"Fearless," the story of China's martial arts master Huo Yuanjia, is actually called "Jet Li's Fearless" - and so it is.  Without the multi-talented Li the film would be much, much less than it is.  This was also supposedly Li's swan song - his last wushu film but I would never take that seriously given how many actors have an almost genetic need to be on stage and Li's martial arts skills are masterful still.  And in fact, he's done several more films that involve him as a martial artist since that pronouncement in 2006.  Part of what was going through his mind at the time might be gathered from this essay on his website: HERE

Li, (real name: Li Lianjie) who was a martial arts prodigy and became a national champion in China, has always been a gold standard of martial arts acting and abilities.  He's the real thing.  He moves with lethal grace and seems as comfortable in his skin as any man or woman alive.  His fights always seem real (until they put a wire on him and fly him across rooftops) - a result of his training with the Beijing Wushu Team which trains and does demonstrations at demonic speed and ferocity.

Li had his American film debut in "Lethal Weapon 4" in 1998 but he was already a star in Asia from his first film in 1982.  From the age of eight, he trained in wushu, a Chinese style of martial arts with roots in kung fu.  As part of the insanely good Bejiing Wushu Team (as was martial arts superstar Donnie Yen,) Li won dozens of medals and awards as a young man and migrated to film stardom in film series such as "Shaolin Temple"  and "Once Upon a Time In China" which details the life of Master Wong Fei Hung.   

Li is a deeply spiritual man which leads no doubt to his uncanny ability to seemingly be above everything happening in a film role and yet be entirely engaged.

As in the role of Huo Yuanjia, the wushu master in this film.

"Fearless" is a (very loose) examination of the life of Huo Yuanjia, a martial artist who fought foreigners in staged bouts for the national pride of China at a time when the British and Americans were changing the country's cultural identity and had proclaimed on more than one occasion that China wasn't significant as culture or people.  This was just after the Boxer Rebellion (1901) and before the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912.  Although the film doesn't necessarily point to either of these events specifically, it does play up the malaise affecting China during this time and implies that Yuanjia's bouts restored the pride of the nation to a point where China was able to establish itself as a republic.  It does seem obvious enough that the filmmakers felt that Yuanjia had a lot to do with becoming a polarizing force for the nationalism that led to China finally throwing off the growing foreign imperialism at the time.

The film opens non-linearly at an epic bout late in Yuanjia's life.  Yuanjia must fight with fists, sword, and spear/pike and defeat all of his opponents to be declared winner.  One against four doesn't seem fair but this is the deal. Now Yuanjia has to face his last opponent, a Japanese karate master named Tanaka (actor Nakamura Shidō II.)  

At the start of this bout, the film then flashes back to when Yuanjia was a child.

As a young boy, Yuanjia worships his father's martial arts skills.  Banners proclaiming the elder master's successes adorn the walls of Yuanjia's ancestral home.  Yuanjia is so smitten with the idea of becoming the world's greatest fighter that he convinces a childhood friend, actor Dong Yong, to do his homework for him so he can practice wushu.

 Yuanjia also picks fights (and loses) with other young boys as he proclaims his father's wushu is best. 

Several years later Yuanjia's father is dead and he is head of the household.  His wife has died from illness but his mother and young daughter fill his life with joy.  He is carefree, treating the family business with seeming disdain and fighting all challengers in the town square - then drinking and partying afterward in his childhood friend's restaurant.  His goal is to never lose a fight and he is indeed undefeated except for one lone fighter (Qin Lei) who he has never challenged.  As his reputation grows, Yuanjia becomes increasingly arrogant and angry until he refuses to allow any disagreement with his wants and needs despite that his business is failing and he has no balance in his life.  He continues to seek the title of Master of Tianjin, the village from which he comes but the only opponent of note he hasn't fought is the man who was spared by Yuanjia's father years before, Qin Lei.  Yuanjia still harbors a resentment and anger toward Qin Lei and finds a reason to challenge him when Lei supposedly harms one of Yuanjia's students.

The fight he picks with Qin Lei is epic and amazingly choreographed - as were all the fight scenes in this film including one on a platform thirty feet in the air.  Li's skills are still sharp and extensive.  He leaps, spins, kicks and punches like a man twenty-five years his junior.  In his forties when this film was made, he seems ageless - another reason why I can't see him retiring from this type of film anytime soon despite his claims to be done with wushu/martial arts films.

