Once Upon a Time in China Trilogy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

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

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 25, 2020

Note: The scores above are averages. Please see the individual reviews, linked below, for more information.

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.

While this set is billed as a "trilogy", it in fact includes four films. For reviews of the films in this set, please click on the following links:

Once Upon a Time in China Blu-ray review

Once Upon a Time in China II Blu-ray review

Once Upon a Time in China III Blu-ray review

Once Upon a Time in China and America Blu-ray review

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

Video quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

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

Audio quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

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

Supplemental material on each disc is detailed in the above linked reviews.

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

Eureka! has done another outstanding job of packaging a series of films. This set does offer some differences from previous releases, and those interested in some often fascinating comparisons between various releases are encouraged to visit our forum thread devoted to this film. While this may not be a "practically perfect in every way" set, it offers generally solid technical merits and some outstanding supplements. Recommended.