Jet Li stars in the life story of a legendary Chinese martial artist. The film had been on DVD before but only in its theatrical cut. This new edition brings a more expansive director’s cut to the format.
As a youth, Huo Yuanjia (Jet Li) watched as his father taught his students wushu (or “the way of combat”) and longed for the day that he’d be as powerful a fighter as his father. In those youthful days he saw his father defeated because he pulled back a fatal blow at the last minute to keep from killing his opponent.
Therefore losing shamed his father even though he was the more skillful fighter.
Huo vows to be a better fighter than his father, but his ego and pride get in his way (not to mention his mooching students who run up enormous bills he can’t afford). When one of his students is beat up by a rival Master, who is also Huo’s childhood rival, he challenges him to a duel to the death.
The violent brawl destroys his friend Nong’s (Yong Dong) restaurant, but Nong was against Huo fighting in the first place and tells him that they can no longer be friends. Huo wins the battle, but the consequences of victory are too much for him to stand so he wanders the countryside as a vagrant.
He nearly drowns and is found by some peasants and is nursed back to health by Moon (Betty Sun), a blind peasant girl. Huo spends much time in the village and learns kindness and mercy from Moon and the other villagers. Many years later he returns to his hometown, now a bustling city.
He challenges the American fighter Hercules O’Brien (Nathan Jones) and wins which wins him respect as well as the money to start a new school that he will use to teach his new wushu.
His reputation begins to spread and a new national pride starts to be associated with him. Western powers, fearing that the Chinese will revolt if united by Huo’s message, organize a fight in 1910 which Huo will take on four challengers in one day.
Only time will tell, but Jet Li had stated in the past that Fearless would be his last wushu epic. The unrated and rated theatrical cuts have been on DVD before. So what are the differences in both cuts? The differences between the rated and unrated cuts is miniscule, just a little more blood, since both list the same running time. The director’s cut runs 2 hours and 21 minutes.
It starts off with Michelle Yeoh standing before a group of people and lobbying that wushu should be allowed competition in the Olympics. It then flashes back to the life of Huo. The other cut starts off in 1910 and then is one long flashback. We also get to see more of Huo in the village and a fight involving a rival village capturing a kidnapped boy.
I preferred the director’s cut since it seems to flesh out the story a little more. However, both cuts of the film have their merits and the film shines in either cut.
Jet Li is a fantastic fighter and the many bouts are the highlights of each one. I guess we do get one more fight in the director’s cut than we do in the others.
Note: I’ve seen reports that there are some copies of the film that are in error and disc one is labeled director’s cut but has the same content as disc two (rated/unrated cuts). Be sure to check the running time of disc one and make sure that it’s two hours.
Fearless is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features are found on disc two and include a 6 minute deleted scene and the 16-minute “A Fearless Journey.”
The reason to upgrade is the extended, director’s cut and it does not disappoint, as the film feels fleshed out a little more. That being said, there really wasn’t too much wrong with the other cuts of the film, as they’re all excellent. If Jet Li really isn’t going to make anymore wushu action epics, he chose a good one to go out with. Fearless will not disappoint.
Fearless (Unrated Director’s Cut) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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