Once Upon A Time in China (1991)

(Once Upon A Time in China DVD Collection)

Review by Chris Tsui

August 9, 2004

The Movie

1991's Once Upon A Time in China is considered as a Hong Kong martial-art film classic, and one of director Tsui Hark's last great efforts. The film also gave Jet Li his most memorable role, the smart and serious kung fu master Wong Fei-hung.

OUATIC is set in the late Qing Dynasty when the invading foreigners are despised by the people of China. One of them is Wong Fei-hung (Jet Li), the most revered kung fu master in the country, and also is a brilliant doctor who heals people at his clinic Po Chi Lam. Meanwhile, young man Leung Foon (Yuen Biao) comes to town and seeks Wong to be his master. Unfortunately, he fails, and even becomes enemies with Wong. Foon then follows Yim Chun-tung (Yan Yee Kwan), a powerful kung fu master that rivals Wong, who wants to be famous and get rich. Meanwhile, American ambassador Jackson unites with a Chinese gang boss (Qiu Jian Guo) and kidnaps Wong's 13th Aunt (Rosamund Kwan) to sell her as a prostitute. But when Wong arrives to save her, they find out that Yim has joined the gang boss for money's sake, and demands a duel with Wong.

I love this movie. From the starting credits' memorable theme song to the breathtaking climax battle between Wong and Yim, this film is filled with well-made action scenes, beautiful music, good acting, and excellent direction. Tsui Hark's work is amazing here, unlike his poor recent works like 2001's The Legend of Zu. Jet Li does a good job as Wong Fei-hung; so do Yuen Biao, Rosamund Kwan and Ken Cheng. But the best of all has to be Jacky Cheung, who is funny and surprising as Wong's disciple Buck Teeth So. The role even earned him a Hong Kong Film Award nomination.

The film had a total of five sequels and numerous spin-offs, but almost all of them fail to reach the greatness the original classic. Now, the first three OUATIC films, which are considered the best of the entire series, are released in a deluxe DVD box set. The box is a cardboard case wrapped with cloth, and the movies have been treated with digitally remastered picture and sound and a bunch of special features.

CHRIS' EVALUATION

Terrific action scenes and fun characters make this film a classic.

The DVD

Picture: B+ / Audio: Dolby Digital B; DTS B+; Stereo B- / Bonus: B-

Once Upon A Time in China is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1; the picture has been enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The DVD is single-sided, dual-layered. OUATIC has never looked so good.

The picture is very sharp, with only a few scenes of softness. Generally, the picture was free of dust, speckles or hairs. Unfortunately, there were some scenes that looked very grainy and fuzzy. Without these problems, the picture would easily get an 'A-' grade.

This DVD of OUATIC has a total of 4 soundtracks. Three of them are Cantonese in Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS and the original theatrical 2.0 stereo. There is also a Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Let's start with the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks. Both presented their sound effects greatly, and made good use of the back speakers during thunder, dog barks and clashing of weapons. Unfortunately, the dialogue was focused at the center and sounded very 'mono'. The DTS soundtrack didn't improve on this, but the sound effects bettered the Dolby ones. It sounded so good, I had to give it a higher grade. As for the 2.0 Stereo, dialogue was surprisingly clearer and crisper than the previous soundtracks, but since it is stereo, it couldn't deliver top-notch sound effects.

Bonus features are quite little here, and each disc has the same kind of features. First up are New and Original Movie Trailers. We find the original 1991 theatrical movie trailer of the film and a newly made trailer.

Then there are some Photo Stills taken from the film itself, which can be viewed normally or viewed via slideshow.

Last of the features is Part I of a decent documentary called "Legend of Huang Fei Hong" (Part II and III are included in the other two discs in the set). The documentary explores the life of the real Wong Fei-hung, and talks about his childhood, martial arts, disciples, love life etc. There are interviews Wong Fei-hung experts and disciples of Wong's disciples. This is a pretty well-made documentary that totally runs for around 45 minutes.

Note that there are some Previews for the other two films in the set. Actually, these previews are actually the "new trailers" for the films, and are present in all three discs. (For example, in the DVD of Part II, the new trailer for the movie is put in the"New and Original Movie Trailers" area, while the new trailers of Part I and III are in the "Previews" area)

Once Upon A Time in China is truly a classic film that is the pinnacle of Hong Kong martial art movies. This DVD presents very good picture and audio with only a little flaws. This DVD set is already worth the buy only for this one film. I highly recommend this DVD set.

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