After going through a series of tragic events in his life, martial arts master Huo Yuanjia returns to Tianjin and must fight four international soldiers, in order to safeguard his nation's pride.
kung fu martial arts china family fight japan warrior friendship blindness and impaired vision shanghai hope patriotism sake rice restaurant tea exile biography beggar based on true story respect historical qing dynasty intense bold
Dragonleo reviewed Fearless (2006)
The Wonderful Beauty In Simplicity
As people usually end their reviews of films they liked with "this movie is worth watching", "I recommend this movie" or "everybody should see this movie", I'm not going to spare it to the end: Fearless is an excellent film. Go watch it. Now.
Huo Yuanjia, as a child, watches his father, a great martial artist, willingly lose a match to a rival family's member. Little Huo Yuanjia, lacking the maturity sees this as a great embarassment and challenges a younger member of the family in his strive to gain back the honour that his father had lost, only to suffer a staggering defeat in the hands of an older and a bigger boy. The bitter sets the little boy's mind on a single goal; never to be defeated again.
Now, as a superior martial artist, he must face challenges from incredible fighters that all excel in fighting, and defeat them - and learn to grow as a person while he does that. Huo Yuanjia faces great battles and even greater challenges in life, as he ardently seeks to find the truth to everything through his fists. He experiences losses and even loses himself in the process, but by the aid of kind-hearted people around him, Huo Yuanjia is able to grasp the simple things in life that his passion for violence did nor allow to see before. This new understanding brings him to the hardest battles he's ever fought, and he will no longer face just chinese champions, but masters of fighting from around the world, against whom he will have to defend his, and the people's honour.
Fearless is a visually magnificent film. From the breathtaking choreography and intense, yet sophisticated fighting to the beauty in the surroundings, there's not a whole lot to complain about in this movie. Those who want action, will definitely get it, and the ones who are in search of a storyline aren't left without one. the story is simple, but it is told in a fascinating and captivating way. Jet Li, as a talented martial artist, but also a good actor, shows great skill in his performance in the movie, and I would have to recommend this as THE eastern martial arts movie to watch. For the ones seeking more of a visual film, Hero or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is an appropriate one, but as far as a whole film is concerned, this would be my choice - at least as long as the Forbidden Kingdom isn't out. So until then...
burnhill reviewed Fearless (2006)
Jet Li's outstanding performance!
Qing-dynasty has finally come to an end and foreign dominions rules China's biggest cities. Shanghai's chamber of commerce arranges a competition where four foreign fighters should fight against the champion of China. One man responses to the challenge and his destiny inspires the posterities for decades. His name is Huo Yuanjia...
I had a period back in the days when me and my friend used to rent only Jet Li's movies. I think his martial artic action scenes are amazing and I think he's very talented martial artist, but when it comes to acting his early production is full of crap atleast the cut versions which are only for rental in Finland. I think in Fearless Jet Li does his best performance so far. As Huo Yuanjia Jet Li can deliver something which no one else could. Fearless has nice a storyline and even nicer fighting scenes. Movie is based on a true story and is spoken in Chinese which creates a nice atmosphere.
I've seen Fearless many times and it's always as good as it was the first time! This is a movie definitely worth watching!