Fearless (1993)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

Overrated

The first must-see film of the year.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

"You're safe because we died already." A brave feature for a Hollywood studio to take on, this atypical avant-garde film attempts to deal with the existentialist philosophy surrounding life and death, after the protagonist experiences a near-death event. The epiphany and adrenaline rush that Max Klein (Jeff Bridges) undergoes in his brush with death radically alters his personality and behaviour. When the hydraulics fail on the plane on which he is aboard, setting it plunging towards the ground, amongst the panic and screaming of his fellow passengers Max has the revelation that he is no longer afraid. The accompanying 'buzz' that his seeming invincibility produces has such an impact upon him that after surviving the crash, he proceeds to risk his life in search of an equivalent level of euphoria in cheating death. Thus, he confronts his own life-threatening allergy to strawberries, blithely walks across lanes of oncoming traffic, and in one riveting scene, stands perilously on the ledge of a skyscraper in the buffeting wind. In addition, he is increasingly drawn to those who have shared this life-changing experience, and steadily more distant from his wife and child. Bridges delivers a laconic and effortless performance, at first glance, more worthy of an Oscar nomination than his earlier less convincing incarnation of Carpenter's 'Starman'. Yet, his performance suffers from the fact that his character's smugness and introspective self-absorption is ultimately unappealing. Just as this protagonist has a growing sense of detachment from those around him, so can we the audience become more alienated from his narcissistic and zen-like attitude. Bridges' efforts are further undermined by having to deliver lines of new-age psycho-babble which grate with the profound issues under analysis. As such, Max offers empty pieces of advice such as 'If life and death make no sense, there's no reason to do anything', and to his gaming aficionado son: 'When you die, you don't get another life.' By contrast, Rosie Perez provides a performance worthy of earning her an Academy Award statuette, and one which should have garnered her more future Hollywood opportunities than has been the case. Her portrayal of a mother wracked by depression and guilt for not having done more to save her baby is simply heart-rending. How can one forget the slow-motion scene in which she desperately attempts to breathe in the scent of another's new-born for that which she herself has lost. As preparation for bringing such weighty and profound content to the 'big screen', director Peter Weir interviewed survivors from a real crash which occurred just outside Sioux City, Iowa in 1989. Consequently, Weir decided to change the nature of the film's most moving and frightening scene by dropping all exterior shots, and purely concentrating on the passengers' viewpoint, thereby heightening its intensity for the film's audience. After a few years of career hiatus, Weir approached the studio heads and asked to be given an artistic challenge in bringing to fruition a proposal for what he termed a 'broken script'. His skills are evident from the majesty of the opening scene in which Bridge emerges from a hazy, smoky cornfield holding what the audience believe to be his baby in his arms and his little boy by the hand, before the shot pans out to reveal the wreckage and carnage of a terrible air-crash. Probably the inspiration for JJ Abrams' opening of 'Lost'. The director, who himself considered this feature his greatest work, greatly benefits from working alongside cinematographer, Allen Daviau, frequent collaborator in Spielberg's early successes. If only Rafael Yglesias' screenplay, based on his own novel, had been as impressive. Nevertheless, Weir has provided one of the most touching pieces of cinematic history which should endure as testament to his art, with his treatment of the crash scene playing out to Gorecki's Third Symphony.

Max Klein (Jeff Bridges) survives a plane crash and emerges a changed man. He reunites a baby with the mother and walks away from the crash. He drives off to drop in on long lost friend. He feels invincible and eats strawberries while being deadly allergic. When the FBI finds him, he insists on flying back to San Francisco. Everybody is overjoyed. However he is distant from his wife Laura (Isabella Rossellini) and son Jonah. His business partner Jeff Gordon (John de Lancie) was killed in the crash. Lawyer Brillstein (Tom Hulce) wants him to exaggerate for Jeff's wife Nan (Deirdre O'Connell)'s settlement. Airline therapist Dr. Bill Perlman (John Turturro) is working with the survivors. Max becomes a media hero. Unable to cope, Perlman connects him to grief stricken survivor Carla Rodrigo (Rosie Perez) and her callous husband Manny (Benicio Del Toro) after the death of her baby in the crash.I like the idea and I find the first act rather fascinating. Walking away from the crash is such a great opening. However I got a bit tired of Jeff Bridges' zen master performance and I found his character rather annoying. I want to find some insight or some revelation. Instead, he's a bit of a douchey socialpath. He needs a few more explosive moments. It's great that he has a panic attack after Nan puts him in his place. I also find the compensation discussion interesting. It could have added more of that into the movie. Rosie Perez plays a depressed angry character. It gets a bit depressing to watch her. It is hard to get my hands around these characters. It's as if the movie wants the audience to join Max but I can't completely get into it.

"Fearless" is a powerful movie. From the terrifying crash sequence to Jeff Bridges walk on a roof top and his physics lesson for the benefit of Rosie Perez, "Fearless" owes its considerable emotional impact to the Rafael Yglesias novel of the same name. No surprise since Yglesias wrote the screenplay.What I found surprising is that Yglesias did not receive even a nomination for the screenplay. "Schindler's List" won, but I still ask, how did "Fearless" not receive a nomination? Bridges, Isabella Rossellini and Perez brought the script to life with brilliant performances, but the story of "Fearless" is in the story. It is a rare examination of the effect of experience on human behavior and personality, and the courage that a few find in those experiences. Insanity never was so valuable as it is in "Fearless."

After a terrible air disaster, survivor Max Klein emerges a changed person.Unable to connect to his former life or to wife, he feels godlike and immortal.When psychologist Bill Perlman is unable to help, he has Max meet another survivor, Carla Rodrigo, who is racked with grief and guilt since her baby died in the crash....This is one of those movies that had massive plaudits when first released, but vanished without a trace, (you can't even get it on DVD here in the UK).And I ask myself why? It's one of the best films no ones heard of in the nineties, and it may even have a career best performance from Bridges and the rest of the cast.It's a difficult subject matter to deal with, people trying to come to terms with loss, whereas one man, is doing everything in his power to prove everyone that something enigmatic, even sublime, happened to him on the plane.The film would be perfect if it had the same power in the third act, like it did in the first two, but sadly, it runs a little out of steam.The scenes on the plane are very intense and genuinely terrifying, but somewhat peaceful thanks to Bridges calming influence.The film is asking lots of questions throughout, but if you go that little much deeper, rather than look at it at face value, it gets a little lost also (there are some scenes, that are indicating that Bridges is really dead, and in purgatory, which can be confusing at times).But all in all, if you ever come across this movie, you must take some time out to see i, it's an amazing movie with an amazing message, it just loses it's way a little in the last 30 mins.