now, i enjoyed 'fearless' a lot, but it did feel hurried. thankfully, ronny yu's director's cut has now been made available on dvd.

the film tells the story of huo yuanjia (jet li), a famous, highly influential and supremely talented martial artist. huo was the son of a martial arts master (ngai sing), who secretly learned his family's style of wu shu and grew up to be a pretty detestable young man. at his worst, huo was a heavy drinker, concerned only with the adulation of his students and consumed by the prospect of being the number one fighter in tianjin. realising this prospect only brings huo, and his family, pain and suffering.

huo flees tianjin, finding himself at his lowest ebb and without the will to live; he is lost and at death's door, until he is taken in by a family in a small rural community. it is during the following years that hou reinvents himself, developing a philosophy based around the enrichment of mind, body and soul, through the practice of martial arts.

when huo returns to tianjin, circa 1909, he finds china has been flooded with foreign colonialists from the likes of england, france, america, belgium, japan and spain. china is labelled as "the sick man of east asia" and national untiy and pride is at an all time low. huo now sees it as his duty to promote his martial arts philosophy (through the founding of the jingwu sports federation) and fight to bring a sense of national pride and identity back to the chinese people.

as i've said before, 'fearless' marks a triumphant return to china for ronny yu, yuen woo ping and jet li; all of whom have had time away from hong kong and, on the whole, haven't been producing work to the degree that they're capable of doing.

it was already a well made biopic; i'm not sure how accurate it is but, the engaging narrative and li's outstanding central performance, made it very watchable. my only criticism was that it did feel rushed but, thankfully, now we can watch the film as it was intended thanks to this release. the additional thirty-six minutes adds a more natural pace to film, allowing for a more convincing character development and a greater depth to proceedings. the only part that i felt was unneccessary was the present day introduction, featuring michelle yeoh's presentation on wu shu, to the international olympic commitee. it's a little clunky, but this is only a minor criticism.

praise should be heaped on to jet li for his performance in 'fearless', who seems to be making every effort within the role. not suprising as he also announced that this, the story of the man who founded the foundation where he trained, would be his last period, wu shu film. physically, li's performance is amazing, which is to be expected, even if he is fourty-two. it is, however, li's range of performance throughout the dramatic highs and lows of huo's life; without a doubt, a career best from mr li.

combined with yuen woo ping choreographic flair, his performances in the various fighting sequences are also incredible, ranking alongside some of his best work. from the 'fong sai yuk'-esque fight a top a scaffold, a showdown against multiple challengers, the restaurant fight against his rival, master chin (chen zhi-hui), the re-inserted sequence with the thai fighter, somluck kamsing, a great confrontation with nathan jones and the final showdown, where huo takes on an english boxer (jean-claude leuyer), a belgian lance expert (brandon rhea), a spanish swordsman (anthony de longis) and a japanese fighter (nakamura shidou) - all outstanding.

this is a very good watch indeed and a suitable way for li to bow out of the wu shu films in fine style.

great stuff...