Rating: 
Summary: Foreign Devils!!
Review: Well here we go again, a new American release of a Hong Kong classic. I am glad that this and many other Hong Kong movies are turning up in America to buy and to rent. It is great that people are being exposed to some fantastic movies. However why do the studios that buy the rights to many of these films feel the need to buther them? In my opinion "Once Upon A Time In China" is not only one of the absolute best kung fu films ever made, it is also one of Jet Li's best. One would not know it by watching this version of it. One does get to see Jet Li strut his stuff, however this version is a far cry from the vastly superior Chinese language version. I understand that many people do not want to read subtitles. I do understand, what I do not understand is why they continue to release these movies with sure horribly dubbed voices. The poor dub alone nearly ruins this film and many others. However what nearly kills this version of "Once Upon A Time In China" is the drastic editing. Several scenes are edited out and the result is a choppy narrative. I believe that these scenes were taken out so that there was less time between the many fight sequences in the movie. Another compliant that I have was the fact that the print was pretty poor. The movie looks like one of those 1970's chop socky flicks. One of the good things, usually, with the American versions of Hong Kong films is a nice clear, cleaned up print. That definately was not the case with this one. Overall I really do not have too many positive things to say about this version of the movie. One thing that I was pleased with was the fact that the music was not changed. If you must see this video than rent it. I have read that the DVD version contains the Englsh dub as well as the Chinese version with English subtitles. This would be the version to go with in my opinion. I would much rather read subtitles any day of the week. Dubbed movies, no matter how well they are done, lose something in the translation. Stick with the subtitled, widescreen version of this film.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't believe the hype
Review: I have recently become interested in chinese history, and have taken to seeing movies that may (even loosely) be based on chinese history. Martial arts is merely an extra benefit. After reading many good reviews on this film I wanted to buy it, but only the Mandarin 5.1 version. The cost, however, led me to rent it first. Thankfuly, I did! While it was the dubbed version, and not the original Mandarin, this was still just a very bad movie. The martial arts lacked, the acting was poor, and it seemed to me to just show the chinese in a rather poor light. I recommend The Emporer and the Assassin and definetly Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Save your money and just rent this one...
Rating: 
Summary: Good movie, but the DVD is mixed bag / oddity
Review: For a DVD, as some have mentioned, the video quality is quite poor (I watched it in "Bob" filter which helped a little) and sound is also in mono. However, this is true if you are happening to be watching the SUBTITLED version of the DVD. For some odd reason, the makers of this DVD thought it was a good move to have a DUBBED version on different section on the same DVD. And, this is really strange because once I chose the DUBBED version in the menu, the video quality was A WHOLE LOT better and crisp and the dubbed sound was in stereo. Why they would not allow me to hear the cantonese/subtitled audio with this video track I'll never know (I prefer subtitles). Either way, if you're mostly just looking at the action and things, check out the dubbed section which has better video quality. If you like the movie with some drama and subtitles, click on the subtitled version (though video quality is not as good). -_-
Rating:
Summary: Once Upon A Time In China
Review: The reason I got this movie is because it received good reviews. After watching, I was very disappointed. If you'd paid close attention, Jet Li didn't perform much of the fighting sequences. It's some stunt guy doing all the fighting. Li only posed for the camera when the action had passed.Stick to Jackie Chan movies. He does all his own fighting.
Rating:
Summary: Yawn. Stupid Movie.
Review: I rented this movie after reading a number of reviewers who favorably compared it to Crouching Tiger. I'm a big Kung-Fu movie fan, but this movie was horrible! I read a lot about the historical value of all of this, but the main thing is this movie is boring. I found the fight scenes unoriginal, dull, and sometimes very fake looking (people flying across the room after barely being touched). The plot is dull, the characters are a farce. The movie doesn't know if it's a comedy or an action movie and ends up being neither. Don't waste your time. I couldn't last through the entire movie and none of my friends watching it with me were able to either.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Movie!!
Review: I have yet to see this movie on DVD (I have it on VHS), if the transfer to DVD is poor, as other reviewers have stated, it is quite a shame. This is an excellent movie, in fact, one of the best Martial Arts movies I've seen. Good plot and excellent Martial Arts choreography. Once you see this movie, you will see why Jet Li and director Tsui Hark make an awesome duo.
Rating: 
Summary: A Hong Kong classic.
