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Once Upon a Time in China and America

Once Upon a Time in China and America

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: 1 star too many in my book...
Review: It's hard to figure out what is the worst part of this movie. The Chinese, the Native-Americans (or Chinese), or the white people. The native-americans, or bearers of national socialist propaganda, seemed more like Chinese people dressed up as 1950's Hee-Haw style Indians. Jet Li looked like a more convincing Native american than the "real" indians. The fight scenes were terrible, but the romance made me cry. By which I mean the incomprehensible love triangle made me cry in agony. But the first one was good, which makes this all the more disappointing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Forget plot, the fighting makes this movie worth watching!
Review: My only criticisms are that the american actors are sometimes a little cheesy and that a little "flying kung-fu" appears thanks to wires. But who cares?, that's not why you watch the movie! The movie's filled with energetic, often cool, fight scenes featuring Jet. His side kick, Seven, makes the film though. His tough, ass-kicking personality makes his scenes worth watching over and over again. The athleticism the actors display is mind-boggling, some moves are hard to follow even in slow motion. When Seven fights Jet, hold onto your butts!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Forget plot, the fighting makes this movie worth watching!
Review: My only criticisms are that the american actors are sometimes a little cheesy and that a little "flying kung-fu" appears thanks to wires. But who cares?, that's not why you watch the movie! The movie's filled with energetic, often cool, fight scenes featuring Jet. His side kick, Seven, makes the film though. His tough, ass-kicking personality makes his scenes worth watching over and over again. The athleticism the actors display is mind-boggling, some moves are hard to follow even in slow motion. When Seven fights Jet, hold onto your butts!!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Par for the course.
Review: Not the best in the series, but worth buying if you want to complete the set. I thought the series started to wane with OUATIC III, but it actually picks up a bit with this one.

ClubFoot reappears (now known as "Seven") puts on a fantastic display of martial arts. In fact the scenes of Jet Li and Seven fighting Native Americans, Cowboys and each other make this film worth watching. What is a bit disappointing is the end fight; rather corny and very predictable.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disappointing chapter in a great series - thanks Sammo
Review: The biggest flaw in this flick is it's director, Sammo "I'll do anything to make you laugh" Hung.

Leave it to Sammo to do a great job of disrespecting a great Chinese folkhero by making him look incompetent and stupid. While the fight scenes were descent, I could not get over the fact that all credibility of the character had been destroyed. Sammo just didn't do this whole saga justice.

On a side note, the DVD version that I saw (and reviewing), the ChinaStar version, had about a 2-3 second delay in subtitles. Also the aspect ratio manually changes. Not a very professional job.

I would rent this first. If you decide to purchase it, make sure it's the Carnival version, as pictured at the top of the page.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The OUATIC to forget!!!
Review: The story is not so bad (well... Shangai Noon, which is quite similar, is much better...) it's just badly directed. The fight scenes are unwatchable and the dialogues are quite poor. Wong Fei-hung (Jet Li) is out of character (for example: it's the first time that we see him giving long and boring speeches to everyone around) and some characters such as Foon Leung aren't even here. Also, you should see the bad make-up on the main villain... It's so ugly that you can't take the guy seriously.

As for the DVD... It's one of the worst I have bought so far. The sound isn't surround, which is unforgivable for a movie done at the end of the 90's. There's a 2 to 5 seconds delay for the subtitles to appear on screen, which is pretty annoying. The quality of the picture lets much to be desired. A ratio of 2.35:1 would have been a better choice to show the movie instead of the 1.85:1. And what's the fun to watch a "making of" in Cantonese language without the option of having english subtitles to follow it?

All in all, an episode to forget in the OUATIC series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fantastic Action with humor - Must see for Li fans
Review: This film is set in the old west and the fighting scenes between Jet Li and the old west inhabitants definitely added some flavor to his normal settings. Greatly enjoyed the action and the humor. Saw it at UC theater Berkeley.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This Movie was REALLY BAD
Review: This has to the worst OUATIC series. The Story plot was a laugh. Jet Li sounded like a little boy in this movie. Once again, he was the untouchable wong fei hong. I actually felt sorry for the bad guy at the end when Jet kicked the living day lights out of him again and again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Jet Li & Sammo Hung did a great Job.
Review: This is a great installment in the OUATIC series. Wong Fei-Hong in the old west, great action. Sammo as Director brought some of his unique brand of humor and with Jet Li you cant go wrong. For Jet Li fans everywhere.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I liked it!!!
Review: This last part (so far) of the six part
OUATIC series wasn't too bad. It gets panned a bit by Jet's fans
at times, but I enjoy the concepts behind OUATIC and enjoy owning
this final installment. Jet, who plays Wong Fai Hung, travels to America (circa 1900) to check up on the newly established Po Chi Lam headquaters [Wong is a doctor]. He travels with Auntie 13 and Club Foot, who is called Seven in this movie [another reason I jumped on this title, by the way, was for this awesome fighter].
The story revolves around am injury to the head which cause
Wong to briefly forget who he is. He is adopted by some Indians [I had to laugh, as some of the Indians with mohawks look like English punks circa 1980: fire engine red hair!] The portrayal of Native Americans could have been a bit better, but I didn't let it distract me. As a subplot, there is a heart of gold version of Billy the Kid who befriends the Chinese, and is taught some kicking by Seven; I liked this blond haired character more than I thought I would, and give the guy credit for playing his character well! This has more the feeling of a television show than a movie in some ways, but is a must see for Jet/ Wong Fai Hung fans alike. Yes, there is wire-fu, but Jet was made for that stuff and I don't mind it most of the time.
The real question is: Is a movie about a martial arts god who beats up cowboys even remotely possible [shanghai noon aside, this movie came out first]? It does work; Tsui Hark manages to provide us with a great lead villain with a very sinister look; a real tough and spooky character [whos name I forget!] who seems to have a lot more going for him skill-wise than slinging a six-shooter. There is also a decent fight between Seven anf Wong, to eliviate the overall lack of martial arts. In short, not a bad flick, especially if you love Jet!


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