Depending on what you may have read, Fearless (2006) was either to be Jet Li’s final film or at least his final martial arts film. The former is obviously not the case as the actor has continued to practice his trade with four subsequent movies and another in production as of this writing. The latter may arguably be true depending on how you qualify what a “martial arts film” is. However, Forgotten Kingdom, the 2008 collaboration between Li and Jackie Chan, looks to contain more than a little martial artistry to me.
The truth of the matter may be clarified in the included featurette on Universal’s Blu-ray of the film. Li claims this will be his last “wushu” movie but does not specifically state that he was retiring from acting. Wushu is the variety of martial arts that the actor practices and which he believes has had its intended purpose distorted in numerous derivative movies. Rather than using combat to enforce aggressiveness and revenge or build up a fighter’s ego, wushu should allow the combatants to discover the depth of their character and ultimately engender peace. Fearless was to be Jet Li’s last “traditional” martial arts film.
While time will tell if this is actually the case, Fearless is a praise-worthy attempt — specifically in the newly available Director’s cut — to express Li’s sentiment about his practice. Chinese director Ronnie Yu helps the actor bring to the screen a sensationalized biography of legendary Chinese master Huo Yuanjia (1869-1910). There is some context from Yuanjia’s childhood around his father’s wushu practice and his defeat in combat, which drives him to become the champion he will be as an adult. However, the majority of the story takes place around the turn of the 20th century against the backdrop of the political upheaval in China.
Yuanjia is shown to be a mostly arrogant showboat who engages in combat to constantly prove he is the “champion” fighter and to draw more students to his school so they can worship his skills. It is only through scenes interacting with the character’s daughter where we initially see his benevolent side. After a deadly tragedy, Yuanjia loses faith in his practice along with the will to live and goes into exile hoping to die. Through spending time with a rural and uncomplicated farming village and most specifically the blind woman Moon (Betty Sun) who helps save him, he learns compassion and regains his soul allowing him to return to combat with a new respect for human life.
Do not fear that Li has gone “soft” (he does show a greater acting range than normal), as there is sufficient action though if you are looking for wall-wall combat, you may be checking your watch during the character’s soul-searching moments. Fans of Li’s fighting skills will be rewarded with many spectacular and often gravity defying combat sequences excellently choreographed by Woo-ping Yuen of Matrix and Crouching Tiger fame. Unlike those films, wirework and computer graphics (the only obvious CGI is during distant aerial shots to reconstruct historic locations) were avoided to lend to the realistic feel of the combat. Though there is some editing trickery applied to some of the complex fighting moves as Li had to be filmed at six times normal speed in order to allow his movements to be adequately captured and then displayed when the footage was slowed down. The results are impressive.
Universal presents a new Director’s cut of the film that is included along with the Theatrical and Unrated versions (all on a dual-layered 50GB Blu-ray Disc). Having previously only seen the Unrated version (the difference between the Theatrical and Unrated is 3 minutes of various cuts to excise violence), I enjoyed the film for its action but found it to be very uneven and poorly paced. It focuses much more on the action with the main character’s spiritual quest feeling tacked on to complete the story. The Director’s cut restores 37 minutes of footage that allows the pacing, which is still off in a few parts, to mostly balance out and include much needed character development.
While still not perfect (I have issues with the portrayal of Yuanjia as a child not being entirely believable, and there is a touch too much melodrama for my tastes), Li and Yu’s intended purpose comes across much more successfully in the Director’s version. We are able to connect more with the character and empathize with his loss and ultimate redemption. The film brings out the director’s intended mythic feel (I won’t go as far as to call it “epic”) that was truncated in the previous versions, and you still get the amazing action scenes. The only reason to watch the Unrated cut would be to have less “slow” parts to skip to get to the next fight if that is your main interest in the film.
Universal gives Fearless a competent 1080p VC-1 encoded transfer framed at 2.40:1 for its Blu-ray debut. Never having seen the HD DVD version, I cannot say how this compares, but it is a marked improvement over the previous DVD release. For the most part, it is an impressive presentation with good contrast (really bright whites), noticeable but not overly heavy grain, consistent skin tones, lush saturated colors that bring out the stylized palette of hues employed and a pristine print. Beautiful outdoor shots of the countryside are presented equally well with the amazing action footage.
Detail is remarkable in close ups but varies with mid to long shots sometimes seeming a bit soft. I am not sure if this is the fault of the transfer or due to the filmmaker’s style but can be distracting when transitioning quickly between shots in the same scene. While there are many really dark scenes with candle or moonlight as the only illumination, blacks generally resolve well. Unfortunately there are a few sections where blacks appear muddy and detail is minimized. These issues do not ruin what is mostly a note worthy transfer, but the visual presentation slips up a bit too much to compete with the best of Blu-ray we currently have.
You should not be overly concerned about my complaints on the high-def video, as the Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track (upgraded from the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 track on HD DVD) is sure to impress. Universal’s embracing of lossless audio has produced some of the most memorable soundtracks in recent months. Following the stellar tracks on The Hulk, Hellboy II, Wanted and the Mummy 3, Fearless’ high-def audio is as enveloping as you can ask for. In fact, there are several combat sequences that can be utilized to demo your surround setup (along with your high-def television).
There are times when the amount of on-screen action is almost overwhelming, and this track does a tremendous job of juggling everything in the mix. Obviously the fight scenes showcase the use of the surrounds the best and do an excellent job. Fists flying, bones breaking, wood shattering, swords clanging and even the wind blowing are well delineated with remarkable dynamic range and directionality.
Do not worry that your sub will be left out, as it gets a thorough workout too. The only complaint I can find in this outstanding audio presentation is that in a few instances dialogue may get lost under the action, but this was not much of an issue as I was watching with the English SDH subtitles. Subtitles are also included in Spanish and French. The lossless track is available on all three versions with the Unrated and Theatrical also having English and French DTS 5.1 tracks at 1.5 Mbps.
The only extra is a short featurette carried over from the DVD and HD DVD versions. It barely qualifies as an extra (and was not even listed on the back of the case) as the movie deserves more attention to its background context than we get here. A commentary, fully fleshed out “making of” documentary or feature of real depth about wushu would be welcome. There was a deleted scene not carried over, as it is incorporated in the Director’s cut.
A Fearless Journey (16:06, SD) – A mostly promotional piece that has a few interesting moments with interviews from Jet Li, Woo-ping Yuen and Ronnie Yu. While there is the standard promotional voiceover present, the featurette is worth sitting through for what little information it provides. There is a brief background on Wushu and about this being Li’s final film of this sort.
My Scenes – Not really an extra but functionality that allows you to bookmark the beginning and ending of sections for later viewing.
Whether Fearless turns out to be Jet Li’s final traditional martial arts film or not, it is a noteworthy addition to his catalog. With the new Director’s cut from Universal, we see the film director Ronnie Yu intended and get a respectful story of a flawed character’s redemption played alongside stunning action work.
The 1080p transfer has a few hiccups keeping it from competing with the best of high-def but will still mostly impress, and the lossless audio is top notch. Sadly the extra included is underwhelming. This Blu-ray almost screams out for a future double-dip. In the mean time we have a very respectable high-def experience, if not a well-rounded release.
– Robert Searle
