Jet Li's Fearless

"Withholding the final blow" is such a great message for our world today, and it makes this Chinese propaganda film totally believable. Whether you are suspicious of China or not, you should consider what the British opium industry actually did to them, and that their concept of antirealism actually stems from generations of addiction to opium, which was not originally their fault. This movie spans pre-British into British influence over China, and it does a great job of sympathizing with ancient Chinese honor, with some morals to display, and extremely satisfying fight scenes, which do not always end in death.

Jet Li's best movie in my opinion. Uncut and theatrical version is nice too.

Fearless is based on the true story of martial arts legend, Huo Yuanjia, who reputedly defeated a Russian wrestler and an Irish boxer during a time when China was known as "the sick old man of Asia", thereby, restoring pride to the Chinese people and nation and transforming him into a much revered legend in the history of martial arts. The movie features Jet Li in what is probably the greatest martial arts movie ever made, showcasing the master at the peak of his prowess in a film that also embodies his martial arts philosophy.The movie begins with Huo Yuanjia secretly watching his father practicing martial arts by performing the traditional kung fu moves culminating with a blow of his hand to a slab of hard concrete slab and Huo, after his father has left the practice arena, touching the stone slab and discovering that it has shattered in two, showcasing the phenomenal feats of kung fu demonstrated by his father.The story, then progresses into Huo witnessing his father engaging in a duel with a formidable opponent, who could barely match his skill, only to hold back, in an act of restrain, because he didn't want to incurred severe damage to his opponent and, as a result, spurring the opponent to take advantage of the situation by dealing Huo's father the defeating blow.Dissatisfied with this, Huo challenged the opponent's son to a match which finds him badly defeated due to his lack of kung fu training, spurring him to secretly obtain his father's instruction manual and secretly practicing kung fu, while vowing to take revenge on his father's opponent's son (which he successfully accomplishes), and vowing to be the greatest martial arts practitioner in China and, subsequently, challenging every single opponent in the People Republic and emerging as the undefeated champion with the exception of the one most formidable opponent who he later kills in a match in retaliation for the wounding of one of his disciples by the opponent's disciple.However, one of his opponent's disciple slaughters Huo's entire family and, incites Huo to seek revenge on his opponent's family only to find himself holding back with empathy for his opponent's grieving family members.Resultant of this, Huo loses all interest in life and attempts to commit suicide, only to be rescued by the inhabitants of a small Chinese village; the inhabitants of whom slowly nourishes him back to health and, finds Huo maturing and reaching an epiphany that constitutes a change of philosophy from him seeking to be the best martial arts practitioner in China to embracing a philosophy that wushu should only be meant as a form of competitive sport and, as such, finding him challenging the best martial arts practitioners throughout the world; including a champion wrestler from the United States as well as engaging in a tournament against four martial arts practitioner, comprising, among others, of a fencing champion and the best from Japan in a fixed competition that was designed to make him lose.However, Huo emerges the undisputed winner in all matches, resultant of which he is poisoned by the Japanese who had betted on his defeated, resulting in Huo losing the match despite overwhelming support from the crowd, until the last move where he manages to deal a blow to his opponent which, if he had not held back, would have proven fatal. Then, before Huo finally collapses in demise, his Japanese opponent, realizing that he had, in default been defeated, raises Huo's hand in saluting of his spirit and win with uproars applause and cheering from the crowd, transforming Huo into a legendary hero who had restored pride to the Chinese people who had been humiliated by foreign aggressors who had declared China the sick old man of Asia.Fearless constitutes the greatest martial arts film ever made with extraordinarily well choreographed fight sequences as well as incorporating one of the best story lines ever encapsulated in a martial arts film.Highly recommended.

This DVD was a Christmas gift (I am a big Jet Li fan). I am so glad I finally got to see "Fearless." It is an excellent film-not just martial arts fluff with no substance-it has a deep & moving plot combined with brilliant fight scenes.This particular DVD release - the Unrated Edition - has some nice extra features as well. There are various director & actor interviews/commentary, making-of stuff, deleted scenes, etc... What I like most is that this set comes with both the Theatrical "original" version of the film & the "unrated" version which is extended with some extra scenes not included in the "theatrical" version. i watched both just to compare and I have to say I like both. The "unrated" would've done just as well as the theatrical one.Great solid film - if you like martial arts films & storylines that have meaning & substance then this is definitely a film to watch. I highly recommened it. Also recommend getting this particular "unrated edition" version of the DVD. Nice extras to enjoy after the movie.

This is a solid attempt at a historical martial arts film with an engaging plot and authentic style reminiscent of some of the early Hong Kong martial arts flicks from decades ago. One popular theme in those early films is fighting for the honor of one's school, which is a central theme of this movie. However, the protagonist fighting solely for one's pride has severe consequences and he comes to learn humility through penance. To me, this showed unusual maturity for a kung fu flick, and I would have liked to see that plot line developed even further. The master who wont fight anymore is more compelling than the master who returns to settle an old score. I love seeing martial arts films filmed on location and in their native language. Everything from the sets, costumes and music feels authentic for the location and the period. The martial arts action uses an exaggerated action style typical of all Chinese martial art films, but here the exaggerations are fairly minor compared to something like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Instead of running up bamboo reeds and the sides of buildings, our hero simply changes direction during a 12 foot mid-air back flip to land a blow to his opponent. Ok, maybe it did happen. Who knows? I felt that this film showcased Jet Li's martial arts style better than his previous films. There is good, fluid action versus a series of stunts. My biggest complaint is the title, which is too generic and doesn't seem to fit well with the theme of the film which is more about sacrifice than being without fear.

