Fearless

While not as accomplished as Hero (2002), this film is successful, benefits from combat scenes particularly well choreographed and (it's sufficiently rare to be noted) a moral. Thus, if the first half might be reduced, by being slightly in bad faith, to a succession of d*ck comparisons, the second half highlights a philosophy of life based on respect, dignity and honor, even with the foreigners, even while knockin' on heaven's door. Nice! As a synthesis: 7/8 of 10.

Let's get to the point. This is Jet Li's best movie in years. Not because of the fight scenes, but because the plot is engaging throughout and the emotional tension of the movie works, even though it was a bit tangled with a bit of preach.

The plot is simple. I think everyone here knows about it, so I won't spent time talking too much about it. Jet Li plays Huo Yuan Jia, an arrogant young man that has no regard for human life so to speak, and in one brash move, he indirectly caused the death of his family. He journey to a remote village to learn humility. This is probably the weakest part of the film. Mainly because a large part of it was cut out from the theatrical release. Huo had a few dialogues with Betty Sun, who played a blind girl. Their relationship was very underdeveloped. And Huo's return to Shanghai to fight was with brevity, and hardly explained. He returns to Shanghai and defends his country's honor.

I thought Jet Li did a great job acting both as the arrogant man and as the wiser wushu master. But people of course, came to see Jet Li fight. And to me, the earlier fight scenes are good, but have too much computer effects and slow motion. Still, it was refreshing to see Jet Li return to using Chinese Kung Fu.

The best fight scenes in the movie are definitely the battle between Huo and Nathan Jones, the hulking giant and the weapons fight between the Japanese Samurai and Jet Li using the sword against the three sectional staff. The ending was very emotional, and it was refreshing to see a different take unlike most endings of old Jet Li movies.

The movie could have been better of course, but I was very satisfied with it, both the plot and the action sequences.

9/10

This is an exciting, beautiful, exceptional martial arts movie that cements Jet Li's superlative contribution to kung-fu cinema. It is absolutely filled with stirring martial arts and gloriously made, with eye-filling cinematography. Although the story is simple, it is heart-felt and effective. It's hard to understand how anyone who could call this boring, unless they are so jaded and cynical that their review would be useless in any case. This film is a great accompaniment to Jet's Shaolin Temple series, Once Upon a Time in China films, Fist of Legend, and Hero, and an absolute must-see for anyone who enjoyed those films.

i think this movie is quite straightforward. anyone knows a little about Chinese history should know that in the early 20th century china is quite weak.and 1910 was just 10 years after the invasion of baguo lianjun(the union of troops of eight countries).and Chinese people then were called dongya bingfu (the ill of east asia). an insult to Chinese at that time. huo yuanjia is the first martial art master at that time that has waken the spirit of Chinese people and proved to the world that Chinese are not dongya bingfu.so if you don't know the history of modern Chinese, you may find it another martial art movie.but as a Chinese, i think this movie not only a martial art movie but also a brief biography of huo yuanjia with historical background.

This movie has it all: a good story, based on real history; very good imagery and soundtrack; nice fighting scenes; last, but not least, a moral.

Jet Li plays a very important character in Chinese history, one that made Chinese people feel proud in a time when all their traditions were torn up by the interaction with the West. One can interpret the message of the movie in many ways. It is a movie about conquering yourself, about the meaning of honor and what it really means to be respected. Jet Li's character evolves from basically a glorified bully to the founder of a true Martial Arts competition based on respect of people and of fighting art. It is also a movie about how industry screws up... everything, really.

I personally feel that the film had enough material to be turned into a mini-series. The time from his personal tragedy to his realizing the meaning of his father's words it's very short and could have been expanded.

In conclusion, this is a great movie of Jet Li's and it's not only for martial arts lovers. I feel that his last "block busters" were meaningless violence films. Fearless is obviously NOT one of these movies. Enjoy.