Huo Yuan Jia suffers a humiliating defeat as a young boy, and after that he swears that no one will ever defeat him again. He grows up to be a great fighter without anyone ever being equal. But his arrogance, pride and immaturity leads to that he's stripped of everything he holds dear. He loses his spirit and wanders the countryside of China until he comes across a small village where he meets a blind girl who teaches him the concept of humility and honor. As time goes by, he starts to feel better and becomes a better person as well, only to later hear about that an American is defeating fighters and calls them sick men of Asia. Now Huo has to get back on the horse, but this time he does not fight for his own pride but for the people of China.
Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Chow Yun-Fat have all done some pretty amazing movies in the past, but later when they all ended up in America, it all turned to complete shite. It's sad that a lot of people out there only know Jackie Chan from such disasters as Rush Hour 1-2 or Jet Li from Romeo Must Die and whatever kind of crappy flicks. And that's why it's so fun to see Jet Li going back to his roots, starring in a kung fu flick about China, in China, speaking Chinese.
Ronny Yu has done a brilliant job with Fearless and I've always liked him as a director. I know a lot of people had it in for Bride of Chucky but personally I think that was a great flick too, but compared to Fearless, it's nothing. Even though the plot is somewhat simple and have been seen before in other Kung Fu flicks before, the story is strong and the characters, especially Li's charater are even stronger. There's a little humour baked in here and there, but overall it's a pretty dark film, at least for some time.
 
It starts off great with Li as a kid who wants to follow in his dad's footsteps and become a great fighter. Soon though he suffers a defeat from another boy and that day he swears that he'll never be beaten again. He grows up and becomes a fantastic fighter and no one stands a chance against him, but he's way too arrogant and soon things take a different turn. He wanders the countryside as a broken man but later comes across a village where he stays and where there's a blind girl who helps him deal with himself. Even though he's kinda arrogant, his character is likable throughout the movie, before and after the change, but it all makes for a great story that is easy to get into and that's interesting from start to finish.
So what about the fights? Well there are plenty of fights and they all look absolutely amazing. The fighting scenes have such energy and sucks you in whether you want it or not. I was absolutely amazed at times when watching some of the fights, the direction is superb and the choreography is fantastic. There's a lot of adrenaline to this flick and it's hard not to get all excited when watching some of the stuff going on onscreen. The movie manages to combine drama and actual Kung fu in a great way, it's touching, heart-warming but at the same time violent and always entertaining.
Jet Li recently announced that Fearless would be his last martial arts film, and in one way it's a great movie to leave the whole scene with, but on the other hand, after seeing him in Fearless you definitely wanna see him in other martial arts film as well. I liked this movie more than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and much more than Hero, and it made me think about Jet Li's earlier movies like The Tai Chi Master and Fong Sai Yuk. So if you're a fan of those movies or movies similar to those, Fearless is a must see, and if you're a fan of Kung Fu flicks and Asian Cinema in general, it's also a definite must see. Truly recommended.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Huo Yuan Jia
MOVIE YEAR: 2006
DIRECTOR: Ronny Yu
WRITING CREDITS: Christine Tow, Chris Chow
GENRE: Martial Arts, Drama, Action, Adventure
CAST: Jet Li, Shido Nakamura, Betty Sun
COUNTRY: Hong Kong
RUNTIME: 110 min
RATING: 10/10
Fearless Website/IMDB Click here
Fearless Trailer Click here
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