Jet Li's Fearless
If "Jet Li's Fearless" really is the popular Hong Kong action star's final martial arts epic — as has been advertised — at least he's going out on a high note.In terms of production value and dazzling action, the film actually rivals "Hero" (2002), which was seen by many as Li's best recent work. Though this movie also features a smiling, charismatic Li that hasn't been seen much on film since his "Once Upon a Time in China" series.
As he did with those mov- ies, in which he played real-life hero Wong Fei-hung, Li is portraying another Chinese legend here — Huo Yuanjia, the co-founder of the Jin Wu Sports Federation.
This heavily fictionalized version of Yuanjia's life story shows how he also defended his country's honor against Western imperialism — by participating in a tournament that pitted him against fighters from four other countries.
Obviously, Li's fans will be going for the action, and they won't be disappointed. The film features him fighting with swords, fists, feet and other weaponry, fighting against a much-larger opponent (Aussie strongman Nathan Jones), and fighting against as many as a dozen opponents at one time. (Yuen Wo-Ping, of "The Matrix" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" fame, choreographed these action scenes.)
Director Ronny Yu and screenwriter Chris Chow try not to clutter it up with too much plot, though their points about maintaining cultural identity and unity are well-observed.
In fact, this is clearly Yu's best work since his 1993 Hong Kong hit "The Bride With White Hair" (since then, he's come to America and made such duds as "Warriors of Virtue," "Freddy vs. Jason" and one of the "Chucky" sequels).
"Jet Li's Fearless" is rated PG-13 for strong scenes of martial-arts violence and weaponed combat (spears, sword and combat sticks), brief gore, some brief drug content (use of herbal medicines and poison), and one profanity. Running time: 103 minutes.
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