Il était une fois en Chine : Le Tournoi du lion

In order to unite the people of China and strengthen their spirit, the Qing government decides to hold a lion dance competition to promote the study of kung fu. This only leads to violence and conflict. Wong Fei Hung, who is visiting Beijing, sees this and is disgusted by the way it's being handled. However, his efforts to get through to the government are futile. He finds himself having to join the competition when he discovers a plot by the Russians to assassinate President Li Hung Chang.

This was the first movie in the OUATIC series that I saw. I was actually quite disappointed when I first saw it. I thought the fighting lacked intensity and the end seemed anti-climatic. It's not that the choreography is bad. Jet looks fit and is in great fighting shape for the film. However, there are no good one-on-one battles for him. His duel with Xiong Xin Xin in the street is short and disappointing, as is the finale against the head of the oil factory. The lion dance scenes are cool.

The story on the other hand, is really good. It has just the right amount of romance, humor, and historical background to sustain itself between the fight scenes. This would be the last of the truly historically relevant entries of the series, as the following films were either over-the-top or would not even focus on historical matters.

Overall, this is good watching. This is not one of Jet's greatest performances fighting-wise. The story makes up for it. Oh, and let me add that Rosamund Kwan is cuter than ever in this movie.

In the third film, Jet Li goes to Beijing to visit his father. Doesn't have as much good fighting as the other 3 OUATICs that Li is in, but Xiong Xin Xin plays a great Clubfoot Seven. Worth seeing only if you really like the OUATIC series (like me). 3/5 stars, I'd have to say the best part and most hilarious is Aunt Yee teaching Huang Fei Hong english, which is of course only funny if you understand and watch the cantonese/mandarin version, not the dubbed.

In order to demonstrate a show of strength to the foreigners, the Empress decrees a Lion King competition between the various martial arts schools. Wong Fei-hung returns home at this time to visit his father's school to find that the Tai-Ping school have set out to destroy the other schools before the competition itself. Fei-hung tries to bring peace between the schools but fails to stop the contest. Meanwhile Cousin suspects something more sinister going on around the contest.

I feel like I'm under pressure here to say this isn't as good as the previous two films, simply because that seems to be the consensus of opinion on among reviewers here and also conventional wisdom says that a series will lose quality as it goes along. I settled to watch this expecting to be a drop from parts I & II (both of which I enjoyed), however I must say I found it to be every bit as enjoyable as part II (which I considered a more enjoyable film than part I). I do, however, recognise that it has weaknesses over the other two films.

First off, the plot is significantly weaker and even needs a last minute conspiratorial shot in the arm to help up the drama and give the characters something extra to do. That said I still felt the film moved along well and wasn't too bothered by the lack of a real strong structure. The fights are free flowing and enjoyable (even if they have weak reasons for occurring sometimes). There is no one fight that really competes with the climax of part I but that doesn't mean they're bad. Certainly fans of Matrix and Crouching Tiger (who think this stuff is all a new invention!) will be impressed as indeed was I. The Lion King contest has been criticised for hiding the skills of the actors but I think it made for a different show of skill that did involve their martial arts skills and showed them in a big way. There are some scenes that are too clearly wire-work (although it is all wire work) but the majority of it flows very well.

The main reason this film worked well for me was the way that it kept the humour from part II. The gentle comic touches all through are laugh-out-loud funny and really binds the whole film together. I've always felt that part II's humour made it better than part I, and part III continues that well. The romance between Fei-hung and cousin is also played well for both laughs and romance.

The main reason the comedy works so well is the cast who all show a real skill for it. Mok's Yoon is the main reason for this and his little touches are great fun to watch. Jet Li also shows a real ability in comic acting that Hollywood has spectacularly failed to utilise (thus far). His interaction with the excellent Kwan brings a real spark to the film in the quieter scenes. His real skill of course is the martial arts and he is a real presence in every action scene. The addition of Iron Foot (Xiong) works well and he is a good character who is developed past the bad guy character he is first presented as.

