Willie V
Fearless was an incredibly moving film. The acting was great from everyone involved, even through the language barrier, and the martial arts and stunt performances were perfect. There were moments where I found myself visibly flinching at what was happening on screen. The film does an excellent job of capturing the intensity during every fight scene. The story was also very impactful. The themes of honor, tradition, and forgiveness were handled beautifully, and I found myself really invested in the journey of the main character and his struggles. The pace of the film was a bit slow at times, but it did not change the experience of an enjoyable and thought-provoking watch. If anyone is a fan of martial arts films or wants to watch something with a powerful message about the dangers of arrogance, this would be the film to watch.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/26/24
Full Review
Nawt W
The Qing dynasty and its copious catastrophes have provided China with a seemingly bottomless well of legendary martial artists. From Huo Yuanjia to Ip Man, the unassuming master will take down the 6'11 western beast in this Davis and Goliath retelling.
And so goes the Fearless, but this time the plot is galvanized with a whole hour of very solid pride before the fall tale, which is honestly the best part of the movie, both in terms of narrative and fights. Regrettably, it also contains brief but appalling scenes with child actors, where anyone without any knowledge of Chinese could tell they are just reciting the lines with no proper direction. No direction was also given to the obligatory "evil western tycoon" characters. Which has always been par for the course, to be honest. In any event, almost all the dialogue is loaded with expository inserts, making a quarter of the movie quite melodramatic. Naturally, the story itself is just a myth, faintly based on Huo Yuanjia, so it might seem intrinsic in some scenes.
The fights are quite something. The highlight is the restaurant duel, and honestly, it makes the challenges from the third act pale in both stunts and story significance.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
04/03/23
Full Review
yash kukreti
This is a absolute masterpiece...
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/10/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Absolute Masterpiece
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/13/23
Full Review
Sameir A
This is one of the finest film of Jet Li, with impressive action sequences and a moral story. I have a special taste for Martial Arts movies, and this one is among my favorites.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
07/27/22
Full Review
Audience Member
The best of men is like water.
Water benefits all things,
and does not contend with them.
—Lao Tzu
Ronny Yu's "Fearless" takes us back to the era of Chinese martial arts movies, but this time he does so with a well-thought story that reminds you of your Asian Philosophy class or Asian literature texts you pored over in college.
This is a film-bio which defies the trite and hackneyed styles emphasizing action sequences and fight scenes as if they're their entire story. While the film entertains you with its award-winning stunts and martial arts choreography—flawless action sequences that will make you fly with the actors themselves, sharp angles and featuring intense emotions and miens of actors, sprawling panoramas of trees and wind and weathers, clear close-up shots of faces and actions—its English and Chinese subtitles do more than moralize—in every phrase and translations, the logic of the story is explained.
For almost two hours, you'll have the ringside seat to a martial arts match in the Fight Arena in 1910 Shanghai—where you must face your fears—but later also redeem your soul after it is corrupted by wrong notions about how to do well in this life.
Total entertainment, however, is all you get once you come to know that the fight is only the icing to the cake—when the meat of the matter is that the ultimate fight is within yourself—it is the willingness to stand corrected and eventually change for the better.
The movie is worth watching for a number of grounds. According to one smart review, "Fearless" has ‘awesome fight scenes, expertly choreographed by genre master Yuen Woo Ping.' "Though at times slightly marred by gimmicky set ups, these moments lend the film a brutal air of realism which has often been lacking in the genre."
1910 Shanghai was the world's melting pot of cultures and commerce. Europeans, Frenchmen, British, Arabs, and other nationalities swarmed the Chinese district for business and entertainment. Colonization was at its peak in that part of China. The Fight Arena is one Asian coliseum where one man's strength and power were shown for the world to see. And this is where one man's story unfolds and rolls up in all its glory.
Featuring the story of Chinese Martial Arts Master Huo Yuanjiya [1869–1910] from Tianjin, "Fearless" highlights how an individual can attain three virtues that can make sense out of his life.
First, strength entails one's determination to use his physical ability to face life and all its struggles. Huo Yuanjiya, even as a child exhibited his passion to fight. After a fistfight with one young hooligans after his father's losing match, he'd vow to never be defeated again. Not yet then would he realize why his father lost the match. Years later he would prove to the rest of the world he is one to reckon with when he becomes the champion of Tianjin. For a long while, he has been overwhelmed by his own strength that he established his name in his own village.
Then, honor is one of life's blessings you gain through sheer respect and prudence with other people—in your daily affairs, profession, and even preoccupation with the world. Master Huo gains his respectability when he is pursued by a large following—his disciples whom he convinced with his entire philosophy.
Last, courage is poignantly the last—if not the most vital virtue of all—when Huo Yuanjiya realizes that this is all you need to finish and [even win] the ultimate fight within yourself, who is indeed your most mortal enemy.
With such a uniquely tragic story, we would later know of the real biographical account of the spiritual guru of the Jin Wu Sports Federation, a martial arts circuit that has a sizable following.
Yet, it is noteworthy that the film clearly lays out one thing—the Asian philosophy of self-denial or the Western counterpart of self-sacrifice—always seems fresher than the Western theory of self-assertion.
While the West purports affirmation of the self, Eastern beliefs proclaim self-denial, the Asian train of thought glorifies asceticism self-denial—this is how East "meats" the west.
In "Fearless," the Confucian doctrine waxes consistent in the character of the protagonist Yuanjiya. Just like how the Master Hou gets to topple down the "Sick Man of Asia" with his effortless tricks before throngs of spectators in the Fight Arena, the Asian way of life—er—sensibility makes a lot of sense since it proves that indeed, "it takes too little to move much."
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
Full Review
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