Rating: 
Summary: To escape death is the greatest affirmation of life
Review: When Max was 13 years old his father was struck dead before his eyes for no apparent reason. "As if God just reached down and squeezed the life out of him." He learned that death is random and inexplicable. Years later, when the commercial airliner Max is flying on crashes, he is again confronted with the random manner in which God disposes of life. What is most puzzling is that while most of the passengers on board were killed, Max not only survived, but was left unscathed. His suit is hardly wrinkled! Suddenly he is thrust into another zone where every breath is rapture; every grain of sand felt with the fingers and every blade of grass finding light through the cracks in the pavement a revelation. Being able to use the senses to their fullest is the greatest affirmation of life. Max begins to feel untouchable after his miraculous escape from death, but with this feeling of invincibility, he begins to lose touch with the living. The entire plane crash sequence, from the moment passengers notice something's amiss to the fateful descent, is the most frightening of its kind ever captured on film - be forewarned! Rafael Yglesias adapted the screenplay from his novel "Fearless."
Rating:
Summary: Five Stars of Inspiration...Love...Tears
Review: Wow! While Christmas shopping two weeks ago, I came
across a DVD sale at an outlet mall. I found a
diamond in the rough...and I hope some of my e-mail buds
can tell me they've already seen "Fearless", starring
Jeff Bridges, Isabella Rosellini and Rosie Perez.
This decade-old film is awesome. Bring along plenty
of heart, at least one box of Kleenex, and the
inspiration of the New Year's spirit to launch the
next 12 months on an emotional high.
"Fearless" in many ways is a "chick flick", but this
guy was riveted to his seat...a hanky in hand...and so
wanton of an inspiring film to propel me into the New
Year. It is the story of a man who survives a plane
crash...and the after effects of saving lives...including
his own.
Jeff Bridges is stellar in the role of Max Klein.
Isabella Rosellini portrays his wife, and Rosie Perez
is a co-survivor...mom. This one is for every man and
woman on earth that either knows how to love and live,
or wants to know how to love and live. It pulls at
your heart strings like a Spielberg film, but has the
depth of a romantic drama no less compelling than life
at its very best...and worst.
Early in the film there is a scene where Jeff and
Rosie venture off to church to deal with "loss".
Their verbal exchange is priceless. It goes like
this:
As Rosie lights a candle near the alter, she looks
skyward and says, "You know you hurt me. You hurt me
forever. But I still believe in Him."
Jeff says, "Well, people don't so much believe in God
as a thing than not to choose to believe in nothing.
Life and death - they happen for no reason. We think
that people are born because their mother's wanted
them alive...that God needed another homerun hitter for
the Giants. We think that they die because they rob
me, or rob a bank. That way, even though we can't be
good enough or careful enough, we'll live forever. At
least we can try. But it makes no sense if life or
death just happens. Then there's no reason to do
anything.
Rosie responds, "Then there's no reason to love."
He asks, "What?"
She says, "There's no reason to love."
"Fearless" is nothing short of brilliant. It may not
be the best film for me to see one week before I catch
a plane to be with my sister and brother-in-law in
frigid Spokane, Washington, but it was a passionate
expose' on human emotions, feelings and compassion.
Max sets out to save the world, but we all know that
you can't take care of everybody if you don't take
care of yourself first.
This "feel-good" film comes with all the pieces.
There's nothing missing. If you know how to cry, be
prepared to do so. If you have a heart, lay it out on
the sofa as you watch this gem. If you seek purpose,
or have found purpose, watch it for the sake of
walking away from it with a heart of gold and respect
for life and limb, family and friends.
Does it sound like I was influenced by this film?
Damn right! It was the type of film that one may feel
was an intervention in their life at the most needy
point. It was for me. Rent (or buy) "Fearless".
There "is" a reason to love. Let "Fearless" lay out
the plan.
Rating: 
Summary: PLEASE, THERE MUST BE A SPECIAL EDITION OF IT!
Review: the film is wonderful, for me almost a masterpiece but the dvd edition is full and no extras at all!
the studio (Warner) has to make a special edition with audio commentaries by Peter Weir and cast (Jeff Bridges, Rosie Perez) and Rafael Yglesias (writer of the script and the book the film was based); also a extended making of and a special look on the soundtrack by Maurice Jarre
and wide format!
