Fearless (2006 film): Difference between revisions

Fearless
Fearless film poster
Directed by	Ronny Yu
Written by	Ronny Yu
Produced by	William Kong
Starring	Jet Li Nakamura Shido Collin Chou Betty Sun
Distributed by	UIP (Europe) Rogue Pictures (U.S.)
Release dates	January 26 2006 March 18 2006 June 23 2006 August 24 2006 September 22 2006
Running time	105 min
Languages	Mandarin Cantonese Japanese

Fearless, known in Chinese as Huo Yuanjia (Chinese: 霍元甲; pinyin: Huò Yuánjiǎ) is a 2006 film directed by Ronny Yu and starring Jet Li. It is loosely based on the life of Huo Yuanjia, a legendary Chinese martial artist who challenged foreign fighters in highly publicised events, restoring pride and nationalism to China at a time when Western Imperialism eroded the country. Jet Li stated in an interview that this film is his last martial arts epic, a point also made in the movie's television promotions and other publicity. Fearless was released on June 23, 2006 in the United Kingdom, and on September 22, 2006 in the United States.

• Tagline: "Fate made him a warrior, courage made him a hero"

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Jet Li loosely portrays the life of martial art master Huo Yuanjia. The plot differs greatly from the actual life of Huo Yuanjia.

The story flashes back to when Huo Yuanjia was a small boy. His father, Huo Endi, was a great fighter but did not want his son to follow in his footsteps and hence, refused to teach Yuanjia martial arts. However, Huo secretly watched his father's training and taught himself how to fight.

The young Yuanjia then witnesses his father "losing" a Leitai match; in actuality, his father won the match, because he delivered a fatal blow, but mercifully pulled the blow short so that his opponent would not be killed. However, his opponent dishonorably struck back after Huo Endi's winning blow, causing Huo Endi to "lose" the match when he is knocked off the stage. Yuanjia is taunted by the son of the man who defeated his father and he steps up to defend the Huo family name. Yuanjia is defeated and he swears never to lose again.

As the years pass, Yuanjia grows into a powerful fighter, winning fight after fight on the Leitai until he becomes known as one of the greatest fighters in Tianjin, China. However, as his success grows, he becomes arrogant and increasingly ruthless, unlike his late father. When a rival martial arts master named Qin Lei (Master Chin in the US version) apparently injures one of Huo's followers, Huo forces Qin to fight him to the death during Qin's birthday celebration. After much effort, during which the fighters demolish a restaurant, Huo — unlike his father who had previously held off during the Leitai match-- kills Qin with a fatal blow. However, when he returns home, he realizes that his mother and daughter (Jade in the US version) have been killed in revenge. Guided by fury, he goes to Qin's home and finds Qin's Godson, who admits to slaughtering Huo's family, and that he alone was responsible. Qin's Godson then commits suicide before Huo can kill him. Although he is distraught by the murder of his family, Huo spares the lives of Qin's wife and daughter, who cower in the corner. As he leaves, his pupils approach, and force the pupil that was injured by Qin to tell Huo that the reason Qin attacked his pupil was because the pupil had slept with Qin's concubine. Crazed with grief and shame, Huo flees Tianjin and wanders aimlessly for many miles, no longer caring about himself. A disheveled, greying wanderer, he nearly drowns in a river, but is saved by Granny Sun (Grandma in the US version) and her blind grand-daughter, Yueci (Moon in the US version). They bring him back to their village and guided by their simple acts of kindness, Huo begins to learn the true meaning of kindness and mercy.

In 1907, Huo Yuanjia returns to a very different Tianjin than the one he had left. No longer a comfortable rural village, it is now a bustling city, crowded with foreign troops and merchants. There, he makes peace with his past -- visiting the graves of his family and apologizing for his faults, and paying his respects to the family of Master Qin.

He then reconciles with his old friend, Nong Jinsun, and challenges American wrestler, Hercules O'Brien, who was making headlines defeating Chinese fighters and dismissing them as the 'Sick men of the East'. To the astonishment of the foreigners, Huo not only wins the fight, but the admiration of O'Brien in the process. Huo Yuanjia's fame begins to spread with successive challenges with other foreign fighters, and with funding from his businessman friend, Nong Jinsun, he sets up Jing Wu Men, a martial arts school in Shanghai.

The members of the foreign Chambers of Commerce fear that Huo Yuanjia's victory will fan anti-western sentiments in the Chinese people and lead to revolts, so they seek to humiliate him. They challenge him to a match in which he will take on four foreign champions in a single evening: a British boxer, a German lancer, a Spanish fencer, and a Japanese martial artist. Though Jinsun urges Huo to refuse such an unfair challenge, Huo decides to accept, adding that afterwards, he intends to take a break and visit Granny and Yueci. He also accepts an invitation to join the Japanese challenger, Anno Tanaka, for tea. While there, they have an important debate about the value of the martial arts. Tanaka believes the goal of a martial artist is to defeat his opponent, but Huo impresses Tanaka by successfully arguing that the goal of studying martial arts is self-improvement, and that challenge matches are important not because of who wins or loses but because they provide a way for a practitioner to gauge his progress and can act as a focal point in his training. The two fighters leave with a friendly respect for each other, looking almost as if the two were actually friends.

