Hong Kong director Ronny Yu deserves a place in any cineaste's heart for directing both the trend-setting Eastern fantasy, The Bride with White Hair, and the splendid Hollywood horror satire, Bride of Chucky. In Fearless, he provides a steady hand on the tiller as leading man Jet Li bids a fortysomething farewell to the 'wushu' genre. Despite the high-profile presence of action man Yuen Wo Ping, whose balletic fight choreography graced The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this loose retelling of martial-arts hero Huo Yuanjia's life story eschews high-flying pyrotechnics in favour of more down-to-earth battles. The narrative follows a traditional pathway from hot-headed, punchy youth to wise but powerful adulthood via a rice-picking sojourn in a rural backwater, where meditative lessons are duly learned. Li's dramatic range may be limited, but Yu's handsome film invests his character with a fitting air of sincerity.