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Fearless (2006)
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Reviews Counted:105
Fresh:78
Rotten:27
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: Fearless is a brilliantly choreographed, beautifully filmed endcap to Li's quarter decade of epic martial arts glory.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for violence and martial arts action throughout
Runtime: 5 hrs 45 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:2006
Box Office: $24,571,445
Synopsis: Already a boxoffice hit in Asia, Jet Li's Fearless, directed by Ronny Yu (helmer of the Hong Kong classic The Bride with White Hair), is Jet Li's final martial arts masterpiece, capping a... Already a boxoffice hit in Asia, Jet Li's Fearless, directed by Ronny Yu (helmer of the Hong Kong classic The Bride with White Hair), is Jet Li's final martial arts masterpiece, capping a tremendous body of work in that genre. Jet Li's Fearless reunites the actor and martial arts superstar with producer Bill Kong (Hero) and action choreographer Yuen Wo Ping (Unleashed) as he portrays martial arts legend Huo Yuanjia, who became the most famous fighter in all of China at the turn of the 20th Century. Huo faced incredible personal tragedy but ultimately fought his way out of darkness and into history, forever defining the true spirit of martial arts. His self-discovery, and the choices he made, inspired his nation. 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. [More]
Starring: Jet Li, Nakamura Shidou, Sun Li, Dong Yong
Starring: Jet Li, Nakamura Shidou, Sun Li, Dong Yong, Michelle Yeoh, Anthony De Longis
Director: Ronny Yu
Director: Ronny Yu
Producer: Bill Kong
Screenwriter: Chris Chow, Christine To
Composer: Shigeru Umebayashi
Studio: Focus Features
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Reviews for Fearless
[Director Ronny] Yu is less successful, however, in dealing with his star's limited emotive abilities, the message-heavy script's melodramatic philosophising and a sappy ending.
As purported, if Jet Li's final Chinese martial arts movie is indeed Jet Li's Fearless, the talented fist-and-foot pounder would have made more impact if he had ended things sooner.
Too often it seems to be just another action fantasy that teaches pacifism while indulging in brutality.
Fearless is an OK way to say goodbye, but its stagy fight choreography may just leave Li’s fans wishing for something more.
Despite impressive, CG-light action sequences and an absorbing story which certainly stands another re-telling, director Ronny Yu barely elevates this above the level of a direct-to-video fightfest.
A movie that condemns the tendency of global culture to intrude everywhere while embracing the very things that kick multiplex doors down around the world.
Every so often there is a hand-to-hand fight scene to cut the boredom -- the best is set atop a precipitously high wooden tower in a village square -- but even these don't set themselves apart from anything we've seen before.
A rather hokey script weighs down Jet Li's final Wushu (martial arts) movie.
The martial arts master's final epic is great when the fists and feet are flying.
In terms of a farewell, statement, Li would have been better off calling it quits with last year's Unleashed.
A lavish biopic that gives Li one of his juiciest roles but is relatively light on the action his fans have come to expect.
The Terminator flicks also favored world peace but didn't pause the action for nearly an hour to rub it in.
The protagonist's message rings true and its battle sequences prove gripping, but Jet Li's Fearless is both slightly ham-fisted in its efforts to have its individual and political narratives mirror one another.
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