The "Jet Li's Fearless" master thread (SPOILERS)

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The "Jet Li's Fearless" master thread (SPOILERS)

Post by tom2681 »

Do you want the picture comparison between the R1 Unrated, R1 Theatrical Cut, R2UK and R4?
It's here

Do you want to know about the differences between the theatrical Hong-Kong cut and the US unrated cut? (aka: Western cut)
Over here

Do you want to know what's been added in the Director's Cut?
Read on. :D

---------

In this thread, I'll try to summarize the differences between the theatrical HK cut and the new director's cut.

Note: the DC is 140 minutes long.

Each version has a different opening, and the DC is no exception.
It begins with a modern-day Michelle Yeoh explaining to a commitee why Wushu should be recognized as an olympic sport.
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Duration: roughly 50 seconds.

Gone is the wushu-demo from the theatrical HK cut.
Gone is the black and white stock footage.
But I'm confident I'll find them somewhere during the next 2 hours. :D

Then, instead of going directly to the competition and the title card, the DC takes us to another scene, the one where Huo Yuan-Jia gets on the boat.

Close-up of Yuan-Jia:
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New title card:
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And then we head for his childhood flashback:
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Before his father's duel, Young Yuan-Jia allows Jinsun to visit the trophy room:
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Duration: roughly 50 seconds.

Right after he's defeated, Young Yuan-Jia decides to steal one of his father's wushu manuals and asks Jinsun to copy it:
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Duration: 1 minute.

Then, his father scolds him (this scene can also be found in the western cut but not the theatrical HK cut):
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Duration: 1 Minute.

Just before the transition to the old Yuan-Jia, Young Yuan-Jia challenges Zhao a second time, and wins:
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Duration: 1 minute.

In the scene where Jade is waiting for Yuan-Jia, a close-up was missing in the Western cut. They've put it back for the DC:
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Right after Yuan-Jia is seen fighting all the challengers at once in his dream, we get another shot of Jade waiting for him:
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After Yuan-Jia meets Master Chin, there is a new scene in which he vents his anger by beating his students:
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Duration: 1 Minute.

There's a new bloody shot of Jade's hand (it wasn't in the Western cut / can't remember whether the theatrical HK cut had it):
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After Yuan-Jia gets on the boat, there are a few shots where we can see him live as a beggar:
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Duration: 1 Minute 10 seconds.

Yuan-Jia's underwater hallucinations have been restored (they'd been removed in the western cut):
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Yuan-Jia's introduction to the farmers' village is longer, and so is his recovery:
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During Yuan-Jia's recovery, there's a scene where we see a sick ox, which explains why the kid will later steal one (there is a reference to this in the Thai fighter scene):
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Duration: 1 minute 30 seconds.

Yay ! Moon's close-up had been axed in the western cut. It's now back. :D
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There's a new scene in which the sick ox finds itself unable to work in the fields anymore:
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Duration: 1 minute 30 seconds.

Another scene with the ox:
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Duration: 1 Minute.

The DC contains the Thai fighter scene, although a few shots are missing near the end of the fight:
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Duration: 5 minutes.

There's a new scene in which the kids ask Yuan-Jia to teach them martial arts / One of the kids suggests that Moon is Yuan-Jia's girlfriend:
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Duration: 2 Minutes.

Instead of being at the beginning of the film, the black and white stock footage is shown when Yuan-Jia returns to civilization:
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New scene: Yuan-Jia wants to speak to Jinsun. He refuses to see him, but gives him the copy of his father's martial art manual:
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The scene where Yuan-Jia is reunited with his students (which could be found in the western cut) is still there in the DC:
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Yuan-Jia bumps into Zhao, who's become a butcher. He gives him his father's book:
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Yuan-Jia is seen opening the JingWu school with Zhao:
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Jet's magnificent CGI-enhanced wushu demo is once again in a different place. It was at the beginning of the theatrical HK cut and in the middle of the western cut. Now it's at the end. :lol:
The demo is placed right after Yuan-Jia's had tea with the japanese fighter:
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Moving on to the competition:
In the western cut, the fights against the boxer, the spear-fighter and the swordsman were at the beginning of the film. In the DC, all fights are shown as one complete piece.
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The final fight seems to be unchanged, and so's the ending.
Thankfully, Jet's night-time wushu demo isn't trimmed (unlike in the western cut).

Added scene: In the middle of the end credits, there's a second Yeoh scene. Utterly useless in my opinion, but interesting nonetheless:
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Duration: About 20 seconds.

Note: I've only highlighted the main differences. There are dozens of added/alternate shots that I haven't mentioned.
Last edited by tom2681 on 17 Jan 2007, 09:10, edited 4 times in total.
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Post by bradavon »

tom2681 wrote:Do you want to know what's been added in the Director's Cut ?
Read on. :D
Did we need another thread? ;)

Why not add it to the thread above. It's a bit overkill, it would've been enough to add the threads to your main thread.

Thanks though :D , that Yeoh footage looks really out of place but still interesting.
Last edited by bradavon on 16 Jan 2007, 19:27, edited 1 time in total.
tom2681
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Post by tom2681 »

There are so many posts, I wouldn't even know how to re-arrange those threads.
So I'm making one thread to rule them all. :D

EDIT: Done. I'm so fucking tired, I could die right now.
*falls on the floor*
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Post by saltysam »

don't forget there's also a post credits sequence.
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Post by Yi-Long »

tom2681 wrote:There are so many posts, I wouldn't even know how to re-arrange those threads.
So I'm making one thread to rule them all. :D

EDIT: Done. I'm so fucking tired, I could die right now.
*falls on the floor*
When you do die, can I have your video-equipment? Thanks!


:D :P
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Post by Markgway »

Sounds alright... but I hate having to double dip without retaining the version I already have. From the list above there doesn't seem to be anything key to the story that isn't in the western cut. I suspect it's mainly the pace that has slowed.
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Post by tom2681 »

@Saltysam:
Indeed. The credits were cut in my DVD-Rip. Now that I have the actual DVD, I can update the first post.

Thanks. :)
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Post by Yi-Long »

It really is a shame that Yeoh is so wasted in this movie. I doubt it even qualifies as a cameo, as she's not part of the actual movie...

The B/W stock-footage, is that genuine old footage from that time era (end 19th/early 20th century?) Is it interesting?
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Re: The "Jet Li's Fearless" master thread (SPOILERS)

Post by thelostdragon »

tom2681 wrote:Added scene: In the middle of the end credits, there's a second Yeoh scene. Utterly useless in my opinion, but interesting nonetheless.
Didn't think it was useless.
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Post by thelostdragon »

Tom, it seems that another scene is missing from the DC. I can remember in that in the Asian TC, there is a scene of Yuanjia fighting two guys on the podium. At one point one of them jumps on the other's shoulders and they fight Yuanjia that way.

Do you remember that scene?
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tom2681
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Post by tom2681 »

I saw it in the DC too, LD. I'm sure of it.
But I will check anyway. :)
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