Once Upon a Time in China III Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

Once Upon a Time in China III Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 25, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of Once Upon a Time in China Trilogy.

The Once Upon a Time in China franchise is regularly cited as having kickstarted the weirdly dormant martial arts film genre in the Asian market, but it’s also arguable that the series helped to foster another element of “eastern” cinema that is not necessarily relegated only to China (Korean films also come to mind in this regard): a kind of “rah rah” jingoism that seeks to exploit national identity while also perhaps hinting, none too subliminally at times, that the “natives” (Chinese or otherwise) may be just a bit smarter than some of the interlopers. Once Upon a Time in China appeared in 1991, helping to catapult Jet Li to superstar status, and continuing an even by then decades long tradition of crafting entertainments around the adventures (typically “fictionalized” if not outright fiction) of real life Chinese martial arts master and folk medicine healer Wong Fei-hung. Wong lived from around 1847 to 1925, but it didn’t take long for a rather gargantuan mythos to be built up around the character, so much so that by the late forties, Wong was an immensely popular character in Hong Kong films. Kwan Tak-hing made a veritable career out of playing Wong, appearing in some 70 films about the character, and there are several rather well remembered films about Wong that came out as Kwan was winding down from playing Wong (incredibly, the actor continued the role from the 1940s to the 1980s, earning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records in the process). These include the Shaw Brothers’ Challenge of the Masters, Drunken Master with Jackie Chan, and the relatively recent Rise of the Legend. The Once Upon a Time in China films offer some typical martial arts frenzies, but the films are also quite notable for how they portray a nascent nation defending itself from outside influences, and creating its own identity in the process.

If there's a perhaps inevitable law of diminishing returns starting to kick in with this second sequel, Once Upon a Time in China III has the good sense to both reference the first film, including with an emphasis on so-called lion dances, but also get to the action in pretty quick order like the second film. The "foreign influence" on China angle is of course prevalent, but kind of comically, the cast of international villains has stretched out from the first two entries to now include a Russian, in this case a diplomat named Tomanovsky (John Wakefield, whose personal history is rather fascinating, and is addressed in some of the supplements in this set). Interestingly, Tomanovsky kind of serves a dual purpose in this entry, as he also more or less enrages Wong (Jet Li, of course) when Tomanovsky starts paying too much attention to "13th Aunt" (Rosamund Kwan). Also of at least passing interest in this film is the fact that Tomanovsky and "13th Aunt" have some history courtesy of her overseas schooling, which almost inevitably tends to suggest, at least subliminally, that "foreign influence" doesn't necessarily need to be achieved when some outsider invades.

There is at least a tangential connection to the real life story of Wong Fei-hung in the film’s depiction of his father Wong Kei-ying (Lau Shun), at least insofar as it identifies his father correctly and refers to him as being one of the so-called Ten Tigers of Canton (the rest of the story is probably considerably more fanciful). And in fact this whole film kind of feels like Tsui Hark wasn’t quite sure where to go, and so decided to just let the story dart off on detours. The fight scenes are certainly competent, but lack some of the kinetic energy of the smackdown between Jet Li and Donnie Yen at the climax of the second film.

Once Upon a Time in China III Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Once Upon a Time in China III is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Eureka! provided only check discs for the purposes of this review, and so I'm not privy to any verbiage about the transfers that might be included in an insert booklet, but Eureka!'s site states that all of the transfers in this set are culled from new 4K restorations. As I've mentioned in the reviews of the first two films, I found the middle two offerings in this set to have the more consistent and pleasing presentations, though it's perhaps just by a matter of degrees. One of the first things I appreciated about this transfer was its almost epic palette, one which to my eyes finally presents some real, true reds which are noticeable from as early as the bright red ideograph representing Tsui Hark's name in the opening credits. But this is one of the more generally colorful One Upon a Time in China entries, and throughout the film a host of often gorgeous tones resonate extremely well. There's a veritable explosion of colors in the climax of this film (along with fireworks of another kind), and I was repeatedly struck by reds and blues in particular. Detail levels are generally excellent as well, though this is another Tsui Hark entry where he evidently wanted to tweak the imagery as much as possible at times, and so there are many moments with skewed perspectives and wide angle lenses where fine detail at least can ebb a little. While grain resolves naturally throughout the presentation, it can add a slightly mottled look at times, as can perhaps be made out in some of the screenshots accompanying this review. I noticed no compression anomalies.

Once Upon a Time in China III Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Once Upon a Time in China III doesn't have quite as many audio options as the first two films in the series, offering a Cantonese mono track in LPCM 1.0 and a Mandarin stereo track in LPCM 2.0, as well as an English dub in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. I personally liked the surround track more on this film than on the previous two films, though that said, my preference would be one of the Chinese language tracks, both of which sound fine. There are some rather interesting differences, however, aside and apart from the obvious differences in language. The actual mixes sound different, with, for example, a gong sound early in the film mixed quite a bit more forward in the mono mix than the stereo. Both the stereo and surround tracks open up the big crowd scenes, like some of the sequences in a marketplace, or in the scraping sound a gigantic wheel makes. The "fireworks" in the finale also provide some sonic blasts. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly on all three tracks.

Once Upon a Time in China III Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Mike Leeder and Arne Venema


• John Wakefield: Memories of Once Upon a Time in China III (HD; 29:14) is an appealing interview with the American actor, who gives some background information, including how he first came to Hong Kong as a Mormon missionary.


• The Legend of Wong Fei-hung III (HD; 13:28) finishes off the three part featurette with an examination of Wong's fighting style.


• Interview with Tsui Hark (HD; 22:56) is a fun archival interview with Hark, who discusses some of the political subtext of the films. Hark seems to be in a classroom or something like it and rather weirdly he moves from desk to desk to answer various questions.


• Interview with John Wakefield (HD; 10:56) is an archival piece with Wakefield.


• Behind the Scenes Montage (HD; 2:51) has shots of one of the action set pieces being prepared. Interestingly (this review is going live during the Coronavirus pandemic) a lot of the crew, including Hark, wear masks.


• Original Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:56)

Eureka! only provided check discs for the purposes of this review, and so I don't have access to any packaging or non disc swag. Eureka!'s website indicates this is another rather handsomely packaged release with insert booklets and exclusive essays.

Once Upon a Time in China III Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Once Upon a Time in China III just can't quite recapture the magic of the first two films, but if accepted as a lesser entry in the series, it at least offers a relatively brisk pace, even if the film, like some characters in a crowded market, dart off down random alleys now and again. Technical merits are solid and the supplementary package very enjoyable for those considering a purchase.