Fearless (2006 film)
Fearless, also known as Huo Yuanjia (') in Chinese, and as Jet Li's Fearless""' in the United Kingdom and in the United States, is a 2006 martial arts film directed by Ronny Yu and starring Jet Li. It is loosely based on the life of Huo Yuanjia, a Chinese martial artist who challenged foreign fighters in highly publicized events, restoring pride and nationalism to China at a time when Western imperialism and Japanese manipulation were eroding the country in the final years of the Qing Dynasty before the birth of the Republic of China. Li stated in  an interview that the film was his last wushu martial arts epic, a point also made in the film's television promotions and other publicity. "Fearless" was released on 26 January 2006 in Hong Kong, on 23 June 2006 in the United Kingdom, and on 22 September 2006 in the United States. Plot. The film begins with Huo Yuanjia fighting and defeating three Westerners: a British boxer, a Belgian lancer, and a Spanish fencer. While waiting for the fourth match to begin, Huo remembers his father Huo Endi teaching martial arts. The story is then told in an extended flashback . Watching his father fight, the young Yuanjia wants to participate, but his father is concerned about his asthma. Yuanjia sees his father in a match with Zhao, who dishonorably won by retaliating when Huo Endi held back a fatal blow. Humiliated by his father's defeat, Huo Yuanjia vows to regain the Huo family's honor and pride. He practices martial arts behind his father's back. As time goes by, Huo Yuanjia defeats several opponents (including Zhao's son who bullied him when he was younger) and becomes a famous martial artist in Tianjin. As he becomes successful, he  becomes more short-tempered and reckless and grows more arrogant and ruthless towards his opponents, unlike his late father who advocated showing mercy to opponents. This also leads to Huo gaining many followers and getting himself into financial trouble by spending his family's money on drinking and partying. When a rival martial arts master named Qin Lei injures one of his followers, Huo feels insulted and furiously confronts Qin on his birthday, at a restaurant owned by Huo's childhood friend, Nong Jinsun. Failing to dissuade his friend from fighting and fed up with his ruthless behavior, Jinsun furiously  and adamantly ends his friendship with Huo. The confrontation escalates into a fight that ends with Qin's death. Qin's godson seeks vengeance and kills Huo's mother and daughter. Huo goes to Qin's house, where Qin's godson admits to the murders before killing himself. Huo becomes depressed when he learns that it was his follower who had insulted Qin's mistress, which caused Qin to beat him. Wracked with guilt, Huo flees Tianjin and wanders aimlessly for months. He nearly drowns in a river but is saved by Granny Sun and her blind granddaughter, Yueci. They  bring him back to their village. Guided by their kindness, and over the years, Huo learns the value of compassion and mercy. In 1907, Huo returns to Tianjin and sees the changes that have taken place. He apologizes to Qin's family and reconciles with Jinsun, now a businessman. He challenges the American wrestler, Hercules O'Brien. Prior to the match, Huo requests that he and Hercules fight with honor and civility. Taking advantage of the language barrier, the Announcer deliberately mistranslates Huo's request to "He wants to kick your butt". During their match, Huo saves O'Brien from being impaled  on some nails and wins his gratitude. The match ends with O'Brien happily naming Huo the victor. Huo's fame spreads with successive bouts against other foreign fighters. In 1909, with funding from Jinsun, he founds Chin Woo Athletic Association in Shanghai. The members of the foreign chamber of commerce fear that Huo's victories might fan anti-foreign sentiments among the Chinese people, thus becoming a disadvantage to them. They propose a match between Huo and four foreign champions. Huo takes up the challenge, even though he will have to fight four bouts in a row. Before the matches , Huo meets the Japanese champion Tanaka for tea and strikes up a friendship, with the men developing a mutual respect for one another. The film then returns to the competition shown in the opening scenes. On September 14, 1910, Huo faces Tanaka after defeating the European challengers. In the first round, they fight with their weapons of choice. Huo uses a sanjiegun while Tanaka uses a katana. In the heat of the fight, they accidentally exchange weapons. Huo is able to handle the katana proficiently, while Tanaka can defend himself but fumbles when attacking with the sanjiegun. Huo offers to  exchange weapons with Tanaka, and the first round ends in a draw. Before the next round, Huo unknowingly drinks tea poisoned by the members of the foreign chamber of commerce. In the second round involving unarmed