ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA is a grandiose, epic retelling of the adventures of Ching Dynasty folk hero Wong Fei Hung, whose legendary mastery of a variety of kung fu styles and resistance to Westernization have made him the subject of dime novels and popular lore in China since the 1930s. The subject of a slew of films, Wong Fei-Hung's popularity declined in the 1980s in favor of "Americanized" western-style gunslingers, making this film a throwback of sorts, with a strong pro-unification political subtext, plus plenty of brilliant martial arts action.

Just thought I'd start it off with a synopsis I found so people know what it is.

So I watched it and I do like it and all but it's just a little boring at times and slapstick... All I want to say on the negative is that they treat women like crap in all of these films (Chinese cinema) and it's a little offsetting in some of the films.

I enjoyed the action and the plot and Jet Li but the voices just didn't match up with the film print and Jet Li doesn't sound like Jet Li. I don't get this but i guess I have to live with it.

I'd recommend the film for people who enjoy this genre and only those people.

The DVD is very bare bones but does have a English Dubbed version which is a separate version unlike in some of the recent film which have it as an extra feature in Captions and Subtitles.

The feature commentary with Ric Meyes is an eye opening insight that anyone would enjoy. He mentions that this is actually the 98th or 99th Wong Fei Hung film because he's a legend in the Chinese culture and a whole bunch of other historic facts about Jet Li's career and even tells us Jackie Chan isn't a true martial artist but a performer (He was trained as a cinema performer) in some school that teaches a film style martial arts.

All in all I think it's a good package, I'll review parts 2 and 3 when I watch them later this week.

The Movie - 6.5 out of 10
DVD - 9 out of 10 (Solely for the commentary)

Yeah, absolutely fantastic film.  Number two is my personal favorite, mostly because it also features Donnie Yen.

Notice how beyond you and me nobody has the same taste in films? I get film ideas from you, go out and purchase them and it seems as if only you, me and possibly Shaman have ever actually watched or cared about them.

I think it was you who told me to watch Hero, House of Flying Daggers and so on down the list so long ago. Great films, Ong Bak was one I chose for myself and it's even better than expected.

Again each film I mentioned uses the women as objects to hump, lick or caress in a disgusting manner that is almost as sick as when a dog licks a human after it was just eating another animals feces.

Well, judging by the Maniac Cop thread, my tastes overlap Balt's in some places.

But yeah, I know what you're saying.  I guess a lot of people don't like/watch kung fu, huh.