Director: Peter Weir
Writer: Rafael Yglesias
(Based on a novel by Rafael Yglesias)
Being in some horrendous plane crash has to be in everyone’s top 10 fears right? Public speaking, the dentist, going blind, losing a limb, plane crash, etc. It seems like a completely surreal thing to happen and it is impossible to not think about when you are on a plane. Oh we are going to impossibly take this 250,000 pound thing filled with explosive material and go above the clouds at hundred of miles an hour SURE!
This film Fearless, one I hadn’t heard of until about 3 minutes before I decided to watch it, stars Jeff Bridges, a survivor of a terrible commercial plane crash. Not only does he survive he seems to have almost no physical injuries at all. After the plane crashes he just gets out of his seat and walks around helping people and then just leaves the scene. Bridges is one of my favorite actors and while he has done some of his best work in his late career resurgence with Crazy Heart and True Grit he seems to be turning into the character he played in those two movies, with his mountain man beard and mumbley country voice, so seeing this movie and remembering Bridges without those affectations was a treat. It is a great performance and it was exciting to discover a film I had never even heard of before and thus went into it with no expectations.
After surviving the crash Max (Bridges) pretty much thinks he is invincible. Since he looked death in the face and was spared that must me he just isn’t supposed to die. This radical change in his attitude and mental state starts to alienate him from his family and friends and creates a strong bond with a fellow survivor Carla, played by Rosie Perez in an Academy Award nominated role. The film doesn’t devolve into a cheap romance story, and instead focusing on what someone goes through after surviving something so traumatic. Carla’s baby was killed during the crash and she is dealing with the stress of that while her husband is coordinating with lawyers to sue the airlines for money. It becomes difficult for Max and Carla to confide their feelings about what they went through with their families because they weren’t there and as much as they can imagine what it was like they truly don’t know or understand because they didn’t go through it. The story between Max and Carla I found to be really emotionally interesting and the pay off to it very satisfying.
I really liked Fearless!
Jon Watches Movies 