Julien Neaves – Editor
Anyone remember that 80s film The Last Starfighter? Remember how the main character gets a high score in a video game and then gets pulled into a very real intergalactic space war? Well imagine that but with three super powered alien babies. This is the set up of Netflix’s Fearless (stylised as Fe@rLeSS_) a science fiction family comedy directed and co-written by Corey Edwards (Hoodwinked!). Here is my review with some mild spoilers.
When teen video gamer Reid (Miles Robbins) reaches a new level in the game Planet Master the three infant children of the game’s I ntergalactic superhero Captain Lightspeed (rapper Jadakiss) arrive at his home pursued by megalomaniac alien menace Dr Arcannis (singer Miguel) and his bumbling, bug-eyed sidekick Fleech (voiced by SpongeBob himself Tom Kenny). In his adventure Reid is aided by brainy, self-assured schoolmate Melanie (Yara Shahidi) and also has to contend with with dogged, no nonsense General Blazerhatch (Gabrielle Union) of the US Armed Forces.
So I really liked this one folks. Sure we have seen the super powered baby thing in the Incredibles franchise, and the video game slacker who finds purpose in the real world is not the most original of character arcs, but Fearless adds enough ingredients to the mix to make it a standout dish.
I watched this one with my infant son and he was engaged throughout. I think he liked the vibrant animation style and seeing three cute babies engaging in various types of mischief. As a science fiction fan I found a lot to enjoy as well. The film is a clear homage to 50s Sci Fi and I delighted in every reference. There are also some fun action sequences as well which I appreciated.
The comedy is very well done and is never too juvenile nor mature. And the voice cast is really strong, though the leads were somewhat overshadowed by their co-stars. I was surprised to learn that Jadakiss voiced Captain Lightspeed as he perfectly captures the bold, overly confident, one liner dropping space superhero. The man can got some voice acting chops. Miguel is also fun as the stereotypical alien baddie Dr Arcannis and there is a scene where he calls a radio station DJ (Fat Joe) that is sublimely ridiculous. My favourite, though, was Union as the scene stealing General Blazerhatch. I smiled and laughed at every barked order and every silly exclamation.
I was watching the movie with my wife and she asked “Is this a black movie?” And it is, and it isn’t. Except for Reid, a truck driver and some extras all of the characters are black. And the soundtrack features hip hop and some R&B. So there was a clear choice to make a very black film in terms of the sights and sounds. I would say it isn’t a black film because the plot is universal and can be enjoyed by all.
So Fearless gets a high recommendation from me. I will knock off a couple of points for some of the generic stuff and never really explaining how these supposed video game characters came into the real world, but it is still a fun, funny, entertaining and heartwarming film. Have no fear in checking it out. You see what I did there, and you liked it!
Rating: 8 out of 10
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Julien “Jules” Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film, creating board games and I am an aspiring author. I say things like “12 flavours of awesome sauce”.
I can also be found posting on Instagram as redmanwriter and talking about TV and movie stuff on Facebook at Movieville.