Awesome movie. I can't believe I was crying in a Jet Li movie!
Jet Li plays 霍元甲, who transits from an arrogant pompous ass to an enlightened kung fu master. The screenplay is smart and poignant; the delusional bum on the street of Tianjin is a perfect example. It amplifies that 霍 is a fool in the beginning and that only fools care for titles such as "Tianjin's #1 fighter". It is definitely not a perfect movie though. Jet Li compensates his inabilty to act by overacting to force out the transformation to the viewer, and this is basically the biggest fault of the film: the transitions between the stages of 霍's life. More screen time should have been devoted to the blind girl to vivify the change. I heard there actually is more, but it was cut in the theatrical release. I also think there should have been something more pivotal than a newspaper headline to cause the newly enlightened 霍 to fight for Chinese pride.
Toward the end of the film, there is a scene between 霍 and the Japanese fighter which tells the viewer blankly the theme of the film. I actually didn't mind it because originally, I misinterpreted and thought the film was going to nose-dive into some sort of "Chinese aren't weaklings and we can kick ass too" drivel. That scene set the tone of the final fight and got my eyes teary at the end. The message also calmed me a little after today's Acma midterm. Okay I don't think I was complete raped by it, but I don't think I did well. There were two writtens I couldn't finish, with 2 MC I am not too sure about--one with no matching answer and one guessed because I didn't have enough time to complete it after realizing what I had to do.
Oh and I hate the tag line. Change courage to humility please.
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