Yaunjia batters and kills his opponent and in retribution, his family is then murdered by Quin Lei's godson.  This sends Yuanjia on a multi-year journey of anguished doubt and personal crises.  He ends up nearly dead in a mountain village, falls in love with a young blind girl named Moon (actress Betty Sun) - sort of - and returns to his ancestral home to begin his penance for killing Qin Lei.

But the city of Tianjin, like all of China, has changed. It is now filled with foreigners who march through the streets and determine the rights of the citizens.  The Chinese men and women have been beaten down, told they are less than human, and controlled by the American, British and Japanese forces who covet their vast resources.  Li's character is determined to change all that through a series of fights with these foreigners and also by establishing the Chin Woo Athletic Association (originally, The Jing Wu Athletic Society) in Shanghai which will train Chinese fighters in the wushu way, promoting Chinese nationalism.

In the last epic battle, the one that opens the film, Li must face his last opponent, the Karate master Tanaka who is shown as having both skills and honor.  The Japanese fighter's manager, however, isn't so honorable and poisons Yuinjia during the bout to guarantee a win.  Dying, throwing up blood, Li's character insists on finishing and although he apparently loses the bout because he is too weakened to continue, the Japanese fighter declares him the winner.  "I know it in my heart," he says.

Yuanjia's death (basically) propels China into the events that become the establishment of the Republic of China and although dead, his spirit goes back to the mountain village to be with the woman who renewed his soul and with whom he fell in love.  

Fade out on happy, smiling (ghostly) Yuanjia and Moon.

So, a dramatic story, insanely good martial arts, compelling historical events, and characters who grow and change - all hallmarks of a good film.  And indeed, "Fearless" is considered to be a strong contender for one of the top ten martial arts films ever made.

The problem is, not a lot of it is true.  Which was not really a problem for me, but was apparently for the family of Yuanjia who sued the filmmakers after the film was released.

A lot of Yuanjia's history detailed in this film is just false.  He wasn't middle class, his family was never murdered (just ask his direct descendants) sending him on a sojourn of personal crises, and some of the sequence's of how the Sports Club were established were just a product of the writers' (two of them) imagination.  There was no soul-searching sojourn and no beautiful, blind woman who restored his spirits.  Yuanjia's death was somewhat mysterious but it didn't happen at a bout like the one in the film and there was only rumor that the Japanese had anything to do with it.  Yuanjia suffered from childhood illnesses (in the movie it's severe asthma) - it's likely that that had something to do with his death, and not some surreptitiously substituted poisoned tea.  Also, some of the fights with Western opponents just never happened for one reason or another, and there is no way that Yuanjia fought four opponents at one time for all the marbles.

Of course, not knowing the history behind this seminal character, I bought into all of it without reservation.  But I guess it would be like someone writing a history of an inspirational American athlete like Jesse Owen and making him white and from the Hamptons.  If accuracy is a determiner then this films fails.  If spirit is the goal then this film is certainly successful and inspirational and tells a tale of the times when China rose from a country-wide malaise to become a superpower when superpowers were measured not by nukes but by people and national pride. 

"Fearless" is a solid and entertaining film.  If you compare it to most martial arts films, it shines above most.  A few like "Ip Man" made years after and considered to be in that small club of important martial arts films, also stand out as being about something more than fighting and surely were inspired by this movie.  Through martial arts, these men (and women) find pursuits and goals beyond themselves, putting aside their egos and fighting for a reason beyond that ego.  That's a great story to tell and one that is uniquely Asian (although the idea of inspirational athletes certainly is not.)

Jet Li is a marvel to watch in this and other of his films and is and has been a major star for decades.  My only hope is that he continues to display his enormous skills on screen and doesn't seriously retire.  He has been seen in several Chinese action films and, if course, "The Expendable" series but perhaps nothing in the depth (martial arts-wise) of "Fearless" since he made it.. 

Li's vast filmography is available everywhere including this film on Netflix streaming.  

For an extra, special treat check out the promotional video of the Beijing Wushu Team on Wikipedia - you can see where all that skill and mastery that Li displays in all of his films came from.  HERE