Born Li Lianjie in Beijing 1963, Jet Li was always going to be a star. Showing to have a natural talent for the traditional performance martial art Wushu, from as early as the age of 8, he would dominate the sport between 1974 and 1979, winning the Men’s All-Around National Wushu Championships 5 times before retiring from the sport at the age of 18. These success would lead to global travel, something of a rarity for mainlanders in the 1970s, and especially for someone so young. All this culminated in a young Jet Li performing in front of then President Richard Nixon (and upon seeing Jet Li’s performance, the president requested that he became his own personal bodyguard).
This success would ultimately lead to Jet Li being courted by the Chinese and HK film industry, and at the age of just 19 years old, Jet Li The oils make his film debut in 1982’s Shaolin Temple. A reasonable hit for the Chung Yuen Motion Picture company, making just over $16m Hong Kong dollars during its theatrical run in January 1982. This was by no means a smash hit, but it did bring national eyes to this young star that showed a power and speed not captured on film since the days of Bruce Lee. However, despite his ferocious fighting style and boyish looks, Jet Li would have to wait until Tsui Hark’s Once Upon A Time In China (1991) to really have that smash hit success (bringing in close to HK$30m).
For the rest of the decade Jet Li would become prolific, making 19 films in China/Hong Kong alone between 1991 and 1998, a decade that would close out with his Hollywood debut as Wah Sing Ku in Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon 4 (also 1998), as did many a Chinese/HK star did at the time due to the uncertainty the hand over of Hong Kong from the UK back to mainland Chinese following the conclusion of the 100 year lease. This brings us neatly on the latest release from Eureka Entertainment, the Jet Li: Heroes & Villains. Three films from the height of Jet Li’s fame in the 1990s, starting with My Father Is A Hero (1995), Dr Wai in The Scripture With No Words (1996) and Hitman (1998).
Commonly known as The Enforcer, My Father Is A Hero is such an odd direction for Jet Li to go down, particularly his only other non Wuxia/Traditional Kung Fu movie of the 90s to this point had been The Bodyguard From Beijing (1994 – aka The Defender), which didn’t exactly set the box office on fire, only bringing in a touch over HK$11m. However, this more grizzled cop undercover would be the change of pace his career needed and one that he relishes. Starring alongside child prodigy Xie Miao and the always wonderful (and gone far too soon) Anita Mui, The Enforcer has a lot more common with the likes of Johnny Mak’s Long Arm Of The Law (1984) and Ringo Lam’s City On Fire (1987), the latter in particular sharing a lot of DNA with My Father Is A Hero.
Next in the set is a side of Jet Li that usually gets forgotten about, his comedy. Dr Wai in The Scripture With No Words (also known by just The Scripture With No Words) sees Jet Li as a heart broken writer going through a divorce, something that is being reflected in his usually jovial writing. With the help of his assistants Shing (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Yvonne (Charlie Yeung), will our writer of adventures be able to produce enough romance to win his wife, Monica (Rosamund Kwan) back? This one is just fun, regularly switching between real world and fictional characters in a story (each played by the aforementioned actors), it moves along without a care in the world, even during its more cynical moments.
Lastly, but certainly not least, comes Hitman (1998), Jet Li’s last China based film before skipping off to Hollywood. Also starring Eric Tsang (the less said about whom the better), this tale of vigilante hitmen being hired to seek out and kill the Blue Angel, an assassin who kills for justice, not money, but someone that now has a HK$100m price tag on their head. Hitman feels like a bit more of a fusion between the grit of My Father Is A Hero and The Scriptures Without Words, never being afraid to get down and dirty and offer moments of levity. It also helps having the wonderfully enigmatic Simon Yam and the delectable Gigi Leung on board to offer different flavours to the on screen action.
Eureka Entertainment offer up their usual plethora of commentary tracks, audio and video options along with archival interviews with the main players, and whilst non of the films themselves warrant much fanfare due to them being just above average individually, as a collection Jet Li: Heroes and Villains is well worth a look for those that have come to admire one of HK cinema’s biggest names and greatest performers.
Jet Li: Heroes & Villains is out now on Eureka Blu-Ray
