A moving and inspiring story of redemption and personal triumph in the face of great odds, Jet Li's Fearless is the based-on-facts story of Chinese folk hero Huo Yuanjia (Jet Li). The son of a martial-arts master whose greatest strength was his restraint, Huo grows into an unbeatable fighter whose pride and thoughtlessness lead to a chain of tragic losses. After a classic wanderer-in-the-wilderness penance, Huo reinvents himself as a mature instructor of Wushu, a martial arts system that embraces all forms of fighting without preference or pre-judgement. He also becomes a populist symbol, at the dawn of the 20th century, of China's refusal to entirely capitulate to the boot of Western colonialists. Taking on whatever European, American, or Japanese fighter the outsiders bring in to demoralize the natives, Huo becomes a legend that, in real life, is still revered. Thrillingly directed by Ronny Yu (Warriors of Virtue), Jet Li’s Fearless is a dazzling action movie that transcends its breathless fight sequences with Huo's sportsmanship virtues, i.e., knowing when you've won by example, rather than by the fist. Jet Li is superb in the role. --Tom Keogh
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Great action film with a marvelous story. Comment: This is a great film, loaded with martial arts, and the true understanding of them. This film contains a well made storyline that keeps you watching to the end. Customer Rating: Summary: Jet Li is a great actor. gives a great performance all around. Comment: This is a fun and well written story as far as I'm concerned, Jet Li has been challenging himself in many styles of movies and he's come out on top in each.
I found him to really become the character but still add his level of skill and style to the movie at the same time. I don't think I've really seen hardly any movies of his that I haven't liked. This being one of the top movies I think he's done. Even friends who haven't liked him in other movies have said that they would watch this one again.
If you still have an HD DVD player get this one, it's worth it in HD.
HD quality: 4.5 stars, I did notice a couple dark areas here and there that had some noise in them, looked as if they were taken with a lower quality camera and or transfered from film wrong.
HD audio: my 5.1 system still kicks out great sound and this movie had me looking over my shoulders a couple times, lol. Will make you wonder sometimes. Customer Rating: Summary: Excellent! Comment: This was by far my favorite Jet Li film. It really was great. The action had (of course) some rather unrealistic parts, but that is rather inevitable. But the storyline is actually quite good. Predictable to a certain degree, but still very good. The progression of the character of the protagonist was laudable. I thoroughly enjoyed this film. With this version you get the original film, and the Unrated version. The unrated version is the same as the original except that there is more blood and violence. Several shots of blood gushing or arms actually snapping. So whether you want the gore or not, this DVD has both, great buy! Customer Rating: Summary: The Director's Cut is coming to Region 1 on July 8th, 2008! Comment: The Director's Cut of Jet Li's Fearless, which runs 37 minutes longer and is generally regarded as the definitive version, is finally being released on official Region 1 DVD. At 141 minutes, it fleshes out the story more, makes some points more clear, and includes several more minutes of martial arts action, most notably a scene where the hero battles a Thai fighter. A subplot featuring Michelle Yeoh is restored.
The upcoming release isn't a special edition, and there won't be many special features. The two-disc set will include the Director's Cut, the PG-13 US theatrical cut (103 minutes), and the only slightly different unrated US version (104 minutes). The last two are already available on the current Region 1 DVDs. The special features are similar to those on the current DVDs, the featurette "A Fearless Journey" (16:04) and some cut scenes (reportedly more than one--there was only one deleted scene on the previous Region 1 releases).
It will be in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen, with English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, and optional English subtitles.
Fearless is the highly fictionalized story of the real-life Huo Yuanjia (or Yuan Jia), a hero of Chinese martial arts who died almost a century ago. The son of a wise martial arts champion who refuses to teach him, Huo teaches himself by, among other things, watching his father train. Lacking his father's humility, he is a most skilled fighter but commits shameful acts that, when he finally sees their devastating consequences and recognizes his failings, drive him to become an aimless wanderer. Through the kindness of humble people he recovers and eventually redeems himself in several dramatic ways.
This is a high-budget, beautifully produced martial arts film that will be enjoyed by more than the usual martial arts fan. Though it doesn't have quite the same pretensions, those who enjoyed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero and don't mind a fair amount of violence will probably also enjoy this.
If you don't have Fearless on DVD yet and can wait until July, you'll probably want to get the Director's Cut, especially since the shorter US cuts are also included.
No Blu-ray edition has been announced, but it will undoubtedly arrive eventually.
The Amazon page to pre-order the Region 1 Director's Cut is here. Customer Rating: Summary: It's Good Movie!!! Comment: I love chinese action movies and this movie was good and action scene was very exciting. Jet Li was my favorite chinese star. Also the story was good.
