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Seeing as how "Once Upon A Time In Shanghai" is a remake of my all-time favorite martial arts movie, "Boxer From Shantung," of course I held this one up against high standards. Well for the most part it succeeds, with it's many elegant, artistic touches. Here we have a visually impressive period piece, about a poor laborer who comes to the big city to find his fortune. What he finds is friendship, corruption, and ultimately betrayal. Here martial artist Philip Ng replaces the legendary Chen Kuan Tai in the role of Ma Yongzhen, the immensely likable peasant who yearns for power, but despises corruption. Ng is a great choice to play Ma, as he is a charismatic and handsome actor. It's not easy to compare to Chen Kuan Tai, but Philip Ng comes close. The fight scenes are fast and furious, and very well-staged, and for once we have a good story to compliment the action. The sets and the period costumes are beautiful and detailed as well, although I wasn't so crazy about the digital video look of this film. The colors are very washed out, and the film almost looks like it was shot in black and white. Still I highly recommend this remake, as there are so few good martial arts films being produced today. Fans of the classic 70's stuff should really appreciate this. I also strongly recommend searching out the original "Boxer From Shantung" from 1972. It is a true masterpiece of the genre, and surpasses this film in quality and artistry..

First off all i cant believe its not released here in The U S yet! Great homage.throwback to hong kong Kung Fu Movies. IF u are a Bruce Lee fan.Do not miss this movie.i don't care download or rent DVD. From the story Line The Big boss..Fists of Fury..game of death and enter the dragon. Director Wong Jin wrote a great tribute.

Phillip Ng's portray is so similar to Bruce its crazy. He has his haircut.clothes..moves and charasmastic flow like Lee did.

Chen is a newcomer to Shanghai looking for laborer job. But soon he is against the Japanese spies..local thugs and corrupt town officials. It also mixes in humor and awesome fight scenes. PHILLIP NG is the next Bruce Lee. He studied under bruce's real kmaster Sifu. He also has over 150 schools that train in jujitsu.. see it now!!

There wasn't much local buzz for OUATIS and if the short release run is any indication, folks in Hong Kong just don't seem to care about it. What a shame, because there is so much martial art talent at the helm.

What is also a shame, is how underwhelmed I felt when the credits rolled.

I was initially attracted to up-and-coming talent that was presented as the face of this film's marketing. The pairing of dark horse Philip Ng and underdog Andy On intrigued me. They've both had minor to secondary roles in many other films that lent a glimpse of their talents. Could this finally be the big break for them to to join the ranks of Hong Kong martial arts stardom? The director was Wong Ching Po, who has gained minor fame in art-house circles with his frequently unusual, sometimes violent, but always interesting takes on popular genres. How would he approach the old chop socky genre? The involvement of Sammo Hung and Yuen Woo Ping's further escalated my curiosity. Two pillar directors and choreographers of the genre, working with a fresh director, spotlighting two able young men who have clear ability but not yet chance to shine? Could such a fresh combination result in anything short of exciting? Turns out, it fell short by quite a stretch, actually.

Let's start with the script. There's no hiding it was penned by Wong Jing. The man who, over the eons of Hong Kong film history, has written, directed, and produced a vast body of the most locally definitive but simultaneously most unbearable garbage ever put on celluloid man has ever seen. Fortunately, he restrains from unloading his bag of wacky fart jokes and idiotic schtick here, and keeps the story fairly straight forward and on track.

Unfortunately, this also translates into a story so conservative, so safe, it might as well have been ripped from the pages of an archetype textbook. Now, this might be unfair criticism, because old fashioned kung fu movies—which OUATIS styles itself after—never had elaborate plots or deep characters. Those old movies also often had silly dialogue, mischievous situations, and whimsical choreography that blended into a cohesive whole. That was back then however, and expectations have changed since.

The plot is presented as stoic and occasionally dramatic, but this angle is at odds with the overproduced action sequences and awkward, naive humor injected throughout. The resulting mix is choppy and transitions happen abruptly. It doesn't help that the dialogue itself is heavily stilted. Narrative shortcuts such as fluffy montages and poorly chosen events employed to develop a character keep the story shallow. The lack of emotional engagement leads to hollow, unearned catharsis at the end. Factors of believability, such as the use of long-knives where guns should be or On having less than 10 henchmen when he owns half the city, are sacrifices made for the sake of the action.

The actors make do with what they can, but being limited by the script there's little room here for anyone to truly shine beside On, who receives abundant screen-time to verbalize and terrorize. Sadly, On seem to be dubbed out of his native tongue, affecting his delivery. He compensates with body language that effectively portrays his character. Ng, playing a shy country boy, doesn't have as much dialogue as On, but being the protagonist means a lot of screen time, which he fills earnestly with facial and body language. His slight stiffness and obvious introversion fits his role and services the thin plot. Michelle Hu and Jiang Luxia, who play respective love interests of the leads, manage to bring a surprising amount of vibrancy into their scenes with admirable performances.

What is readily apparent as the film progresses is the limited budget. The sets appear thinly decorated, sparse, and empty. Most jarring is the ghost town streets of Shanghai, which is unconvincingly explained away by a character by gang warfare. Moreover, the cinematography employs a "hard" digital look with a blatant color filter that undermines the period setting and compounds the sense of cheapness. The low-key sound design is unable to mask the visual shortcomings. None of these technicalities usually matters for an action film but the glossy way the film chooses to present itself makes such issues glaring.

Then there are the fights. Thanks to the skilled martial artists in the cast, they have a manic, explosive energy that is as ferocious as anything the industry has ever made. Yet the choreography and camera work can be hit or miss, sometimes blurring brawls into a slurry of indistinguishable chicken slaps. The extreme under-cranking of certain portions hurt the fights more than it helps. Too many blows are exchanged, but not enough of them are memorable, and occasionally the camera runs out of ideas on how to spice up the action. Nowhere is this more evident than the final fight, which despite pitching Ng against a string of opponents with different skills and weapons, could have benefited by being shortened.

The vets on this project have seen better days, though their effort is evident. Wong is disappointingly conservative in his direction, and has not pushed the creative boundaries as he has done for other genres. A stronger script would have benefited the production. The shining beacons here are the two leads, who excel in both their roles and the demanding combat, and the two supporting actresses, who charm and captivate despite their short screen time. Together their chemistry has elevated the film to a standard it could not have otherwise achieved. Don't get me wrong, OUATIS is not a bad movie. Yet it is a Hong Kong martial arts movie released in 2014, with all the baggage that implies. When they only release once in a blue moon, I have inflated expectations for such flicks to build upon the genre's glorious legacy. As such, OUATIS's crime is being merely average.

The action sequences are the best choreographed since House of Flying Daggers. The director's vision is romantically nostalgic, telling a story of brotherhood, patriotism and selfless love. This is a most enjoyable movie on all levels, and very sad in the end. I look forward to seeing it again. (If the version you get is dubbed in English, skip it. Watch the Cantonese version for best effect.)

Review: I really enjoyed this movie because it shows you that when you come to a new country with dreams of becoming something the chances are slim to non that you will actually achieve that especially if you are new to a country. The direction and screenplay are both really good. Both the casting and acting are really good also. All in all I would give this five out of a possible five stars.