Review of Fearless (2006) by Steven V — 26 Jan 2009

"Poison works very quickly. It has worked its way to my heart... Zhensheng, promise me you won't seek revenge. Revenge will only bring us more bloodshed. Please, that's not what I want. We must strive to become triumphant... Nong Jinsun, I only understand wushu. I practiced for many years to understand what Wushu is, what is wushu's real purpose. The competition must continue. One cannot choose how one's life begins. It takes courage to finish the final step." - Huo Yuanjia.

Jet Li's portrayal of Huo Yuanjia, who initially is a cocky person, proud of his skills, but nothing interests him more than the challenge in the ring. He's uninterested in politics and adopts a whole host of disciples who prove to be his downfall. Huo Yuanjia reeling from his carefree days, get into some serious soul searching, before returning for the finale. But Huo returns a more calm and measured person, setting up the famous Jing Wu Sports Federation, and taking on a whole host of foreign fighters to inspire his countrymen that they are not the "sick men of the east". As this is much touted as Jet Li's final martial arts movie, it's plain obvious of the messages he wished to use this platform to spread. Scattered throughout the film are various martial arts, and probably life philosophy on themes like respect and responsibility, that violence isn't the means to an end. From his early days of Chinese battling Chinese for the "Number 1 pugilist" title, Huo Yuanjia learnt that instead of fighting each other, they should unite in the face of new and external threats, but yet to remember not to neglect the home front, which he personally experienced from tragedy. But, the kungfu doesn't suffer from those messages though. It probably one of the most violent Jet Li movies, with bone crunching and blood spewing. And director Ronny Yu takes his time to showcase many of Jet Li's moves, be it plain martial arts moves with the fists, with the various weapons used. And there are many fights which will keep the action fans happy. Though the much touted ones shown ad nausem in trailers against the foreign legion, seemed a bit short in the final product. The filmmakers did keep one awesome fight scene under wraps. It's probably a fitting end to signal Jet Li's departure from the martial arts movie scene, with the portrayal of Huo Yuanjia given the known circumstances of what happened to the character. Though there are various interpretations, the essence is retained well in the movie.