Fearless

Almost flawless, this new release improves on the style and genre in a significant way. The film is presented in a way that the viewer can appreciate it from several perspectives without heavily relying on the genre's standard formulas. We don't have to wade through the typical love triangle, the maniacal drug lord contracting a hit, or the beloved school's instructor being tortured and murdered before the ultimate revenge takes place. This film has a legitimate story line, skillfully presented in a clear and well edited manner.

Although the film was generally concerned with the development of a specific fighting style and philosophy, the audience is also treated to some authenticity of the then Chinese culture and the biography of a Chinese martial arts master. These features seem to give the production a much higher level of credibility than the average martial arts action movie.

Although we did experience some speed editing in fight scenes, it was done in such a way that it enhanced, rather than detracted, from the believability of the film. In "House of Flying Daggers", for example, the ballet and acrobatic like choreography of some of the fight scenes tended to undermine, rather than enhance. If there was any flaw in the fight scenes present, it was minor. This flaw may have been inescapable because of the inherent limitations of the style of the film itself. For example, trivial features such as disconnected striking combinations at the expense of speed editing, or the fact that the Japanese martial artist did not seem to be using a typical Japanese style of fighting. (It appeared to be a combination of Chinese and Korean oriented styles).

This film should, by all rights, reset the bar for the standards of martial arts films from now on. It was simply an outstanding film in every way.

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.

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.

Make no mistake about it, Fearless is the best straight-ahead martial arts film since Jackie Chan's seminal Drunken Master 2. Director Ronny Yu crams more bone-jarring, well crafted fight scenes into the first forty minutes of this movie than most films can match in their entire runtime. This is a canny move, as it pulls in the viewer via the blurring action before beginning to develop the film's narrative in the middle third. While the story is a well used one (kung-fu bully comes to realise his skills can be used to educate rather than brutalise), it's a perfect structure on which to hang the film's many excellent confrontations. It's obvious that this film is Li's love letter to his Wu Shu background and martial arts in general. In dramatic terms, Fearless never reaches the heights of recent wuxia movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero and so is unable to feel truly fulfilling as a great movie per se. It is however up there with Jet Li's very best work in the genre, OUATIC & Fist of Legend for example, and if it is (sadly) true that it is to be his last period martial arts picture, it's a hell of a bang to go out on.

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.