combat, Huo has difficulty breathing and begins to lose his strength. He collapses and starts coughing blood as a result of arsenic poisoning. Tanaka and Huo's supporters demand that the match be halted and postponed, but Huo wishes to continue as he is going to die anyway. Huo, overwhelmed by Tanaka, still manages to deliver a final blow to Tanaka's chest, using  the same technique that killed Qin, but deliberately holds back, smiling just before he collapses. Tanaka, aware that he could have died had Huo used more force, declares Huo the victor as Huo dies and respectfully bows to him as he collapses into the arms of his friend and students. Before departing, Tanaka angrily retorts to a protesting Japanese diplomat (who had Huo poisoned) that he was a disgrace to Japan for valuing his own personal gain by betting on and attempting to fix the match by poisoning Huo over having enough national pride in Tanaka that he could win  honorably for Japan. Tanaka storms off to the diplomat's immense shock. In the epilogue, Huo's spirit practices Wushu on a field while Yueci observes him. Huo turns to her and smiles, indicating a lover's reconciliation. Production. Alternate versions. The film was originally approximately 140 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 its new running time approximately 110 minutes. In January 2007, Ronny Yu's original 140-minute director's cut was given an official DVD release in Hong Kong, featuring the full Michelle Yeoh subplot as well as the fight with Somluck Kamsing. Within the Somluck Kamsing scene, there are two different endings. In the director's cut, the fight ends after Huo Yuanjia stops the Thai boxer from falling head first. In an alternate scene, the Thai boxer continues to fight after this and Huo appears to kill him with the exterminating blow, only to see that he  had resisted, in which the boxer realises this and ends the fight. Director's cut. Universal released the full 140-minute director's cut on DVD in North America in July 2008. The released DVD, however, contained 2 discs and has been reported to errantly contain both the existing US theatrical version and the existing unrated version and not the actual director's cut on either of the discs. However, many people were able to get replacement copies that had the director's cut after sending a complaint on their website. In December 2008, Universal released the Blu-ray version  of the film, which contains the three versions (Theatrical, Unrated, and Director's Cut) in a single disc. There are many differences between the theatrical and director's cut. Reception. The film holds a rating of 73% on Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus being, ""Fearless" is a brilliantly choreographed, beautifully filmed endcap to Li's quarter-decade of epic martial arts glory." "Empire" gave two stars out of five with a verdict stating, "Despite impressive, CG-light action sequences and an absorbing story which certainly stands another re-telling, director Ronny Yu barely elevates this above the level of a  direct-to-video fightfest. "Hero" or "Crouching Tiger" it ain't." "Fearless" opened in Hong Kong on 26 January 2006 during the Chinese New Year holidays. The film played to blockbuster business, eventually grossed an exceptional HK$30,201,600 by the end of its run on 8 March 2006, making it the highest-grossing domestic film of the territory of 2006. On 22 September 2006, "Fearless" was released in 1,806 North American cinemas under the title "Jet Li's Fearless". In its opening weekend, it placed 2nd at the box office to the sequel to "Jackass", grossing US$10,590,244 (US$5,863 per  screen). It was Jet Li's seventh film in a row to open to over US$10 million. The film went on to gross US$24,633,730 by the end of its North American run—making it the sixth highest-grossing non-English language foreign film in the United States to date—and its total worldwide gross US$68,072,848. Controversy. The descendants of Huo Yuanjia were so upset by how their ancestor was portrayed in "Fearless", as well as by the historical inaccuracies in the film, that they launched a lawsuit against Jet Li and the film's producers and distributors  in March 2006. Huo Shoujin, an 81-year-old grandson of Huo Yuanjia, stated he was unhappy that the movie showed Huo Yuanjia causing "trouble", which led to the deaths of his mother and daughter. Huo Shoujin also denounced the filmmakers for depicting his grandfather as a violent fighter. In December 2006, a court in Beijing dismissed the case, saying "Fearless" was an exaggerated and fictitious portrait of Huo Yuanjia but it "contained no defamatory or libelous depictions". Soundtrack. The film's soundtrack was composed by Shigeru Umebayashi. The Taiwanese singer Jay Chou wrote and sang the theme song, also  named "Huo Yuanjia". In the song, Chou sings in a falsetto voice for a few segments.