Reviewed - Fearless/Huo Yuan Jia: Anybody unlucky enough to have suffered through Jet Li's last few American films could be forgiven for reacting with indecent good humour to the news that the Chinese martial arts star is to retire.

As it happens, Fearless, an elegantly carried off if predictable epic, shows Li's talents to some advantage.

Sadly, the film arrives here in such edited form that the great Michelle Yeoh, who apparently slapped Jet around a bit in the Asian cut, is nowhere to be seen.

Ronny Yu's lower-middlebrow saga remains, however, a consistently diverting piece of work. The fights, less showily balletic than those in earlier Asian crossover fare such as Hero, have some of the crunching, bruising physicality that juiced up the recent Ong-Bak. The pastoral interludes offer pleasing respite from the mayhem. And the performances are unexpectedly restrained and heartfelt.

Fearless is based on the true story of the renowned turn-of-the-century brawler Huo Yuanjia, founder of the Jingwu martial arts school. As the film tells it, Huo, following the redemptive life plans beloved of so many movie heroes, began his professional career as an arrogant cad before causing all kinds of trouble for those he cared about.

is based on the true story of the renowned turn-of-the-century brawler Huo Yuanjia, founder of the Jingwu martial arts school. As the film tells it, Huo, following the redemptive life plans beloved of so many movie heroes, began his professional career as an arrogant cad before causing all kinds of trouble for those he cared about.

He retired to the country to gain wisdom and returning a kinder, gentler engineer of broken bones.

The film is book-ended by scenes of Hua's last big fight in the multicultural bazaar that was Shanghai in 1910. Western colonists have joined forces with Japanese interests to stage a contest aimed at humiliating Hua, who, it is implied, has become a symbol of Chinese resistance.

After walloping three huge Caucasians, our hero is confronted with his most fearsome challenger, the wily Tanaka. A 90-minute flashback - childhood traumas, later bereavements, moral indiscretions -  hen helps explain how the now middleaged scrapper came by his philosophical approach to combat.

The snipping has left some holes in the plot. Where exactly did Hua's daughter come from? What is going on between him and the pretty blind peasant? But, in truth, the picture feels just the right length. Indeed, it is sufficiently zippy to persuade us that Jet Li's retirement might be premature.

And, sure enough, it seems, contrary to promises made in the film's publicity material, he will be back next year in something called Rogue.