C'era una volta in Cina e in America

After watching the first 3 in a two period to see what was so good about the series, I decided to watch this as an off-chance. I was horribly disappointed. While it might have come out before Shanghai Noon, this was just plain unbearable to watch with painfully BAD stereotypical dialogue with a plot thrown in around the last 2/3rd of the movie. Do yourself some justice and skip this movie if given an option. Only watch it for morbid curiosity, but you'll only be disappointed. I feel like this horrible film tainted my eyes after watching the first 3, which were full of movie magic. The action scenes in this one didn't even keep my attention at times.

It is understandable that some reviewers got such a poor impression of this film, because the commonly available China Star DVD (found at Best Buy et all) has a horrid Cantonese dub language track, and for some odd reason also has a poor Mandarin dub. It is also cropped badly (pan and scan). But the language problem is the most glaring enjoyment inhibitor, totally ruining the humor and timing of this very enjoyable western spoof/martial arts action flick. This film was actually filmed with live mikes right here in Texas, in live Mandarin, English, and some Cantonese. This original track is only found in the rare official Taiwan DVD from Thunder Media. The action and stunt-work in this film is almost the eighth wonder of the world. The things Jet Li does with his fighting and acrobatic skills are truly amazing. Great story, too. Very humorous in places- also being a spoof of the Once Upon a Time in China series in general. Since many of the stunts are rather large scale, the widescreen really helps also. Plenty has been said here about the story itself, so I don't need to add much. I agree this is not on the same level as the first two Once Upon a Time in China movies, but really neither is the third. I would rank this almost as good as OUATIC3, if viewed with the original soundtrack and aspect ratio.

Jet Li returns as Wong Fei Hung in this great epic series of China's history. With Sammo Hung at the director's chair, one can expect some high-quality choreography. And good fights are not lacking in this movie. I thought that the characters were more defined and likeable then in OUATIC 4. I thought that the epic quality of the story and themes weren't there, but setting that aside, the movie is fun to watch. Sammo proves that he's one of the best choreographers, and Jet Li proves that he's one of the best on-screen fighters.

This is one of the best movies in the "Once upon a time in China" series. Funny once in a while with its goofy Chinese humour and filled with fast fightingsequences that are beyond us "normal" people. :) The synchronized sound is, as usual not the best, but it does the trick..

Oct 21

Once upon a time in china and america is the 6th and final film in the series.

I was a little disappointed in this one despite the return of Jet Li. Its effectively a martial arts western and some of it works and some of it doesn't.

I like it but do not love it, not quite up to the standard of Once upon a time in china 1 to 5.

7 out of 10.