Fearless (1993)

Premiere
"...Peter Weir in top form..." - Recommended 04/01/1994 p.143

Sight and Sound
"...It's refreshing to see a mainstream Hollywood film that so resolutely refuses to manipulate its audience, but rather invites us to watch and reflect and make up our own minds..." 05/01/1994 p.41-2

Variety
"...Bridges is transportingly fine, and he manages throughout to convey, without exaggeration, an altered state of mind that rivets the viewer..." 10/18/1993

Chicago Sun-Times
"...It is unusual for being essentially philosophical and introspective, rather than romantic....FEARLESS is like a short story that shines a bright light, briefly, into a corner where you usually do not look..." 10/15/1993 p.45

USA Today
"...Peter Weir's instant cult movie is more like his mystical Australian works....[Bridges gives] another routinely great performance..." 04/08/1994 p.3D

Entertainment Weekly
"[With] the most horrifying plane crash in movie history..." 06/04/2004 p.35

Washington Post 0 of 10
...Bridges has always been a beautifully expressive physical actor, and the slow, smooth, loose-limbed gait he uses to pick his way through the hysteria [of the plane wreck at the film's beginning] is brilliantly ambiguous. At the very worst, he appears distracted or preoccupied, as if he were trying to remember where he'd parked his car. And yet there's a tension in his body; every fiber of his being stands at attention. Structurally, the movie follows the standard outline of made-for-television problem dramas. Max -- that's the man's name -- has had a near-death experience. And is suffering from post-traumatic shock syndrome or some such condition about which we, as a nation, need to be enlightened. But Weir departs from the formula by paying almost no attention to the clinical details of Max's condition. For Weir -- the Australian-born director of Dead Poets Society and The Mosquito Coast -- the crash is merely a platform for an exploration of life and death, loss and grief, the struggles of middle age and the effects of close encounters with the infinite, just to name a few. The result is a devastating, disquieting, minor-key movie about a man in extremis -- a modern-day Icarus who brushes his wing against the eternal -- that resembles disease-of-the-week television sagas about as much as Donna Mills resembles Greta Garbo... As Max, Bridges turns in another in what has become an astoundingly long list of brilliant performances. Using the simplest means imaginable, he steps into a role as nonchalantly as he might slip into his trousers. And the fit is exquisite. As a performer, Bridges has a complete lack of vanity; nothing in his work here is designed to impress or to soften the hard edges of his character... Casting the fireball Perez with the laconic Bridges was inspired; the contrast just naturally creates sparks. And those who had started to think that one Rosie Perez performance was pretty much the same as another can be comforted in the knowledge that the actress is virtually unrecognizable in this role... As good as Bridges is, Perez matches him in every department. In bringing this woman to life, Perez covers an astounding range of emotions, and with an equally impressive sense of precision and touch. For the first time in her movie career, she can be called delicate. - Hal Hinson
 
Chicago Sun-Times 0 of 10
...Fearless, directed by Peter Weir (Witness, Dead Poets Society), was written by Rafael Yglesias, and based on his novel. It is unusual for being essentially philosophical and introspective, rather than romantic; it doesn't allow either the troubled marriage [between Bridges and Rossellini] or the possible affair [between Bridges and Perez] to distract from its real subject, which is the fragility of everyday life. Bridges, who despite his Oscar nominations has never really been recognized for the subtle depth of his acting, is a good choice for the role of Max. He plays him matter-of-factly. There are no mystical overtones or gratuitous emotional displays in the performance, just the serious comings and goings of a man who has escaped death by such a slender chance that all of life's assumptions have come into question. Perez, who played Woody Harrelson's girlfriend in White Men Can't Jump and Marisa Tomei's best friend in Untamed Heart, is emerging as one of the great new originals in the movies. With her tough Brooklyn accent just a little softened this time, she strikes a no-nonsense, in-your-face note that makes her character quirky and unique. It's an example of imaginative casting; this same crash survivor could have been soulful, or neurotic, or weepy. By making her colorful and outspoken, the filmmakers create an unexpected dynamic; we see that she isn't Rossellini's rival for her husband's heart, but for his soul. Fearless is like a short story that shines a bright light, briefly, into a corner where you usually do not look. It makes you realize how routine life can become; how it is actually possible to be bored despite the fact that a universe has evolved for eons in order to provide us with the five senses by which we perceive it. If we ever really fully perceived the cosmic situation we are in, we would drop unconscious, I imagine, from shock. That is a little of what Fearless is about. - Roger Ebert