Home :: DVD :: Action & Adventure :: Hong Kong Action  

Animal Action
Blackmail, Murder & Mayhem
Blaxploitation
Classics
Comic Action
Crime
Cult Classics
Disaster Films
Espionage
Futuristic
General
Hong Kong Action

Jungle Action
Kids & Teens
Martial Arts
Military & War
Romantic Adventure
Science Fiction
Sea Adventure
Series & Sequels
Superheroes
Swashbucklers
Television
Thrillers
Once Upon a Time in China III

Once Upon a Time in China III

List Price: $19.94
Your Price: $17.95
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 >>

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Extremely good, almost measured up to the previous two
Review: This was a excellent movie staring the ever amazing Jet Li, although the final scene could have had more of a one on one fightng theme the overall quality of the movie, as in sounds and picture quality have been drastically improved from the previous two. The induction of Club Foot and an ancient Triad group are also cool. Jet Li is as great as ever. If you enjoyed his other movies, you will love this one as it ranks among his top performances

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A great movie
Review: This was a very good movie and was alot better than I thought it would be from reading the reviews I have seen.Although I have yet to get a hold of 1 or 2 since they are so scarce these days,this one is a great way to hold the anticipation and can be found at almost any store tha sells kungfu.The stand out in this movie for me was CLUB FOOT, he totally amazed me even more so than Jet li,from the crazy looks and poses he gives to his strange movements with one side of his body always drooping like he is half paralyzed to the fear he seems to put in everyone from his extremely agressive, no nonsense kungfu style,in short ya gota love him.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: u should check out Vol 4 if u love this one..
Review: vol 3 isnt completely good as the first 2 for me, and here's why.
The last lion scene is a mess... a total mess, they lost control of it, it isnt fun to watch at all even with Jet Li's martial art skill still doesnt help the picture much. I know they havent make vol 4 and 5 to reach here, but let me tell u this, in vol 4 they have the lion fight scene expand to a ..well.. somewhat bigger scale and its whole lot better to watch than the one in here. The lion fight scene is absolutely a downside and its taken at the end of the film which make me feel a bit lost after teh movie. Yet this is still one awesome kung fu movie watch though, the part which involves "club foot" is very unique and charm, it show Jei Li character's charming side, something rather than just supreme fighting skill that attracted all his students and family members and friends around him with trust. And the laughable romance between the 2 goes further that they finally need to meet the parent. This movie is good one with decent fights in between scene, didnt top vol 2, but it still owns its place. Mark my word for it, go find vol4 on ebay, the new guy is just about as good looking as Jet Li if not more, his fighting talent isnt sharp as Jet Li but just a tiny scotch short u hardly can see it. the huge paper lion fighting scene is even better than this one.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not the best in the series
Review: What happens when you take Yuen Wo Ping out of the mix? You get a mediocre kung fu movie. There is almost no martial arts in this movie only lion dancing and ridiculous plot that made no sense at all. You have rival kung fu schools fighting each other so that foreigners could move into china? Jet Li, Rosamund Kwan and Max Mok put in good performances, however, without the Yuen Kung fu stamp on this movie it falls very flat. The most disapointing in the Columbia/TriStar released series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The most original of the series!
Review: While the previous two are great, OUATIC III is the one I enjoy the most. The movie is more colorful, the humour funnier and the lion-dance competition adds a nice touch of originality to the series. Mok Siu-Chong (aka Leung Foon) is great in the comedic role and Hung Yan-yan (aka Clubfoot) makes some stunts that are to be seen to be believed. Also, I noticed that the characters of Wong Fei-hung (Jet Li) and Aunt Yee (Rosamund Kwan) and their relationship had evolved since the first movie.

The DVD transfer is good (but don't compare it to others such as Fight Club or Terminator 2... you might be disappointed!) and the sound is not too bad. In fact, it's comparable to the previous two of the series.

While the DVD was quite expensive, I still thought that it was worth the cost.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: POrr editing and voice overs don't kill this movie entirely
Review: Wong Fei Hung is an important figure, not only to Chinese history, but also to me as a student of the style, which he helped make famous. The Hung Gar Style is traced back to Hung Tsi Kwan (there are lots of debates over the spelling of his name) who taught Luk Ah Choy, and Wong Tai (Wong Fei Hung's grand father) who taught Wong Kei Ying (Fei Hung's father) who refused to teach Fei Hung, forcing him to turn to Luk Ah Choy for lessons. Fei Hung then went on to teach Lam Sai Wing who wrote the book that more or less made the style famous. Hung Gar is a very common style in Southern China, but is very rare stateside with only a small number of schools teaching it. Wong Fei Hung is therefore a matter of great interest to me, which is why I bought this film without actually seeing it first. Sadly I was disappointed.
The voice-overs for the English dub of OUATIC 1 and 2 were decent, and I liked the voice actor behind Jet Li in the first two films. Sadly he was replaced with a less appropriate voice actor. I didn't really notice if any of the other mainstays of the series had different voices, but Fei Hung's voice was very different and not as good as the previous installments. Granted bad voice-overs are to be expected with Kung Fu movies, but why fix what isn't broken?
The editing in this movie also leaves a lot to be desired as it is the worst editing I have seen in a modern Kung Fu movie, period. Story line wise the movie is very good with a story that sets the stage for the Boxer Rebellion, which shook the very foundations of the Qing (or Ching depending of your spelling preference) Dynasty. In that time frame the Empress decided to use the anti-foreign attitudes of China to what was supposed to be her advantage. The idea was inspire the Martial Artists to revolt against them; she never anticipated that the Martial Artists (many of them Ming Dynasty patriots) would not only violently revolt against the foreigners, but also the Ching themselves. This movie is kind of a precursor to that bloody massacre, with the empress trying to inspire the revolt by hosting a Lion Head (King) competition. Parts of this story are indeed based on actual history, which make this story perhaps the most intriguing of the trilogy. However, now Wong Fei Hung and Cousin Yee are discussing marriage, and while Wong Fei Hung was married three times it was never to his cousin-by-marriage. The bizarre and arguably incestuous relationship gets even more interesting when Lilly Lee meets up with an old flame that has now turned into a Russian-Japanese double agent who is plotting to kill China's President Li. Also in this film is a poorly portrayed Wong Kei Ying, who was in his prime one of the Ten Tigers of Canton (China's greatest fighters at the time). Here the one fight scene he has he looses... and I am sorry, but seeing such a legendary fighter get beaten was kind of an eye roller. I'm as much of a fan of Wong Kei Ying as I am of Wong Fei Hung... I wasn't happy with how the elder Wong was portrayed. On the plus side while the action sequences failed to meet expectations set by the first two the Lion Head sequences are simply breathtaking. I have always loved Lion head dances and hope that one day my SiFu will allow me to participate in one myself. This movie did a fantastic job or portraying the multiple sides of the Lion Head tradition. On the one side, its fascinating to watch, amazing to participate on, and can be a lot of fun over all. On the dark side, they were used to pass messages around during various revolts, and in many cases Lion Heads were used as vehicles of assault, or assassination. This move does a superb job of focusing on both aspects.
Although the movie is still good I only recommend it over all for fans, or completists as this is sadly not the OUATIC series' finer moment, and the casual movie goer may not get into it as much.


<< 1 2 3 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates