Jet Li’ s Fearless (2006)

Jet Li
Betty Sun
Dong Yong
Anthony DeLongis
Jean Claude Leuyer
Brandon Rhea
Nathon Jones

Directed by Ronnie Yu

Plot: The son of a great fighter who did not wish for his child to follow in his footsteps, the bullied Huo Yuanjia resolves to teach himself how to fight--and win. Years of training enable him to ace match after match in his home region of Tianjin. But as his fame as a martial arts master grows, so does his pride. After an ill-advised fight leads to another master's death, members of Huo's family are slain in revenge. Grieving and ashamed, Huo wanders the country in shock. Near death, he is rescued by women from an idyllic village, and is offered simple kindness and generosity that help him heal and regain his equilibrium over a period of several years. Huo realizes that the future of martial arts lies in sportsmanship and not brutality, and he rejoins society to apply what he has learned. Returning to Tianjin, Huo takes steps to come to terms with his past and restore his family's name. His evolving, graceful Mizong (Missing) Fist method of fighting brings Huo renewed success, and he forms the progressive Jingwu Sports Federation. Taking note, duplicitous members of the Foreign Chamber of Commerce engineer a Shanghai tournament pitting Huo against four fighters, each representing the major foreign powers in China. Huo commits to the bout and faces off against, respectively, a British boxer, a Spanish swordsman, a Belgian soldier and a Japanese martial artist. What happened that day in 1910 has never been, and will never be, forgotten in China.

Review: Being in the martial arts for the last 26 years, I am no doubt intrigued by epic martial arts films (actually all martial arts films). Since his American debut in Lethal Weapon 4, I have become an enormous Jet Li fan and love his movies. When I saw the trailer for this film I was excited, amazed, and saddened. Excited and amazed at the look of the film, but saddened to hear it was his last martial arts film. Before I review this film, I want to correct that statement. This is not Jet Li’s last martial arts film; just his last epic martial arts focused film. He is going to continue to make action films, just not that focus strictly on the martial arts like most of his films of the past.

The movie itself is amazing. It was shot beautifully and is truly eye catching. The story is ok, but nothing really original. This doesn’t hurt the movie in any way, because the fight scenes are what this movie is truly about. There are a lot of them. They are brutal and insanely cool. All of the fight scenes in this movie are some of the best I have seen in some time. Jet Li executes his scenes even better and more amazing than normal. This might be the best epic martial arts film of all time in regards to the fighting. If you are a fan of Jet Li, movies like Hero, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or House of Flying Daggers, you will love this movie.
 

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