Director Ronny Yu, just like HUA Yuan Jia, is a fighter who has conquered his inner devil. Moderately handicapped by polio, he endured an isolated childhood. Against his father's (kindly meant) wishes for him to go into business, he followed his own dreams of directing movies, something for which his physical handicap makes him particularly unsuitable. Not among the prolific Hong Kong directors, he kept up with bringing to the local audience good quality work in the 80s and early 90s.
Then an interesting thing happened. In 1993, he made "The bride with white hair", which is both a martial arts yarn and a heart-breaking love story adapted from a well-known martial art novel that most local high-school kids in the 60s would have read. A few years later Hollywood was looking for a change in the formulaic horror genre that the public had long grown tired of. "When they saw The Bride with White Hair, maybe because of the exotic atmosphere, they identified it with the horror genre", Ronny Yu observed with a chuckle. A Hong Kong director could be what they wanted, to bring something new.
Yu did bring something new, a comical dimension to "Bride of Chucky". It was not easy for Yu to convert to the Hollywood system because in Hong Kong, the director is king. To wait, like a defendant waiting for the jury's verdict, for a randomly picked sample of mass movie-goers' "report card" on the test screening of your movie is not something that a pampered Hong Kong director can often handle. To see your movie re-edited (sometimes drastically) based on these pedestrian views is even tougher to stomach. Yu, however, has the maturity to understand that the system is market-driven and everything boils down to dollars and cents, and nothing more. You just have to play by the rules of the game. "Bride of Chucky" was obviously a success, as Yu was asked to take on "Freddy vs Jason", not an easy task as both are household names to the horror genre fan population. While not a huge success "F v J" was reasonably well received and, a little to his own amusement, Ronny Yu became an established Hollywood horror-comedy director. But he wants to do more than that.
There is no room for comedy in "Fearless". It is about a person who in a most revered icon in the world of Chinese martial arts as well as modern Chinese history. HUA Yuan Jia's story is truly inspiring, not only in its period significant in Chinese history, but also in a more universal realm of the highest ideal of wushi, or martial arts, as a path towards self-realisation, very much in line with Bruce Lee's philosophy. Yu treats the subject matter with respect. Although there is a fair amount of "preaching", he sensibly refrains from sensationalised emotion stirring tricks. Very brutal action sequences are balanced with most serene scenes, such as rice planters stopping in unison to listen to the sound of nature, the breeze rustling the leaves.
In an hour-long radio interview, director Yu explained what a wushi movie really is about a real life person who has made contributions to the world of martial arts. The action sequence, therefore, should be as realistic as possible. To do this, we must have a true wushi expert, and Jet Li is of course just the best one. By the same token, his opponents should be reasonably seasoned martial artists. He then went on to explain that in Fearless, he has tried to minimise using camera techniques but instead shot the bouts and parries with a straight take and let the actors do their job. In this I was a little disappointed, as there was less of what he has promised, and certainly nothing as spontaneous and brilliant as the Donnie Yan and WU Jing duel in "Saat Po Long". But I shouldn't be too critical as this is, after all, not a wushi documentary but a commercial movie. The camera is in fact extremely well used, with excellent editing, putting the action sequences with the best I've seen.
In "Danny the dog" Jet Li has demonstrated that he can act. In "Fearless" he brings out well the contrast between the abrasive and the humbled Hua in the two halves of the movie. The only other role that has some meat is the Japanese challenger (the all-goodness blind girl is not difficult to do). As much as I like the guy (particularly in "Be with you" or "Ima, ai ni yukimasu"), Shido Nakamura is miscast. Despite good acting ability, he simply does not have that fierce intensity to portray the top notch Japanese martial art expert. More suitable would be Ken Watanabe or Hiroyuki Sanada, both in "The Last Samurai" and the latter also in "Twilight Samurai".
Then an interesting thing happened. In 1993, he made "The bride with white hair", which is both a martial arts yarn and a heart-breaking love story adapted from a well-known martial art novel that most local high-school kids in the 60s would have read. A few years later Hollywood was looking for a change in the formulaic horror genre that the public had long grown tired of. "When they saw The Bride with White Hair, maybe because of the exotic atmosphere, they identified it with the horror genre", Ronny Yu observed with a chuckle. A Hong Kong director could be what they wanted, to bring something new.
Yu did bring something new, a comical dimension to "Bride of Chucky". It was not easy for Yu to convert to the Hollywood system because in Hong Kong, the director is king. To wait, like a defendant waiting for the jury's verdict, for a randomly picked sample of mass movie-goers' "report card" on the test screening of your movie is not something that a pampered Hong Kong director can often handle. To see your movie re-edited (sometimes drastically) based on these pedestrian views is even tougher to stomach. Yu, however, has the maturity to understand that the system is market-driven and everything boils down to dollars and cents, and nothing more. You just have to play by the rules of the game. "Bride of Chucky" was obviously a success, as Yu was asked to take on "Freddy vs Jason", not an easy task as both are household names to the horror genre fan population. While not a huge success "F v J" was reasonably well received and, a little to his own amusement, Ronny Yu became an established Hollywood horror-comedy director. But he wants to do more than that.
There is no room for comedy in "Fearless". It is about a person who in a most revered icon in the world of Chinese martial arts as well as modern Chinese history. HUA Yuan Jia's story is truly inspiring, not only in its period significant in Chinese history, but also in a more universal realm of the highest ideal of wushi, or martial arts, as a path towards self-realisation, very much in line with Bruce Lee's philosophy. Yu treats the subject matter with respect. Although there is a fair amount of "preaching", he sensibly refrains from sensationalised emotion stirring tricks. Very brutal action sequences are balanced with most serene scenes, such as rice planters stopping in unison to listen to the sound of nature, the breeze rustling the leaves.
In an hour-long radio interview, director Yu explained what a wushi movie really is about a real life person who has made contributions to the world of martial arts. The action sequence, therefore, should be as realistic as possible. To do this, we must have a true wushi expert, and Jet Li is of course just the best one. By the same token, his opponents should be reasonably seasoned martial artists. He then went on to explain that in Fearless, he has tried to minimise using camera techniques but instead shot the bouts and parries with a straight take and let the actors do their job. In this I was a little disappointed, as there was less of what he has promised, and certainly nothing as spontaneous and brilliant as the Donnie Yan and WU Jing duel in "Saat Po Long". But I shouldn't be too critical as this is, after all, not a wushi documentary but a commercial movie. The camera is in fact extremely well used, with excellent editing, putting the action sequences with the best I've seen.
In "Danny the dog" Jet Li has demonstrated that he can act. In "Fearless" he brings out well the contrast between the abrasive and the humbled Hua in the two halves of the movie. The only other role that has some meat is the Japanese challenger (the all-goodness blind girl is not difficult to do). As much as I like the guy (particularly in "Be with you" or "Ima, ai ni yukimasu"), Shido Nakamura is miscast. Despite good acting ability, he simply does not have that fierce intensity to portray the top notch Japanese martial art expert. More suitable would be Ken Watanabe or Hiroyuki Sanada, both in "The Last Samurai" and the latter also in "Twilight Samurai".