Overall I can understand why many would feel that this is a lesser film but I must say that I find it hard to put a wedge between any of the first three in the series (I have only seen these thus far). However, I enjoyed the action and felt that the comic touches worked very well and made this a very enjoyable film that was very easy to watch. The plot may be weaker than the previous films but it has other strengths that are used well. I can't comment on the rest of the series but this film made parts I-III a very strong and enjoyable series of films.

...but still entertaining for the most part. This third move in the series is the weakest and least ambitious of the group, seeming satisfied to ignore the actual politics of China's tumultuous 19th century in favor of some made-up nonsense about Russian spies.

There is a martial arts tournament at the movie's center which Wong Fei Hung (Jet Li again) enters and must win for some reason, plus the always welcome Rosamund Kwan is back as Aunt Yee and the movie contrives to put her into danger again and again to keep things lively. The resulting mish- mash of a plot is rather hard to keep straight and honestly there is little profit in doing so. The producers themselves seemed to have a poor awareness of where everything was ultimately leading.

Enjoy the good period look and the quite impressive martial arts on display in the tournament and try not to take anything too seriously.

'Once Upon A Time In China III (1992)' may be considerably less epic, and arguably a lot more safe, than its predecessors, but it's still an entertaining martial arts movie. Although elements of traditionalism vs Western influence are still prevalent, primarily in the form of Wong Fei-Hung's apparent jealousy of a Russian official who studied abroad with 13th Aunt, and the motivation for the lion dance competition at the core of the story comes from a desire to prove China is superior while also somehow sewing seeds of discontent between other nations in the hope they'll destroy each other, there's a lot less thematic focus on the shifting landscape of China circa 1900. As such, the film seems to lack the keen sense identity of its predecessors, even if it isn't a million miles away from them in terms of intention and execution. Still, there's plenty of opportunity to showcase Eastern traditions (the lion dancing at the core of the story is the primary example) and to pull off several exciting set-pieces that balance wirework with grounded choreography in a free-flowing, almost poetic fashion.

There are several really entertaining set-pieces sprinkled throughout the picture, all of which make excellent use of their performers' impressive skills and director Tsui Hark's admirable disregard for things like physics. It's arguably less believable than its predecessors, at least in terms of choreography, but it's also really inventive and fun and that's what matters most. The finale is interesting because it adds some life-or-death stakes to an already dangerous lion dance royale rumble, pitting Jet Li's hero - along with his apprentice Ah Foon and his new friend Ghost Foot Seven - against a slew of opposing dancers more interested in harming their opposition than outmaneuvering them. An earlier set-piece puts the star at a disadvantage and forces him to think on his feet; it's perhaps the closest these films have ever come to showing him in real trouble, and you're not quite sure if he's going to be able to come out on top (at least not uninjured).

There's a lot of comedy to go along with the action, as Wong Fei-Hung meets up with his father and has to figure out how to tell him he's going to marry 13th Aunt. The protagonist's jealousy also causes a few chuckles, even if his suspicions of his romantic rival do turn out to have a ring of truth to them. It's never hilarious, but it keeps you in good spirits and puts a smile on your face on occasion. The drama elements of the piece are somewhat muted, but there are a couple of classic character arcs that are actually quite satisfying.

As usual, the period setting is beautifully evoked and the picture has a storybook quality to it that makes it rather appealing to watch even when its at its least exciting. There's an emphasis on outside locations rather than sets, something which has always set this series apart from quite a few of its predecessors. The feature does have several lulls in pacing and it also isn't as focused as it could have been. There are moments which make you wish for a tighter edit, which would surely have improved the end result by making it more consistently engaging. Still, its set-pieces are fantastic and its execution is admirable.

In the end, this is an enjoyable effort that may be less effective than its predecessors, but is just about as entertaining. Its action is great, its comedy is charming and its aesthetic is immersive. It's a solid martial arts movie.