Rating: 
Summary: One of my favorites ever
Review: This movie is suberb, one of my all time favs; Jet Li is the man in this, great action great story and cinematography!!!Don't forget to watch the other 3 sequels
Rating:
Summary: An Action Movie With a Great Story
Review: In the inaugural film in this series, martial arts film legend Jet Li stars as Dr. Wong Fei-Hung, a real life folk hero of 19th century China. Combining solid martial arts action (as you'd expect from a Jet Li movie) with an equally solid storyline which delves into actual historical elements, this movie is a winner all-around, thus justifying the Hong Kong Film Award that it received. THE STORY: It is 19th century China and Western influence is growing in China bringing with it both good and bad elements. Dr. Wong Fei-Hung, a noted martial arts instructor and doctor, as well as his countrymen must contend with the expanding influence of the West. The country is in turmoil. A band of Chinese slave traders, who sell their own countrymen to American slave traders, both for labor as well as female prostitution, arises and Fei-Hung must put a stop to them when his own favorite aunt, (a Westernized Chinese girl) Aunt Yee (Rosamund Kwan) is kidnapped by the slave traders. Added into this mix is the fact that Wong Fei-Hung and his school of fighters are considered outlaws by the local government and are hunted and imprisoned and also the fact that a rival martial arts master, Iron Robe Yim (Yee Kwan Yan) arrives in town to challenge him. THE COOL STUFF: If you love martial arts action you've got TONS of it here. The fight scenes are NUMEROUS and ELABORATE as you'll be treated to tons of fighting set in 19th century China is tons of marketplace settings as well as vintage Chinese dwellings and buildings. The sets and costumes are just awesome. The fight scenes between Wong and Yim are just awesome. THE DVD FEATURES: The features of the DVD, while not extensive as most new DVDs are, are perfectly acceptable. Included on this DVD are the following: 1. Commentary Track by Hong Kong film expert Ric Meyers. Tons of great inside info. 2. Bonus Movie Trailers for the following: a. Once Upon a Time in China I b. Miracles by Jackie Chan c. Who Am I? By Jackie Chan d. Gorgeous by Jackie Chan e. Gen X Cops 3. Filmographies for Director Tsui Hark, Jet Li and Rosamund Kwan THE VERDICT:
The most common criticism for most martial arts/action flicks are that the stories [stink]. The redeeming quality for them is, of course, the action. Once Upon a Time in China overcomes these criticisms by delivering solid action and (lo and behold) a GREAT story. Besides oohing and aahing to tremendous fight scenes you'll also be treated to a great look into a crucial period in Chinese history. Highest Recommendation
Rating: 
Summary: "Influential Martial Arts Masterpiece"
Review: This movie is an excellent film & a must see for all fans of this genre. Its influences appear in a diverse array of movies including _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_ ("flying") & _The Musketeer_ (ladder sequence). Jet Li is, of course, a consummate martial artist, & this adds to the authenticity of even the most fantastic fight sequences. Plus, it's nice to see a martial arts film that focuses on the spiritual as well as the martial. & there's quite a bit of humor as well (ah, if only I spoke Cantonese, I'm sure I could've picked up oodles more . . .). A-
Rating:
Summary: Great fight scenes, many styles
Review: If you can get past the subtitles, you will enjoy the fight scenes! Jet Li is awesome!
Rating: 
Summary: Jet Li has done MUCH better
Review: A truly terrible movie. Forget for one moment that American soldiers are using musket rifles (yes, I said MUSKET RIFLES) at turn of the century China, but the movie is completely without merit. What passes for "story" is a grouping of loosely related subplots, each one uninteresting. The action is uninspired, and after witnessing jet Li's characer fight a sea of villains for the nth time, I did not want to see it again. But the filmmakers thought I should, and so I saw it again. *sigh* I was very disappointed with this movie, mostly because I am a HUGE Jet Li fan. I have loved everything the man has done, even the bad ones, but this movie just takes the cake. The writing is excruciatingly bad, and character motivations go out the window. Americans are stereotyped. The British are stereotyped. Even the Chinese (and this is a Chinese-made movie!) are stereotyped! In short this movie is one big goof. I still believe it was meant as a joke, and not a real movie. Tell me it's so, Jet...
