get pepper for the zombies
Just finished watching Jet Li's Fearless (known elsewhere as Huo Yuan Jia which is the name of Jet Li's character). Awesome! Reminded us both of Fist of Legend in that it's very much a fight movie. Lots of set piece fights, not that much wire work or CGI. From the making-of featurette on the DVD, it seems that Li and director Ronny Yu and fight choreographer Yuen Wo Ping had Fist of Legend in mind, specifically trying to top it as the ultimate fighting martial arts movie. There are set pieces that reference Iron Monkey and one of the Fong Sai Yuk movies. Probably many more that I missed. Jet Li does a good job with the melodramatic (practically operatic) storyline. While the script has a bit more depth and ambition than straightforward stuff like Fist of Legend it's not as arty as the Zhang martial arts movies. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I must admit that when I read that Ronny Yu was directing this movie, I had my doubts. But it was so good that it made me remember that before he was making Hollywood crap like Bride of Chucky he did some excellent HK movies, like Bride With White Hair. We watched the US theatrical release which clocks in around 100 min. The DVD also has an unrated version (more of the fight scenes, I suppose). Alas, the director's cut (140 min. version) does not seem to be available in a US region DVD. There's a muy thai fight that shows up as an extra. I'm sure the opening fight scenes probably go on much longer. Also Michelle Yeoh had a small part that got cut from the US release (she does show up briefly in a crowd shot at the end).