For Fearless only the best!
Rating: 
Summary: Walking away from a plane crash would change anyone's life
Review: When we first meet Max Klein (Jeff Bridges), he is a different man from whom he was only a few minutes earlier in his life. That is because the first time we see Max he is walking out of a corn field, holding a baby and leading a young boy along with some adults out of a California cornfield. All of these people have just survived a plane crash and while others are in shock or distraught over what has just happened Max has a calm serenity that makes him stand apart from the crowd. Just how far removed Max is from his fellow human beings starts to become clear when he just walks away from the crash site and finds a motel to check into for the night. Eventually the authorities show up and start wondering why Max is not acting like a guy who was just in a plane crash. When finally asked the obvious question as to why he did not call his family to say he was alive, Max calmly replies that he thought he was dead. Still being alive is clearly something Max is going to have to get used to.
Early on "Fearless" plays with the idea that Max is indestructible. After all, if he can walk away from a plane crash without a scratch then walking through traffic or eating strawberries without having a severe allergic reaction is no longer going to be a problem. But that is not really the point of what has happened to Max and the people in his life cannot understand what has happened to him either. Once his wife, Laura (Isabella Rossellini) gets over the fact he is still alive she finds herself living with a stranger. The airlines sends a psychiatrist (John Turturro) to help him adjust and a lawyer (Tom Hulce) has also arrived to help both Max and the widow (Deirdre O'Conell) of his partner (John de Lancie), who was killed in the crash, make big money on the tragedy. The problem is that Max does not seem inclined to play along and say the right thing or provide the details that would translate into even bigger bucks.
The boy (Daniel Cerny) who walked out of the cornfield with Max has been coming around to visit and Max's son, Jonah (Spencer Vrooman) resents the idea that he is somehow being replaced. But Laura has the same fears when Max starts hanging out with Carl Rodrigo (Rosie Perez), another survivor who lost him infant son in the crash. Max is the one person that she seems to be able to talk to and he seems to be content to continuing helping people, whether they are fellow crash survivors or not. In a lesser film, a "Random Hearts" for example, tragedy would make such people from different worlds lovers, but that is not what the bond between these characters is all about. Even Laura, hurt and confused by what this experience has done to her marriage, does not make the mistake of thinking that the relationship is sexual, although that does nothing to reduce the pain of being shutout of what is happening.
The screenplay for "Fearless" is by Rafael Yglesias, based on his novel, but director Peter Weir is clearly trying to turn this story into something larger. I do not think that the end result is as profound as the director intended, simply because it is hard to imagine getting to Max's point in the universe without having gone through the crucible of the plane crash. Actually, that point is a bit off the mark because eventually we get to see what happened as the plane was going down and Max's transformation happens before the point of impact. In fact, it happens at the moment that he accepts this is the moment of his death rather than when he finds Fate has managed to postpone that inevitable destiny. On the one hand that is the point where our identification with Max becomes more manageable, but it comes so late in the film that rethinking what has happened so that it might serve as an object lesson for our own life is a bit difficult.
Bridges is perfectly cast as Max, because he has always had that ability to look at people with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye that made it clear he saw through you and whatever you were trying to sell. Max gives that look to the psychiatrist and the lawyer on several occasions, but he also has several other looks that provide glimpses as to what is going on in his mind as he tries to reconcile the world in which he lives with the new perspective that is in his mind. Perez is equally as good as the woman walking on the edge, holding it together until the point where she finally cracks and admits the great guilt she bears for more than simply walking away from the crash that killed her son. Rossellini is hampered by the fact that her character is required to be helpless for most of the picture and Hulce is required to be a typical immoral lawyer from start to finish and it is not just his performance but his character that is at odds with the rest of the film. I thought Turturro's character was going to be just as big of a joke, but he has a session with crash survivors in which he proves himself to be more than competent, even if he is not operating on the same wave length as Max.
