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Reviews
Long men kezhan (1967)
This film could have launched the popularity of kung fu in the west, years before Bruce Lee.
I watched this film at a university club for foreign students in 1970, more-or-less by accident. I was awestruck, and the people who saw it with me discussed it for days after. Decades later, when I joined a group to see the acclaimed new film, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," I confounded my friends by muttering "Seen that," "Old hat," and "I thought this film was supposed to be ground-breaking?" at intervals throughout. I'd kill to have a DVD of the 1966 film. It was a great introduction to Chinese martial arts movies and their conventions (e.g., the traditional inn-wrecking scene). The humor of the scene where all these tough, hard-bitten warriors suddenly hold an impromptu psychoanalytical intervention for their most introverted member still makes me grin. If you get a chance, see it!
Unleashed (2005)
Li is remarkable, playing a fish out of water (very minor spoiler)
Most comments on this film have been made by fans of action films (and yes, Li is an amazing martial-arts performer), but I watched it after being challenged to, during a discussion of movies featuring actors playing mentally challenged people (men, generally) who generally get big award nominations for it. After all, was Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man really stretching when he refused to look at the people talking to him? So he did a little bit of research on autism -- big deal.
Anyway, Jet Li's performance reminded me of Jeff Bridges in Starman, who managed somehow to be convincing as someone who had never spoken before, much less spoken English. Naivety is one of the most difficult things for an actor to make convincing, and Li certainly does it in this film. From managing to look like a very young person who has lived a very rough life (Li is over 40) to eating what was visibly his very first ice cream, he was wonderfully real. I was very impressed; I think he's a great actor. If he's smart, he'll demand deeper roles; I look forward to his future work.