6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
When Wong Fei-Hung and sidekick Chung arrives in Peking, they're just in time for the Empress-sponsored Lion King martial arts contest. But first, Wong-Fei Hung must win back his secret love Yee, his young, Westernized aunt-by-adoption from the nefarious Russian diplot-turned spy Tumanovsky, who has a secret plan to assassinate the President. Wong-Fei-Hung will try to foil the assassination attempt, defeat his awesome rival, Thunder Foot, triumph over the untrustworthy Leung Fun and win the Lion King contest.
Starring: Jet Li, Rosamund Kwan, Xin Xin Xiong, Shun Lau, Jian Zhao (I)Foreign | 100% |
Martial arts | 41% |
Action | 31% |
History | 9% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Cantonese: LPCM 2.0
Cantonese: LPCM Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This version of this film is available as part of Once Upon a Time in China: The Complete Films.
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.
Once Upon a Time in China III is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1. As of the writing of this review, Criterion has sent only check discs and so I'm not privy to any information that may be included in the insert booklet (and unfortunately there's not a ton of information on their website). I'll point out in passing that, exactly as with regard to Once Upon a Time in China and Once Upon a Time in China II, this release's aspect ratio is just a sliver narrower than Eureka's offering, albeit this time with regard to 2.35:1 instead of 2.39:1. Also of perhaps relevant note is the fact that Eureka!'s website mentioned 4K restorations for its release of the first three films. As with the first two films in this set, aside from that minimal difference, even a cursory comparison of screenshots suggests that these are pretty similar if not outright identical looking transfers, though I'd argue that this particular film may reveal just slightly different gradings at times. Though it's probably miniscule, this presentation struck me as just a bit darker and skewed just slightly more toward greens at times. Even with the very minor variation, this is still a wonderfully suffused looking transfer which offers some really robust primaries, with "true" reds being very much in evidence. As with the Eureka! presentation, grain resolves naturally for the most part, but can take on an intermittently mottled look, especially in a few selected darker moments.
While the Eureka! version of this film once again offers more in terms of languages and channel options, both of the Cantonese tracks on this disc, LPCM 2.0 and LPCM 1.0, offer good accountings of the film's soundtrack. There are some of the same slight differences in effects levels between these two Cantonese tracks that I mentioned with regard to the differences between the Cantonese mono track and the Mandarin stereo track on the Eureka! release, but the stereo track does at least marginally open things up in terms of both effects (especially in the action scenes) and score. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout. As with some of the other films in this set, there's probably noticeably more dynamic range on the stereo track than the mono. Optional English subtitles are available.
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. While there are once again some minor variations between this release and the Eureka! version, technical merits are solid and the supplementary package very enjoyable for those considering a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
黃飛鴻之二男兒當自強 / Wong fei hung II: Nam yee tung chi keung
1992
黃飛鴻 / Wong fei hung
1991
黃飛鴻之西域雄獅 / Wong fei hung VI: Sai wik hung see
1997
黃飛鴻之四王者之風 / Wong fei hung IV: Wong je ji fung
1993
黃飛鴻之五龍城殲霸 / Wong Fei Hung chi neung: Lung shing chim pa
1994
'A' gai wak juk jaap / 'A' ji hua xu ji / A計劃續集
1987
Nan bei Shao Lin / 南北少林
1986
少年黃飛鴻之鐵馬騮 / Siu nin Wong Fei Hung chi Tit ma lau
1993
夜宴 / The Banquet / Ye Yan
2006
Zhang bei / 長輩
1981
1978
俠女 / Xia nü
1971
Jing mo fung wan: Chen Zhen
2010
龍門客棧 / Long men kezhan
1967
Zui quan
1978
Choi-jong-byeong-gi Hwal
2011
2010
十月围城
2009
合氣道 / He qi dao / Lady Kung Fu
1972
競雄女俠秋瑾 / Jing xiong nu xia Qiu jin
2011