The match takes place on September 14, 1910. Huo Yuanjia soundly beats the first three fighters before facing Tanaka in a titanic battle. In the first round, they fight with weapons. The fight is extraordinarily close and ends in a draw. At this point, both Huo and Tanaka have also formed a silent friendship based on mutual respect.

Worried that Huo will emerge victorious, the Japanese diplomat secretly has Huo's teacup switched with a poisoned cup from which Huo drinks. In the second round, to be fought without weapons, Huo has difficulty breathing, loses his strength, and starts vomiting blood. Tanaka and Huo's students immediately demand that the fight be stopped, but Huo replies that they might as well finish it since he will die regardless.

In his weakened state, Huo is no match for Tanaka but sees an opening to seize victory by delivering the same fatal technique that he had used to defeat and kill Master Qin. But, at the last second, he pulls the strike, letting it land without any power behind it. As he collapses, Tanaka realizes both Huo's mastery and his mercy and helps Huo back to his feet, raises his arm and declares him the victor. A crowd from all sides cheer as they call out Huo's name.

When the furious Japanese diplomat confronts Tanaka and accuses him of throwing certain victory away, Tanaka, knowing that he was the one who was behind the poison, angrily slams him against a pillar and tells the diplomat that Huo won.

The movie ends with Yueci seeing a flashback vision of Huo in her mind's eye at the same hill where he was practicing his Wushu and realizing that he has redeemed himself.

Note: Chinese names order the family name before the given name.

• Huo Yuanjia (霍元甲; Hanyu Pinyin: Huò Yuánjiǎ) - The main character, who starts out as an arrogant yet talented fighter.
• Nong Jinsun - Huo's childhood friend, who finances Huo's forays into fighting.
• Yueci (Moon in the U.S. versions) - A peasant girl who nurses Huo back to health.
• Hercules O'Brien - A beefy American champion whom Huo challenges.
• Anno Tanaka (田中安野, Tanaka An'no) - The Japanese challenger to Huo.

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• Jet Li – Huo Yuanjia
• Nathan Jones – Hercules O'Brien, American wrestler
• Yong Dong – Businessman and close friend of Huo Yuanjia, Nong Jinsun
• Collin Chou - Yuanjia's father, Huo Endi
• Nakamura Shido – Anno Tanaka, Kenjutsu & karate practioner
• Betty Sun – Yueci (Moon)
• Hee Ching Paw – Yuanjia's mother, Qijing Bao
• Mike Leeder Referee Randall
• Ian Powers - Bellboy Dante
• Anthony De Longis - Anthony, Spanish fencer
• Brandon Rhea - Hans, German spearfighter
• Jean Claude Leuyer - Peter Smith, British boxer
• Masato Harada - Mr. Mita

The film was originally 150 minutes long, but to fit market demand, it was cut to 105 minutes, and scenes by Michelle Yeoh and a fight between Jet Li and a Thai boxer, portrayed by Somluck Kamsing, were removed. A special release of the film in Thailand in March 2006 reinserted the scenes with Somluck (but not Michelle Yeoh), making it only slightly longer than 105 minutes.

• AMC Theatres billed this movie as Jet Li's Fearless.
• The film is also known as Spirit in Japan.

Comparisons can be drawn between this film and one of Jet Li's earlier films, Fist of Legend. The character of Huo Yuanjia is the master of Jet Li's character in Fist of Legend, Chen Zhen; in the earlier movie, Chen Zhen returns to China from Japan to avenge the murder of Huo Yuanjia which is depicted in Fearless. The films also explore similar thematic material: in Fearless, Huo Yuanjia eventually learns that the true purpose of martial arts is self-improvement and self-development, while combat with others is useful only as a means of testing one's progress, and he teaches this lesson to his Japanese opponent. In Fist of Legend, Chen Zhen is told the same lesson by his own samurai opponent, who claims that martial arts are a means of improving one's physical health, but if one wants to kill a man, one should use a gun.

In an earlier film Fist of Fury (formerly known as The Chinese Connection), Bruce Lee portrayed the student Chen Zhen of Huo Yuanjia who seeks revenge for his poisoning. This film was the archetype of Fist of Legend.

In February 2006, a great grandson of Huo Yuanjia demanded an apology for the inaccuracy portrayed in Fearless. In the film, Huo did not have any offspring as his only child was killed; however he actually has 7 grandsons and 11 great grandsons. However, no apology was offered, and the complaint came to nothing. This was because the great grandson was advised that a court case was unlikely to succeed, because the producers had not stated that the film was intended to be historically accurate. ^[1]

Jay Chou wrote and sang the theme song to this movie, also named "Huo Yuanjia".

The film's soundtrack was composed by Shigeru Umebayashi.

The film has made more than 66.5 million dollars worldwide, and 24.6 million dollars in the US as of 16 November 2006^{[citation needed]}.

• Official site
• Jet Li Fearless website
• QuickTime Trailer
• Fearless at IMDb
• Fearless at Metacritic
• Fearless at Rotten Tomatoes