Jet Li's last martial arts movie...Fearless

[JCPhoenix]

...or it might not be, considering rumors, but looking at all the interviews with Li, it certainly sounds like it really will be his last kung fu film.

http://www.k-1usa.net/images/news/large/383_lg.jpg

But who's looking forward to this? Jet Li has always been my favorite martial arts star though his career suffered in the late 90s-early millennium with absolute crap to only decent Hollywood films like The One, Romeo Must Die, Cradle 2 the Grave, etc...which was disappointing for a lot of fans who knew his previous work (Once Upon a Time in China films, Fong Sai Yuk 1 and 2, The Tai-Chi Master, Swordsman 2, Fists of Legend). But fans were pleased, I'm sure, to see him rebound with first Hero, and then Unleashed/Danny the Dog.

Well for this "last" martial arts film capping off his career, he chose a Chinese-language film that sounds a little more similar to his former hits (OUATIC, Fong Sai Yuk etc) rather than his Hollywood efforts and, well, early word from China is that if this is truly his last martial arts film, it's a fitting finale to a great career.

He's teamed up with Yuen Wo Ping (The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Kill Bill) again - with whom he did the majority of his greatest films - Unleashed/Danny the Dog, Fists of Legend, OUATIC, etc as well as director Ronny Yu - of whom I haven't seen many films, but I do remember his The Bride with White Hair which was a fantastic wuxia film. Fearless is a biopic about Chinese Martial Arts Master Huo Yuanjia (who lived in the late 1800s/early 1900s). Huo Yuanjia was the founder and spiritual guru of the Jin Wu Sports Federation. ETA: Rogue Pictures (Unleashed/Danny the Dog, Shaun of the Dead, a subdivision of my favorite studio division right now, Focus Features) has picked this up.

I'm getting more excited about this the more I hear about it - here's a nice article from Newsweek about it: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11179138/site/newsweek/

and to cap it all off, while I wouldn't trust ratings that far with so little ratings as of yet, it still gets me excited that this film already has a 7.7/10 with 279 votes on IMDb - that's with the IMDb weighted system. If you're taking the average, it's actually 8.7/10 currently. Of the 19 reviews there so far, 16 give the film 8 or higher and the remaining three reviews gave it a 7. No negative reviews or mixed reviews as of yet.

I've been a big Jet Li fan for many years and I gotta say, it'd be really nice to see Li's martial arts career end on a high note.

[Cronos]

my interest in this shot up when i saw its directed by Ronny Yu, as for Li i've enjoyed his films from the last few years and will see this

[Slim_JGE]

I'll watch pretty much anything he does... my intro to Li was Fist of Legend... still probably my all time favorite kung-fu film. This man is THE martial arts star for me. :D

[XCoRyX]

Will it be as "awesome" as The One?Or Cradle 2 The Grave? Will he fight 8-9 UFC fighters in a cage,and win?

Hope not.

[AngelDust06]

Looks cool...Ill definelty be checking this out. I love watching Jet Li

[JCPhoenix]

Originally posted by XCoRyX
Will it be as "awesome" as The One?Or Cradle 2 The Grave? Will he fight 8-9 UFC fighters in a cage,and win?

Hope not.

Like I said, his Hollywood outings were a low point in his career - there's a reason why he was a big star before he went to Hollywood, and for that, you should see his films from the BULK of his career, Fist of Legend, Fong Sai Yuk, Swordsman 2, etc...

[Tyler_Durden_208]

I still think the "high" point of his career (keep in my mind, I like mostly all of his flicks, minus Romeo Must Die (great concept, horrible execution) and Cradle 2 The Grave) is Unleashed/Danny the Dog. Great martial arts work, and he flexes his acting skills in an English language movie (not that I'm against his native language, I just feel if you can act that good in a non-native language, you deserve an Oscar).

[The Young Son]

What's he gonna do afterwards? Dramas?

I think he should keep going with the martial arts stuff, because IMHO there is no way I can take him seriously in something else. He is not a great actor. He's a Jackie Chan (all moves, little talent).

[Cronos]

Originally posted by The Young Son
What's he gonna do afterwards? Dramas?

if i remember correctly he wants to do kids movies

[XCoRyX]

Jet Li in Beethovens 7th anyone?

The only kid movie I could maybe see him doing is something like 3 Ninjas or Spy Kids where he mentors kids in the martial arts degree. Hopefully he proves me wrong,because I love seeing the diversity...I always have enjoyed seeing actors/actresses who many label "one-dimensional" and come out and do something totally unexpected in a solid way.

[Shockwave]

Jet Li will always rock in my opinion. No matter how bad/good the movies he stars in are, they are better for having him in it.

Unleashed and Hero were two of his most recent and best performances in his career so i look forward to this.


PS- I think he would do great in a kids movie.

[Servo]

Interesting. The more I think about it, I can't really come up with any actors or actresses (maybe Lucy Liu) that are asian and have done movies that don't require them to do kung-fu or tap in to their native culture. Can you imagine Jet Li in a romantic comedy or a buddy film? It'll be interesting to see what he'll try to attempt if he's putting action aside.