Its real strengths are its choreography, its flashes of wit, and its all-round exuberance.
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01/26/06
Once Upon a Time in China (1991)
89 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 27
Fresh: 24
Rotten:3
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Theatrical Release: Apr 27, 2001 Limited
Synopsis: In one of the recurring gags of ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA, attempts to take Wong Fei Hung's picture always fail. The failure to capture the image of Wong (Jet Li) serves as an appropriate metaphor for the place of the Ching Dynasty folk hero in... [More]
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Reviews for Once Upon a Time in China
A truly dazzling achievement, even measured against Tsui's own considerable accomplishments...
07/30/03
Top Critic Brilliant commentary elevates entertaining Hong Kong action flick to must-see status.
11/07/02
Not perfect in an objective critical sense, but it's a masterpiece of the genre.
09/10/02
Successfully pays homage to ancient tradition and history by making it entertaining and interesting to non-Chinese audiences.
08/20/02
Tsui's camera lurches, pinwheels and whirligigs all over the place to catch every move perfectly.
10/31/01
The editing here is far from good, and the continuity is constantly thrown off from one shot to the next; we’re talking about different positioning of objects, object-size changes, characters disappearing and re-appearing.
07/05/01
A kind of splendid mishmash of crude history, action-movie cliches and stunning photography, editing and fight choreography.
06/22/01
Tsui was smart enough to craft his film as an observant period piece, but also smart enough not to let the kung-fu go soft as a result.
06/19/01
The fight scenes are the main attraction, of course, and the film delivers the goods again and again.
06/01/01
Raises the bar for a genre often thought of as meaningless dribble, showing that a Kung Fu movie can be more than just spectacular fight sequences.
05/29/01
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Once Upon a Time in China
by: Maria in Huntington Beach, CA 6/16/03
by: Maria in Huntington Beach, CA 6/16/03
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