This movie definitely has flaws- the major one being that there are points when the story does not seem to be heading in any particular direction- but excellent acting, some intensely profound and uncommonly well thought out character psychology (especially for a Hollywood film)and the scariest/loveliest air plane crash ever dramatized makes this movie worth seeing. Stars for the filming and scoring of the film too, especially during the car crash sequence and the opening corn field/plane wreck sequence.

Peter Weir is unique in his ability to convey the niceties of life with authenticity. Jeff Bridges is the master of the theatrical understatement. A plane crash creates a untenable level of fear in the mind anyone who has stood next to one and pondered that fate.Henryk Gorecki's Symphony No 3 creates an overwhelming sense of sadness. Fearless benefits from all these things, as well as a strong supporting cast.

I cannot watch this movie without being buffeted emotionally. I know many film lovers prefer a more concrete plot and less tugging at the heartstrings. They should turn to a different page now.

Fearless is a gem for anyone else.

I hasten to add America, the Peter Weir was only on loan, and we want him back in Australia.

*****SPOILERS***** Max Kline, Jeff Bridges, not only survived a deadly plane crash that cost the lives of some 200 passengers he also saved about a dozen people from that burning inferno. Max becomes a hero in the eyes of those that he saved as well as the news media. Max for some strange reason seemed to walk away from it all as if nothing happened which to many,including the FBI, seemed weird and strange. The airline sends a trauma expert Dr. Pearlman ,John Turturro, to examine Max as well as the other survivors to see if their all right and if not what treatment they would need.

The movie "Fearless" concentrates on two survivors and one wife of a survivor who are in some way connected to each other. Because of the tragedy. Max's friend and architect partner Jeff Gordon, John DeLancie, was killed in the crash and left a wife Nan, Deirdre O'Connell, with two little children. Jeff greedily switched the tickets that Max gave him for the flight for cheaper ones that didn't have life insurance to cover himself. Carla Rodrigo, Rosie Perez, who also survived the crash, thanks to Max, lost her little boy when he fell out of her hands and was killed. This made Carla fall into a deep depression by holding herself responsible for his death.

Max's change of life after the crash comes into conflict in dealing with the realities of both Carla and Nan as well as his wife Laura, Isabella Rosselini, in getting his life back to normal. Max soon develops a fearless attitude toward death and during the movie risks his life as if he were tempting death to see somehow that if he's really dead or not. Carla is the only one who seems to bring Max back to the real world with her depression over her sons death in the crash. That makes Max go out of his way to show her that she wasn't responsible. Having Carla her sit in his car one evening and having Carla hold a tool box, as if it were her baby boy, Max then crash the car full-force into a brick wall! This was to show her that she couldn't have held on to her child to save him from the plane crash: a bit insane but it worked in curing Carla of her severe guilt feelings.

The car crash also settled Max's not wanting to lie about Jeff's death. Jeff's lawyer Brillstein, Tom Hulce,wanted Max to lie about the circumstances of Jeff's death to get a bigger settlement. Now Max doesn't have to testify by showing that he became suicidal because of the plane crash and thus lost control of his mental faculties.

It was shown in the movie, after Max survived the plane crash, that everything that Max did he seemed to be guided by some invisible force. Like the one which had Max lead those survivors of the plane crash to safety. This unseen force made those who thought that Max was a bit strange and odd see that he was in some way a changed but better person because of it.

The end of the film seemed a bit confusing but thinking about everything else in the movie that lead up to it did somehow make sense. Max, with his wife present, picks up a strawberry from Nan's lawyers batch of gifts that he had and munches on it which seems to poison and kill him. It was explained early in the movie that Max had a deadly allergic reaction to strawberries since he was a child. With everyone thinking that he's dead Max miraculously comes back to life with his wife happily holding and kissing him.

We've seen earlier in the movie Max eating strawberries, again tempting death, with nothing happening to him! So why then should anything like him possibly dying from eating the strawberries happen to him now when it didn't happen before in the movie? Was it that strange force or was it Max himself in getting him and his wife Laura back together since their strained marriage, due to Max's relationship with Carla after the plane crash, which had him and his wife on the verge of separating and divorcing! Deep and interesting movie about how facing death in the present and surviving changes us for the better in facing life in the future.