Rating:
Summary: Buy This One!
Review: This is a period film staged in time when Great Britain and the US were heavily involved with China, primarily for the products they made and the cheap labor. There are several sub plots including the US capturing or even having people pay to go to the land of opportunity (US). Jet is Wong Fei - hung, arguably the most beloved character in books, movies and TV. (Is there anyone in Chinese films that has NOT played Wong Fei - hung?) There is a great fight or "non fight" in a restaurant that is Jet at his best! Biao has a smaller part but at least the director doesn't make him pass out like some directors we know. It is good to see him in action with a director who is not concerned about personal ego. This is rare for Biao, don't miss it! Kent Chung is the portly butcher and is wonderful! Rosamund Kwan is beautiful as always but she has brains too and helps the cause of the Chinese people when she can. I did get a little tired of the wire fu..one fight scene in particular where this GIANT log is being kicked around by Jet and his opponent. I swear you can see the cables on the thing! When oh when is Hong Kong and the US for that matter going to let martial artists like Jet do their stuff! Wires used to enhance or for safety are fine. But Jet and Biao do not need wires to wow the audience!
Buy this film! If you like Chinese period films and/or martial arts you will love it! I can only reccomend the full HK DVD with Cantonese or Mandarin languages , and subtitles in English. Don't buy the US release - different soundtrack and awful dubbing and even some scenes cut! This film is worth buying and you won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal Martial Arts Movie
Review: This is in my opinion the best movie ever. It has every element a classic film needs. I happen to study Kung Fu so I realised that this movie has very few impossible moves (about 6 or so) and every... action scene in this leads to the fact that Bruce Lee is untimately inferior in his martial arts skills to Jet Li (Li Lian Jie). My favorite fight is the final battle in a warehouse filled with ladders between Huang Fei Hong and Yim. A ton of you people are saying that Xin Xin Xiong stunt doubled Li in this fight but if you look closely, Jet Li is only doubled in a small portion of the scene. In my opinion, Jet Li's BEST MOVIE. You won't enjoy the sequel much if you are not chinese.
Rating:
Summary: Best Martial Arts Movie Ever
Review: I LOVED THIS! I THINK ANYONE WOULD GET IT! ACTION SCENES OUTDUE ANY BRUCE LEE MOVIE! BUY IT.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic!
Review: This is THE BEST a movie can ever get! The acting is perfect, the story is wonderful, and the action scenes are so good. This DVD is very recent so the picture quality is a lot better than the original release. The english dubbed version is kinda gay though. This movie is so famous in China, that all you have to do is whistle its music and any EDUCATED chinese dude would recognize it. This movie isn't only about martial arts though. It has a very good plot, with several sad and touching scenes. You'll like this movie more if you understand chinese and english (Trust ME). I wish Jet Li was like this in all of his movies.
Rating:
Summary: GOOD OVERALL, BUT DON'T EXPECT TOO MUCH
Review: 4 stars might be stretching it on the rating scale, but overall this was a pretty decent film (I thought). One thing you should be warned of if you haven't already seen it however is that OUATINC has very little fighting for a martial arts film. The duel in the courtyard between Li and Yang Shi Qwan was excellent, if rather short and their second encounter in the warehouse was very good although a stunt double was used for Li after he apparently broke his leg. Beyond that, there are a couple of other fight scenes in which Li & co. shows some nice moves, but for a movie that's about 2 hrs. long (give or take), I think fights of longer duration and greater frequency would have been appreciated by the average viewer. On it's good side: great visual representation of colonial China, Rosamund Qwan, a lot more substance in the characters than is usually found in Hong Kong Cinema (maybe too much), and even if there was a paucity of fights, those that are in the film make the rental fee worthwile. I'd also skip the commentary section by Ric Meyers. I don't doubt he knows his stuff, but what he shares with the viewer is definately more smoke than fire. Out of his entire commentary that ran the length of the movie from the opening credits to the closing credits, (again, about 2 hours of film), he gave maybe 20 minutes of truly informative material for the viewer to chew on. The rest was a lot of uninetersting opinion and some VERY lame humor. I'd also advise the original language (Cantonese) with subtitles because the dubbed voices, as always, are pretty horrific.
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