Review: First of all, the movie: let me start off by saying that you should not try to compare this movie to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" anymore than you can compare the 1920s movie "The Lost World" to the modern, Spielberg-directed and CGI-enhanced "Lost World." And while some of you may say that in the latter example there was a much greater time gap between the movies, my point is that Hong Kong cinema has gone through drastic changes over the past decade, with many of the current crop of movies sporting high production values--"Storm Riders", released a couple of years ago, was one of the first (if not THE first) HK movies to use Hollywood-quality special effects and CGI, and many subsequent movies have tried to follow suit (e.g., "The Duel", "Man Called Hero"). In contrast, "Once Upon a Time in China" was made on a much, much smaller budget, but is generally considered a classic martial arts movie, and the one that not only propelled Jet Li to stardom, but also revived a genre that had long gone stagnant. Personally, I believe that this is one of Jet Li's best movies (I've seen them all), especially if you're looking for a movie which best showcases his terrific martial arts ability. In this movie he plays Wong Fei Hong, a Chinese folk hero who has been depicted in hundreds of movies by dozens of actors, but by Jet Li for the first time. He is joined by a well-known Hong Kong cast (e.g., Rosamund Kwan, Yuen Biao, etc.). The DVD: no, the video image is not of five-star quality, but I don't see why so many people are complaining. I've seen at least 50-70 Hong Kong DVDs over the past year, and most of the time the quality is poor to mediocre at best. Here we have an American release which may not measure up to current releases like Fight Club or Toy Story, but which is still head and shoulders above its Hong Kong counterparts (most of which are still much more expensive to acquire). Yes, the sound is in 2.0, but it's the visuals (e.g., fight scenes) that are the center of this film, not the audio. And there is a dubbed English track for those who resist reading subtitles (I've never listened to it, though, as I hate watching poorly-dubbed movies more than I hate reading subtitles). Plus, since this is an American release, the subtitles are much, much better than most you'll find in your average HK DVD. But perhaps the best feature of the DVD is the commentary by martial artist and HK film expert Ric Meyers. Some critics have complained in the past that this movie can be inaccessible to viewers not familiar with (1) Hong Kong movies, or (2) Chinese history. Ric Meyers does an excellent job of guiding the viewer through the movie, explaining some of the smaller details like (1) the purpose of the Lion Dance at the beginning of the movie, or (2) the importance of the "queue" (spelling?), which is the Chinese male's pony-tail. These are all significant to the movie and their respective scenes, but can be all-too-easily lost on the average american viewer. Plus, Mr. Meyers provides some good background information on the actors and their characters. In sum, this is a good DVD of a classic HK movie at an exceptional price. I believe it's the perfect introduction to HK cinema, as it has probably THE leading HK actor (Jet Li) playing the most famous movie figure in HK cinema (Wong Fei Hong) and is directed by one of HK's most famous directors (Tsui Hark). Add to this the very informative commentary track, and you can't go wrong.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, bad DVD transfer
Review: I merely confirm what has been already said: this is a great martial arts movie (one of my very favourites) that has suffered horribly at the hand of whoever did the DVD transfer. I'd recommend the movie to everybody but not so much in a DVD form. Perhaps other DVDs available in Asian market or in UK would do a better job, because I can't imagine, especially in regard to its sound quality, it being any worse than the region 1 disk. BTW, Aunt 13 is actually the "13th aunt." She is apparently the 13th daughter of somebody of the same seniority of Wong Fei Hung's grandfather (either in blood or in martial arts apprenticeship). So she's actually an "aunt" to him but obviously of simliar age.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic film, horrible DVD!
Review: Once Upon A Time In China is one of the most important landmarks in HK film history with stunning fight sequences, great performances from all the cast and a strong controversial plot altogether. Sadly the American Region 1 DVD fail to do justice to the film. Picture is muddy and sound is mono. Even the english dubbed version suffers from near total darkness. Sound is only mono and not a very good one at that. It's even worse than the Region Zero available in the Asian market.I recommend the UK Region 2 instead. It is definitely ten times clearer and has a full-length commentary by director Tsui Hark and also interviews. Avoid this DVD at all cost!
Rating:
Summary: not so good
Review: Even if this movie is one of the best Jet Li's movie I think the quality of this DVD is not good enough as the sound is only Mono and the picture quality seems to come from an enhanced VCD. Colors seem to have the same defects than a Panasonic MPEG video and the sound is so bad that it doesn't keep you near the movie. Action is not soo good as it was. For such quality please buy a VHS.
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