Once Upon a Time in China
Review
Format: VCD
Stars: Jet Li, Yuen Biao, Jackie Cheung, Yan Yee Kwan

The evil Americans are coming into China and are bringing with them the promise of gold everywhere in America if the Chinese would just move there. Meanwhile, Wong Fei Hung (Li) is holding up his clinic in order to treat the sick. Some Chinese men have sided with the Americans and British and have tried to bring women into the British and American ships to start a brothel, and when Fei Hung finds out, he seeks to end the trash that the gweilos are bringing into China.

This plot also belongs to some 60 other HK movies, many of which have Wong Fei Hung too. Not surprising, and many of them are no good. I bought this under the suspicion that it would be cluttered with wires and lots of special effects, no good choreography besides some people flying and Jet Li using everything in a room to fight. Not entirely true. OUATIC actually is extremely legitimate. There are some scenes where some wires are used, but they're not really that bad, and if they are, it's short and goes away quickly. For example, Iron Robe Yim (Yan Yee Kwan) is fighting Fei Hung outside and they keep kicking a log around in the air, and it looks incredibly stupid. I applauded when Li stopped that nonsense by kicking it over the roof. But I have to admit that that fight has some of the coolest choreography I've ever seen in an outdoor battle. To top it all off, the rain creates a blur effect on the opponents that looks almost computer generated, but wasn't, of course.

Which brings me to the next point. I'm one who likes moodiness in a movie. This one has it all over the place. The scenery tends to be in the rain and darkness, many people holding umbrellas, beggars, and the music is either dark or pitiful. Very good way to set up a scene. The fight between Li and Kwan is, as I just said, pretty amazing in the ways of both choreography and camera work. Li even does a great move where he's in a doorway, and Yim comes at him so Li just climbs up the doorway and rolls down Yim's back. It's great looking.

What I didn't like was the end. I expected something well choreographed, but it turns out to be pretty weird. Yim and Fei Hung both get ahold of a few 30 foot tall ladders in a ship and fight with those. The wirework wasn't that bad actually, but I think that the whole scene wasn't made well. A few small moments that looked good weren't enough to save it. And I couldn't understand why they didn't even BOTHER with Yuen Biao. He's a little imp and does nothing special at all. That made me mad, but at least I got to see what Yan Yee Kwan could do. For a man of his stature and age, he moves really well, and I actually liked his character more than Li's. He also plays Old Devil in Drunken Wu Tang. He's in a fight towards the end of the movie against a man with a sword. He does some awesome looking rolling and get up kicks, all to the scenery of a bonfire and crowd.

A thing you should know before purchasing the vcd version. The subtitles on the Mai Ah vcd are out of wack because Mei Ah didn't make the damn thing widescreen, and the subtitles extend outside the screen, so you have to GUESS as to what they say. It's not so bad though, I didn't have much of a problem.

Although there wasn't as much action as I would have liked, the mood made this movie extremely good. But as I said, I don't think they used as much talent as was right in front of their eyes, or I should say HIS (Tsui Hark) eyes. Biao can do acrobatics, and there's always room for that, but they didn't use it very well here.

So, I rate it

8.5/10.

UPDATE - 10/4/00 - Due to the low amount of action and my disliking OUATICAA, I want to put emphasis on action, so I downgrade this to a

8/10

UPDATE 10/9 - Rating System Change

4/5

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