Today I watched the theatrical cut of "Fearless". It's a good film, it's a very good film, but it's not up to the quality of the director's cut. In future I'll make sure that I only watch the director's cut.
Maybe it's wrong to call the longer version the director's cut. It's actually the original version that the director Ronny Yu presented to the film studio for release. The told him that 140 minutes was too long – really? – so he reduced it to 100 minutes. This is inexcusable.
The film tells the true story of Huo Yuanjia, a martial artist who lived from 1868 to 1910. It's possible that the film has been over-dramatised, making it far distanced from the truth. I've read that a grandson of Huo Yuanjia attempted unsuccessfully to stop the film's release. All I can say, as someone who had no previous knowledge of this person before watching the film, is that I have a great respect for him based on what I've seen. That should be enough to satisfy the grandson.
The film shows a mighty fighter who was guilty of pride and arrogance. After the death of his mother and his daughter he withdrew from fighting, and he returned after "many years" as a different man. Rather than wanting to promote himself, his new attitude was to bring honour back to China. As such he became a true Chinese hero.
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