Jet Li's Fearless

Fearless is based on the true story of martial arts legend, Huo Yuanjia, who reputedly defeated a Russian wrestler and an Irish boxer during a time when China was known as "the sick old man of Asia", thereby, restoring pride to the Chinese people and nation and transforming him into a much revered legend in the history of martial arts. The movie features Jet Li in what is probably the greatest martial arts movie ever made, showcasing the master at the peak of his prowess in a film that also embodies his martial arts philosophy.The movie begins with Huo Yuanjia secretly watching his father practicing martial arts by performing the traditional kung fu moves culminating with a blow of his hand to a slab of hard concrete slab and Huo, after his father has left the practice arena, touching the stone slab and discovering that it has shattered in two, showcasing the phenomenal feats of kung fu demonstrated by his father.The story, then progresses into Huo witnessing his father engaging in a duel with a formidable opponent, who could barely match his skill, only to hold back, in an act of restrain, because he didn't want to incurred severe damage to his opponent and, as a result, spurring the opponent to take advantage of the situation by dealing Huo's father the defeating blow.Dissatisfied with this, Huo challenged the opponent's son to a match which finds him badly defeated due to his lack of kung fu training, spurring him to secretly obtain his father's instruction manual and secretly practicing kung fu, while vowing to take revenge on his father's opponent's son (which he successfully accomplishes), and vowing to be the greatest martial arts practitioner in China and, subsequently, challenging every single opponent in the People Republic and emerging as the undefeated champion with the exception of the one most formidable opponent who he later kills in a match in retaliation for the wounding of one of his disciples by the opponent's disciple.However, one of his opponent's disciple slaughters Huo's entire family and, incites Huo to seek revenge on his opponent's family only to find himself holding back with empathy for his opponent's grieving family members.Resultant of this, Huo loses all interest in life and attempts to commit suicide, only to be rescued by the inhabitants of a small Chinese village; the inhabitants of whom slowly nourishes him back to health and, finds Huo maturing and reaching an epiphany that constitutes a change of philosophy from him seeking to be the best martial arts practitioner in China to embracing a philosophy that wushu should only be meant as a form of competitive sport and, as such, finding him challenging the best martial arts practitioners throughout the world; including a champion wrestler from the United States as well as engaging in a tournament against four martial arts practitioner, comprising, among others, of a fencing champion and the best from Japan in a fixed competition that was designed to make him lose.However, Huo emerges the undisputed winner in all matches, resultant of which he is poisoned by the Japanese who had betted on his defeated, resulting in Huo losing the match despite overwhelming support from the crowd, until the last move where he manages to deal a blow to his opponent which, if he had not held back, would have proven fatal. Then, before Huo finally collapses in demise, his Japanese opponent, realizing that he had, in default been defeated, raises Huo's hand in saluting of his spirit and win with uproars applause and cheering from the crowd, transforming Huo into a legendary hero who had restored pride to the Chinese people who had been humiliated by foreign aggressors who had declared China the sick old man of Asia.Fearless constitutes the greatest martial arts film ever made with extraordinarily well choreographed fight sequences as well as incorporating one of the best story lines ever encapsulated in a martial arts film.Highly recommended.

First, as is seen from the box, you get all three versions that were released. I never saw the film in the theater, but I had read that the one to watch was the director's cut. I actually rented the film, but it was SO good I just had to get it anyway (bought it used). A short video of how the film was made is the only extra on the disk though. Actually, I wanted to mention there is this cool quasi-screensaver that just has the "Universal" studio logo if you pause the film and walk away from your blu ray player for a while. I watched the "directors cut" first, then looked at the original theatrical release-it's amazing how much of the original film was gutted, so it's easy to understand why fans are angry about the original release.Assuming you watch the director's cut, the time line and events flow nicely with Huo Yuan Jia, and this is not just a kung fu film. I really enjoyed the range of acting that Jet Li did-he clearly is positioning himself as something other than doing just pure action films for the future. Granted, he's in his mid-40's and is, like Jackie Chan, getting into the twilight years of what he is originally known for-kung fu. As Huo Yuan Jia, Jet Li did an excellent job of showing someone who was basically obsessed with fighting and to beat opponents at any cost, personal or otherwise. After he casts himself out of his village upon murdering his rival, he is basically reborn and learns that not always fighting is part of Wushu, which ultimately completes his training. He then returns to his village, starts the Wushu organization and fights various challengers from foreign countries in order to help get his Wushu organization off the ground.I don't want to give away too many special items, but Yuen Woo Ping's "wire-fu" is obvious, but it looks good when used. Near the end of the film Huo Yuan Jia is fighting a legendary Japanese swordsman and they switch weapons (kind of by accident) and they both realize they need to switch their weapons back, without saying a word. This film has a great deal of intelligence that went into it. Jet Li became a Buddhist, and has indicated that this is his last Wushu film, but he did his Monkey King role in The Forbidden Kingdom, so he Jet Li is not completely quitting the kung fu scene.If you are a Jet Li fan, this is as good as Fist Of Legend, but I personally think it's his best film in his entire career (up to this point).

Jet did many more after this one

This DVD was a Christmas gift (I am a big Jet Li fan). I am so glad I finally got to see "Fearless." It is an excellent film-not just martial arts fluff with no substance-it has a deep & moving plot combined with brilliant fight scenes.This particular DVD release - the Unrated Edition - has some nice extra features as well. There are various director & actor interviews/commentary, making-of stuff, deleted scenes, etc... What I like most is that this set comes with both the Theatrical "original" version of the film & the "unrated" version which is extended with some extra scenes not included in the "theatrical" version. i watched both just to compare and I have to say I like both. The "unrated" would've done just as well as the theatrical one.Great solid film - if you like martial arts films & storylines that have meaning & substance then this is definitely a film to watch. I highly recommened it. Also recommend getting this particular "unrated edition" version of the DVD. Nice extras to enjoy after the movie.