Once Upon a Time in Shanghai Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Once Upon a Time in Shanghai Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 22, 2015

The problem with naming your film Once Upon a Time in Shanghai is that it immediately evokes, and thus draws comparison to, two iconic and some might argue classic pieces of cinema, Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America. Had this film opted for a bit of truth in advertising and gone with a title more like Solidly Staged Martial Arts Sequences Without Enough Story to Support Them, the bar might have been suitably lowered to the point where this film’s glaring narrative hiccups and hackneyed plots and characters wouldn’t matter quite so much.

While the film is ostensibly first set in 1930 in Shanghai, there will already be problems for some when all the cars that occasionally drive through the oddly deserted streets are more vintage 1940s or even 1950s. That’s the least of the concerns as this film unspools a trite tale of Ma (Philip Ng), a kid who literally doesn’t know his own strength, who comes to the Big City (i.e., Shanghai) to make a new life for himself. Shanghai is rife with gangsters, including Long Qi (Andy On), a lugubrious sort whose elegance only slightly masks how vicious he is. A nascent turf war between gangs sparks various incidents, and of course Ma is swept up in them, realizing that with great power comes great responsibility—not to mention some serious slow motion butt kicking.

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

Once Upon a Time in Shanghai is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Shot with the Red Epic, Once Upon a Time in Shanghai exploits a nearly monochromatic palette that almost resembles the old hand coloring process from the early silent era where just parts of the frame feature rather subtle hues. This admittedly distinctive approach tends to mitigate fine detail at times, though, with things like faces looking slightly airbrushed when they have color applied. Black levels are very good and contrast is strong and consistent throughout the presentation. There are a couple of issues with banding, more noticeable in the black and white elements than any appended color schemes.

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

The original Mandarin language track along with a serviceable English dub are presented in both DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0. The 5.1 mixes are an expert blend of immersive sound effects, including wince inducing crunching noises when bones are pummeled, and the tracks also feature a goodly amount of booming LFE. Dialogue is presented cleanly (it's a bit high in the mix in the English dub to my ears). The score, which like the cars has little to do with the 1930s, also resides in the surround channels nicely and has not issues to report.

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

• Making Of (1080p; 4:39)


• Trailer (1080p; 1:34)

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

The fight choreography by Yuen Woo Ping is often astounding in Once Upon a Time in Shanghai, but unfortunately there are these interstitial elements purportedly called a "plot" that repeatedly get in the way. With a weirdly minimalistic production design, this film nonetheless tries to offer the sort of "intimate spectacle" that those two other Once Upon a Time. . . films did, but it only comes alive when people are decimating each other in hand to hand combat. The film's intriguing palette choices are about the only interesting stylistic choice in an otherwise pretty lame affair, but fight aficionados will certainly get their fill, and technical merits are quite strong.