A Guy Named Renfield

I’ve been wondering why this has been billed as Jet Li’s final film, and I’ve been having a hard time accepting that assessment anyway. Entertainers always retire and come back for “one final performance”. How many times have the Rolling Stones gone out on a “final” tour? Hasn’t Barbara Streisand been retiring for years? I’m sure if I check any number of web sites, there will probably be a statement from Jet Li summarizing what I automatically assumed when I first heard the promotions: he’s not stupid. He’s probably decided that he’s made enough money and wants to quit while his body can still move of its own accord. I’m sure he wants to spend time raising his daughter and stop risking broken bones on every project he works on. I’m guessing he’s going to start taking on roles as a producer, and will probably start showing up as a “special guest star” in future films.

“Fearless” is a really good martial arts film. It’s based on the life of one of Jet Li’s idols, and embellished in the way all historical movies are. We see the character grow, become a great martial artist, suffer tragedy to learn what martial arts are truly for, and then – inexplicably – watch him start fighting again. It’s done in a modern style that raises it out of the chop-sockey genre, avoids the magic wires altogether, dispenses with the stylized scenery we suffered through in “Hero” and has enough plot driving character moments to make heckling a lot of fun and practically unavoidable.

There were some good trailers that preceded the movie, notable for the inclusion of another martial arts film that’s going to come out in December. It has Chow Yun-Fat as an emperor, samurai vs. ninja action, and the set designer from “Hero” so bring your sunglasses. We also noted that Sarah Michelle Geller, trying to avoid being stereotyped as “Buffy”, is getting stereotyped as the hapless heroine in the modern horror flicks. No kidding. There were tow trailers back to back, one for “The Grudge 2” and the other for another movie that is copying the Grudge formula down to the last letter, including casting Sarah Michelle Geller in the lead. I can’t even remember the title, since we all called it “the Grudge 3”.