Even if this is not as profound a film as it is clear Weir was trying to make it is still a very thoughtful and provocative movie. The emotional impact on the viewer is going to depend on how well they can make the connections between Max's situation and their own lives in the real world. Weir hired Maurice Jarre to do the score and his music provides a lot of the emotional power of the final act of the film as both Max and the audience come to terms with what it is all about. I am not sure how you would live your life differently after watching "Fearless," but it seems strange and rather sad to think that it would make no difference at all.
Final Note: It is hard to believe in this day and age that a deep film like "Fearless" would have no DVD extras. There are so many DVDs are there where I do not really care what the director, writer and star have to say about the film, but that would not be the case with that one and hopefully in the future Weir and crew will do something to rectify this situation.
Rating:
Summary: BRIDGES FALLING DOWN
Review: Masterful director Peter Weir helms this story of a man who survives a plane crash, and hangs on to his newfound fearlessness to help others, while basically destroying himself. Jeff Bridges gives a riveting performance, one of his best, in the role of Max Klein. Before the crash, Max lived in a world like others, afraid of flying, and a victim of strawberry allergies. He becomes a hero as he seemingly saves the lives of several other survivors; one little boy is so taken with Bridges that he continues to visit him after the traumatic experience. Rosie Perez won an oscar nomination and deservedly so for her role as Carla, a young mother who blames herself for her little baby's death in the crash. Isabella Rosselini, as beautiful as ever, plays Bridges wife who tries to bring him back into the real world he so seemingly willingly left behind. Tom Hulce plays their lawyer, a good performance, one that makes you like him rather than find him repulsive. John Turturro as a grief counselor is excellent in a small but well developed role. Benicio del Toro merely fills the space as Perez' opportunistic husband; Deirde O'Connell as the widow of Bridges' partner is startingly effective.
FEARLESS moves at a slow pace, and I found myself getting angry with Bridges for neglecting his family to help Perez. The strawberry ending while definitely effective is also a tad too perfect in how it resolves Bridges' crisis.
But even with its flaws, FEARLESS is an unusual and moving film, heightened by the wonderful performances of its cast.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most life-affirming films ever made
Review: "Fearless" is one of those great movies I decided to watch without any expectations. And I was absolutely floored, not only by the storyline, but by the letter-perfect performances, particularly Jeff Bridges (who is under-rated in general, never more so than here) and Rosie Perez (probably her best-ever performance). This film is second only to Kieslowski's "Three Colours: Red" in my all-time favorites. Both the opening and ending scenes are haunting, heartbreaking, and at the same time, fill you with a kind of hope based on the actions of certain characters. The ending scene, for me, is one of the great single scenes of the movies, and could reduce the most stoic man to tears. If you've never seen this film, you really are missing out on something truly special. I almost forgot about what could be the pivotal scene of the film: where Bridges tries to help Perez come to terms with her guilt by strapping her into the back seat of his sedan, placing a fire extinguisher into her arms, then taking off full speed in the sedan towards a brick wall while "Where The Streets Have No Name" by U2 plays on the soundtrack. The combination is flawless and absolutely heart-wrenchingly human. This movie is just crying out for the Criterion treatment, as the pan & scan version of the current DVD is the only flaw. Don't miss it.
Rating:
Summary: It?ll make you think
Review: Without going into any deep philosophical ponderings, let's just say that if you do not come to the end of this film without being emotionally gutted from head to toe, there's something wrong. Max Klein's (Jeff Bridges) near-death-experience aboard a doomed aircraft becomes marital death for wife Laura (Isabella Rossellini) as he transcends into a ecstatic state of invulnerabilty to a lifetime shackled by fear. Carla (Rosie Perez), whose despondence is due to the death of her infant son in the same crash, is mentored by the eccentric sensibilities that liberate him from his past. Unfortunately, this liberation includes his relationship with Laura, who struggles to re-connect with a husband whose experience she only relates to as the near-death victim of a doomed marriage. Peter Weir could have trimmed some scenes here and there to assist with the pace, but the emotional payoff of the final sequence makes the long trip worth your while. "Fearless" conveys the axiom that vulnerability and weakness is the common
thread of all mankind. Separated by invincible courage, Max Klein is dead to his loved ones, and must be brought back to life.
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