cool

I agree that they are not always martial artists, but look at the old school stars like Lung Fei and Leung Ka-yan. They didn't know martial arts and were studio trained by the Shaw Brothers studios. Some may nto be martial artists like Maggie Cheung and you can see that she doesn't really do any fighting, it is always a double. On the other hand you have a girl like Ziyi Zhang. Her and Michelle yeoh are throwbacks to the old school. They are athletes who are studio trained. If they don't look good on screen, I don't like them, but Woo Ping can even make Nathan Jones look good. I don't know who that guy was in the sword fight in Fearless but he not only brought great acting but some serious movie fighting skills. Obviously there is a big difference in movie martial arts and the real thing, but you still need to have a high skill level in many things to look good in these movies. I will stop my rambling now.

[monkeyking168]

Was the final fighter, the Japanese, a real Japanese? The feature of his face reminded me alot of a western person.

Shido Nakamura
Shidō Nakamura (中村 獅童 Nakamura Shidō; born 14 September 1972) is a Japanese actor and Kabuki actor.

Nakamura has recently finished filming the Hong Kong/China martial arts movie Fearless starring international Kung Fu star Jet Li, set in 1910s Imperial China. In this film, Nakamura plays a Japanese sword expert who is Jet Li's final opponent.

mk

[Jimbo]

jethro:
It sounds like you would have fit in perfectly "back in the day." A good example of how audiences in the old run-down "grind houses" used to react during kung fu (or horror, or good comedy) films, you probably remember the scene in The Last Dragon portraying a showing of Enter the Dragon. That's a sample. Sometimes the entire audience was interacting with the movie, and not in a distracting way, like someone just blabbing on a phone like in some upscale-type theatres nowadays. Some of the movies that elicited the biggest reactions were Mystery of Chess Boxing (Jack Long, Mark Long, Li Yi-Min), 7 Grandmasters, Knockabout (Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao), Invincible Shaolin, Heroes of the East, etc., besides the old Bruce Lee movies.

Jet Li made Fearless mostly to inspire young people in China to be proud so as to stem the number of suicides in China each year. I hope it succeeded. It's really a beautifully-made film. In the past, a film like this would have inspired lots of people to become interested in training in martial arts, but with so many other things (video games, etc.) that effect from movies seems to be mostly lost, at least in my observation.

It really is amazing what so many old-school KF films were able to accomplish with so little in the way of budget.

[Samurai Jack]

Yeah, but his sword work wasn't Japanese by a long shot. Anyhow, my favorite martial arts movies tend to be Japanese. Toshiro Mifune always did real martial arts, and he could act too. It's a real shame we don't see work of his caliber in Chinese films. Imagine the impact it would have for American audiences to see what Chinese Martial Arts really look like. Personally, I think we're ready for it, but by supporting more of the same poor quality films that we've been shown for the last 20 years... well it dosen't take a business proffessor to figure out that they'll keep selling us that stuff.