This was a great purchase. Item is as described. Thirty minutes of extra footage. Also theatre cut also. Very happy with the movie.

Kanon bra tusen tack

"Fearless" ist ein Martial Arts Film von Ronny Yu, der 2006 gedreht wurde und leider für die Kinoauswertung stark gekürzt wurde. So entfielen die Szenen mit Oscargewinnerin Michelle Yeoh und dem Thaiboxer Somluck Kamsing. Die Macher fanden eine Laufzeit von 140 Minuten als kommerziell abträglich und so wurde der Film vor seinem Kinostart auf 105 Minuten heruntergeschnitten. Inzwischen gibt es in Asien einen Directors Cut, der Rest der Welt muss mit der gekürzten Fassung weiterhin vorlieb nehmen.Dennoch ist "Fearless" trotz Kürzung ein sehr guter Martial Arts Film. Die Geschichte, die der Film erzählt basiert auf dem Leben von Huo Yuanjia, der von Jet Li gespielt wird. Dieser Kampfkünstler, forderte ausländischen Kämpfer bei öffentlichen Wettkämpfen heraus zu einer Zeit als der westliche Imperialismus und die japanischen Einflüsse das Land in den Letzten Jahren der Qing Dynastie untergruben. Erst später entstand die Republik China. Jet Li erklärte in einem Interview, dass "Fearless" sein wichtigster Film sei.Der Film beginnt damit, dass Huo Yuanjia gegen drei Westler kämpft und sie besiegt: einen britischen Boxer, einen belgischen Lanzenreiter und einen spanischen Fechter. Während er auf den Beginn des vierten Kampfes wartet, erinnert sich Huo an seinen Vater Huo Endi (Colin Chau), der Kampfkunst unterrichtete. Anschließend wird die Geschichte in einer Rückblende erzählt. Der junge Yuanjia (Lu Yuhao) sieht seinem Vater beim Kampf zu und möchte mitmachen, doch sein Vater macht sich Sorgen wegen der Asthmaerkrankung seines Jungen. Yuanjia sieht seinen Vater in einem Kampf mit Zhao (Zhao Zhonggang),der unehrenhaft gewann, indem er sich revanchierte, als Huo Endi einen tödlichen Schlag abwehrte. Huo Yuanjia ist durch die Niederlage seines Vaters gedemütigt und schwört, die Ehre und den Stolz der Familie Huo zurückzugewinnen. Er betreibt Kampfsport hinter dem Rücken seines Vaters. Mit der Zeit besiegt Huo Yuanjia mehrere Gegner (darunter Zhaos Sohn (Ma Zhongxuan - als Kind wird diese Figur von Shang Yapeng gespielt) und wird ein berühmter Kampfkünstler in Tianjin. Je erfolgreicher er wird, desto aufbrausender und rücksichtsloser wird er gegenüber seinen Gegnern, im Gegensatz zu seinem verstorbenen Vater, der dafür plädierte, seinen Gegnern Gnade zu erweisen. Dies führt auch dazu, dass Huo viele Anhänger gewinnt und in finanzielle Schwierigkeiten gerät, indem er das Geld seiner Familie für Alkohol und Partys ausgibt. Als ein rivalisierender Kampfkunstmeister namens Qin Lei (Chen Zhihui) einen seiner Anhänger verletzt, fühlt sich Huo beleidigt und konfrontiert Qin an seinem Geburtstag wütend in einem Restaurant, das Huos Jugendfreund Nong Jinsun (Dong Yong, als Kind gespielt von Zhu Qilong) gehört. Da es Jinsun nicht gelingt, seinen Freund vom Kämpfen abzubringen, und er genug von seinem rücksichtslosen Verhalten hat, beendet er wütend und unerbittlich seine Freundschaft mit Huo. Die Konfrontation eskaliert zu einem Kampf, der mit Qins Tod endet. Qins Patensohn (Jackie Heung) sinnt auf Rache und tötet Huos Mutter und Tochter. Dieser Mord wird von ihm gerächt, führt aber auch zu einer Veränderung bei Ihm...Als Wanderer flieht er vor der Realität und findet eine neue Heimat bei der Bäuerin Yueci (Betty Sun). Geläutert kehrt er nach Jahren in die Stadt zurück und nimmt irgendwann den Kampf mit 4 ausländischen Kämpfern an. Der letzte Kampf mit dem ehrenhaften Japaner (Nakamura Shido II) steht noch an. Bei der 26. Verleihung der Hong Kong film Awards gewann "Fearless" den Preis für die beste Choreographie (Yuen Woo-ping) und erhielt darüberhinaus 6 weitere Nominierungen.Wegen seines heroischen Status in China sind Mythen und legenden über Ereignisse im Leben von Huo Yuanjia schwer von den Tatsachen zu unterscheiden. Der Film hält sich auch nur teilweise an tatsächliche historische Begebenheiten, was die Nachfahren von Huo Yuanjia wütend machte. Inszenatorisch ist "Fearless" ein echtes Meisterwerk des Martial Arts Genres, das weltweit ca. 68 Millionen Dollar einspielte.

FEARLLES UN BELLISSIMO FILM DI ARTI MARZIALI LO CONSIGLIO PER GLI AMANTI DI QUESTI FILM

Magnífica película de artes marciales. Muy buena película de Jet Li. Además confirmo que la versión de Reino Unido, trae audio en castellano.