Tweekums This film is inspired by the story of Huo Yuanjia, a Chinese martial arts master. In the opening scene he is taking part in a series of fights against four foreign opponents; he has already defeated three of them and is about to fight the four when the action jumps back thirty years. Young Yuanjia is the son of a martial arts teacher but is forbidden to learn it himself because of his asthma; he is determined to learn anyway. He gets in a fight and is beaten shortly after witnessing his father lose because he was unwilling to land a fatal blow… Yuanjia swears he won't lose again. As the years pass he becomes a great fighter with a large retinue of disciples… he also becomes arrogant. One day one of his followers is beaten by a rival master so Yuanjia fights and defeats him; the pleasure of victory doesn't last long as his opponent dies and his son takes bitter revenge against Yuanjia's family. Heartbroken he leaves his home town and eventually ends up in a remote village where he lives a peaceful life for several years. He then returns home and discovers it has changed; westerners are there and they look down on the Chinese. He determines to found a martial arts school and demonstrate that the foreigners aren't as strong as they believe; this brings us back to where the film begins and Yuanjia fights his final match.If you are looking for a film with a good story and some great martial arts them you are sure to really enjoy this. Jet Li does a great job as Huo Yuanjia; as well as being fantastic in the numerous fight scenes he brings an emotional integrity to the dramatic moments. The fights are fairly bone crunching and feel more real than the highly choreographed fights that appear in many films. These fights are also fairly varied and include highly kinetic fights between martial arts masters; a fight with swords that just about destroys a restaurant and a fight between the relatively small Huo Yuanjia and a man-mountain from the west. The secondary actors are also pretty good. For an action film it is surprisingly emotional at times; most notably when Yuanjia's family is targeted and we then learn that there was no real reason for the fight that led to it. Before watching this I hadn't heard of Huo Yuanjia but having looked up a little bit about the real man it is clear that this is very much inspired by his story rather than being based entirely on known events… that does not spoil the film though. Overall a really good martial arts film that fans of the genre should like.These comments are based on watching the film in Mandarin with English subtitles.

Spikeopath Fearless is directed by Ronny Yu and co-written by Chris Chow, Christine To, Wang Bin and Li Feng. It stars Jet Li, Dong Yong, Nakamura Shido II, Collin Chou and Betty Sun. Music is by Shigeru Umebayashi and cinematography by Poon Hang-sang. Film is a loose telling of the life of Huo Yuanjia, a Chinese martial artist who was involved in a number of high profile fights that sought to restore pride to China before the birth of the Republic of China.An historical action drama that delivers quality fights and gorgeous photography, Fearless still isn't all that it should be. In what should be a celebration of Yuanjia's life, sprawled out on an epic canvas, we instead get Ronny Yu (The 51st State/Freddy vs Jason) showcasing his action prowess whilst rendering the human interest factors as being bland. Yes, the action is vibrant, exciting and at times spellbinding, and Li remains a watchable star in spite of his acting limitations, but the slow crawl through the second half leaves the film in desperate need of an assured story telling hand. Which sadly it doesn't get. 6/10

lourensini So far I've never heard about wusu before. Martial arts movie just isn't my thing because they're all the same. What makes Fearless different and more interesting is because it's based in veridical facts.Fearless has its issues if we talk about what could be improved, but the important here is The Lesson. Jet Li's character Huo was a reckless child who grow up to be the greatest arrogant and superb wusu master of all time. And that's what drove him into ruins.Ascention, fall, and then redemption. Fearless teach us that the only way to fate your mistakes is by fighting yourself and finding the true meaning of this fight.The acting isn't bad, but nothing amazing, not even from Jet Li. The movie photography is clear and there's an amazing scene where the scenario passes through the four seasons that made me exclaim "what a nice picture editing!". I don't think I'll remember Fearles for it's plot, but it's well written and will keep you interested throughout the whole movie.Apart from that, fearless could be really better, just by excluding those takes where history is cutted off to explain us, what happened certain point of history. It seemed like directors was trying to save some time (and time is money). That could really be better and won't be that hard to do so.When watching Fearless, try to pay attention in the humility lessons, not only the history per se. You're gonna like it.

loccomotive2000 FEARLESS stars Jet Li in what is supposedly his final martial arts epic. The actor has mentioned that this is a summary of his thoughts and philosophy of wushu, an art he has so breathtakingly performed for decades, that has seen him not only become one of China's biggest movie stars, but also labeled possibly the greatest wushu practitioner in the contemporary era. Li plays legendary pugilist Huo Yuan Jia, who is depicted here as a talented but cocky fighter from a well to do family. His own arrogance soon results in tragedy, which leads him to undergo a metamorphosis that lets him understand the true meaning of martial arts, and ignites his desire to enlighten others in an oppressed China marred by invaders. Yuen Woo Ping shines again and puts Li's talents to wonderful use for one last time. Apart from the brilliant unarmed combat sequences, he also utilizes various weapons, the highlight certainly being the three section staff which Li maneuvers with such audacity and elegance. There is something about his performance that always makes him special; a personality of sorts. Amidst the mechanical choreography, he presents beautiful rhythm and fluidity, like investing emotions to a piano piece.Kudos to Ronny Yu for presenting a film that is able to identify martial arts not as a tool to protect one's pride, but a path for liberating people. While the film still utilizes the typical foreign antagonists as a foil for Huo to defend Chinese pride(again), Yu can be forgiven for portraying them as respectful martial artists who, rather than wanting Huo dead, were shared his knowledge and qualities derived from wushu, humility and compassion among them. All in all, FEARLESS is a wonderful film which not only showcases the artistic side to Jet's beloved craft, but also carries an important message about overcoming yourself and treasuring life, which is a rarity among kung fu movies.Thank you, Jet Li, for your countless, brilliant performances of this magnificent art. It's been one hell of a ride.