toastykitten (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
toastykitten) wrote2007-03-12 08:04 pm
toastykitten) wrote2007-03-12 08:04 pm
Entry tags:
movies
We watched 2 movies from Amazon Unbox. Both were rentals. It's really not worth the extra ten bucks to buy the movie, when you don't get any extras attached to it. The quality of the picture was a lot better than both of us expected, but not as good as watching an actual DVD. For Amazon Unbox rentals I would recommend getting stuff like comedies and things you know you're only going to watch once that isn't too gorgeous.
The first movie was Fearless, Jet Li's "last martial arts" film, about a real Chinese hero, Huo Yuanjia. (I am sobbing in a corner. No more Jet Li martial arts!) It was dubbed. I hate, hate dubs, because they always hire really crappy actors, and the translations always make the speeches about honor and dignity sound really, really dumb and sappy. But I lived with it.
Huo Yuanjia is a legendary wushu fighter who beat a bunch of Westerners in challenges, at a time when China's power was waning and there was severe internal political turmoil. Huo Yuanjia's life became an inspiration to many Chinese, and gave them pride in Chinese identity at a time when it seemed to be slipping away. Fearless is only very loosely based on his life, though, and most of it concentrates on getting out the message of wushu and its purpose, which is not to fight, but to "stop war", and to know that one's own worst enemy is oneself. (I'm paraphrasing from a bunch of interviews that Jet Li gave; he said he was inspired to make the movie because he read about China's soaring suicide rates, and wanted to inspire hope and pride in the Chinese.)
Half of the film is Jet Li beating up huge white guys. It's definitely fun, but not campy the way it usually is. (Or not as campy.) There's very little wire work, and it's unbelievable how graceful he makes his movements. It's almost like watching a really beautiful dance. I loved the fight scenes. The film begins with Huo Yuanjia fighting with three white dudes, and then as he prepares to fight the last person, a Japanese dude, his life flashes before his eyes. We are taken back to his childhood, where the filmmakers actually find a kid who looks sort of like Jet Li. It's really cute. Anyway, he learns the true consequences of his destructive arrogance and becomes the hero that China knows and loves today.
It's not a very deep movie, but it is beautifully shot, with great fights choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping. I didn't like it as much as I do his earlier stuff, but it's fun. I also like that they didn't make the Japanese fighter a caricature, which would have been really easy to do.
Links:
Hey, how long do you think this will be up? Watch full-length movies on TubeZoom.Huo Yuanjia is a legendary wushu fighter who beat a bunch of Westerners in challenges, at a time when China's power was waning and there was severe internal political turmoil. Huo Yuanjia's life became an inspiration to many Chinese, and gave them pride in Chinese identity at a time when it seemed to be slipping away. Fearless is only very loosely based on his life, though, and most of it concentrates on getting out the message of wushu and its purpose, which is not to fight, but to "stop war", and to know that one's own worst enemy is oneself. (I'm paraphrasing from a bunch of interviews that Jet Li gave; he said he was inspired to make the movie because he read about China's soaring suicide rates, and wanted to inspire hope and pride in the Chinese.)
Half of the film is Jet Li beating up huge white guys. It's definitely fun, but not campy the way it usually is. (Or not as campy.) There's very little wire work, and it's unbelievable how graceful he makes his movements. It's almost like watching a really beautiful dance. I loved the fight scenes. The film begins with Huo Yuanjia fighting with three white dudes, and then as he prepares to fight the last person, a Japanese dude, his life flashes before his eyes. We are taken back to his childhood, where the filmmakers actually find a kid who looks sort of like Jet Li. It's really cute. Anyway, he learns the true consequences of his destructive arrogance and becomes the hero that China knows and loves today.
It's not a very deep movie, but it is beautifully shot, with great fights choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping. I didn't like it as much as I do his earlier stuff, but it's fun. I also like that they didn't make the Japanese fighter a caricature, which would have been really easy to do.
Links:
- Wikipedia Huo Yuanjia - this is totally unreliable; read at your own risk.
- GreenCine interview with Jet Li
- GreenCine links on the movie