Waste of time

Let's be realistic.

Instant Favorite.

Am I Missing Something?

This is one of the most satisfying resolutions to a trilogy I have ever seen. Makes me recall the ending to THE WONDERFUL COUNTRY starring Bob Mitchum, where when you came to the ending you KNEW it was over. When the hero of the piece appeals for education over reward for martial prowess you have something special on your hands. The ending of ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA III will stay with me for a long time.The thing that stands out for me is the characters this time. I really don't want to say too much as that would spoil all the fun. The Dowager Empress reminds me of my INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL teacher Miss Gomez and my Cub Scout Den Mother Mrs. Dubose. I loved all the colors of the costumes and the masks. At times it was almost a comment on the spectacular martial arts fights and stunts, making them at times seem childish and cartoonish. The characters are every one of them painted with a broad brush, but it was exhilarating to see that Tsui Hark was relying very thoroughly on Chinese theatrical traditions and not going out of his way to cater to Western tastes and appetites. A great judgment call in my estimation because you really come to feel warmly for all the characters as though you've finally come to know them at the end.I must say Rosamund Kwan comes across as more beautiful and glamorous in this third installment than ever before, and very nearly steals the show. Unlike a 'Bond Girl' whom we know will only be eye candy and 007's sexual conquest for a single adventure, we are now seeing Aunt 13 for the third time and the sense of chemistry and monogamy between her and Wong Fei-Hung is stronger than ever. I cannot easily remember where I have seen romantic character development across three movies like this.Love the chaos of the climatic scene at the Lion Dance competition! It seems so intricate that you just know some parts of it required improvisation to tie up inevitable loose ends. It is wild and woolly, and filled with all kinds of color in motion; like a circus parade unraveling itself. You truly have no idea what is going to happen next or what direction it will be coming from, and you also have a sneaking suspicion that some of the actors feel this way as well, as they are just trying this out that way and then trying that out this way through the various takes. The choreography of this feels like something that would defy even Hitchcock's attempts at story-boarding although I cannot vouch for how true that might be. But that wordless comment '-what the hell is going on???!!-' definitely comes to mind to this viewer with thrilling, giddy glee. This seems so suggestive of the internal social and political turmoil that Chinese society must have been experiencing at this time.Leave it to our hero Wong Fei-Hung to make sense out of all this somehow and bring order to this seemingly inexhaustible bedlam and melee. That he does indeed seem to do so and even gives the moral of the story to the audience in a way that is far from cheesy with nary a hair out of place in his Confucian reserve is a delight to behold. He marches away with polite indignation and we are called to stand in our hearts to a hero's anthem that exhorts us to improve ourselves every day.Here at the end, you feel this is what Wong Fei-Hung means to the Chinese people. This is their culture hero who will always exhort them to educate themselves to be better than they are.May I be excused?

While the third movie in the "Once Upon a Time in China" series were better than part one, but wasn't up to part two story-wise, then this third installment did manage to hold its own. While it was very weak in storyline, it more than made up for the shortcoming in action and Chinese lion sequences.It seemed like the storyline was rushed through and that most of the movie had a script that was just made up as director Tsui Hark went along with shooting the film. But luckily the impressive action and martial arts were more than making up for it. It should also be said that there is a lot of scenes and fighting sequences with Chinese lions. So take that into consideration if you might have a problem with that.Jet Li delivers quite well once again, despite not having much of a solid and proper script to work with. So "Once Upon a Time in China 3" (aka "Wong Fei Hung III: Si wong jaang ba") seems mostly like a showcase for Jet Li's martial arts skills.This is not one of the brightest moments in Hong Kong cinema, nor in Tsui Hark's directing career."Once Upon a Time in China 3" is a movie mostly appealing only to fans of Jet Li.

Review: I couldn't really get into this movie because the acting was terrible, along with the poor storyline. The showdown at the end wasn't that great and I found the love story annoying. Once again, the film is based around foreigners taking over China, but this storyline gets a bit silly after a while because people are fighting each other for no reason. I was hoping to see some of the old characters from the first movie, but the director chose to stick with the annoying sidekick from the second one. I did like Thunder Foot, who looked pretty strange but his martial arts skills was brilliant. In all, I was very disappointed with the film especially because the first one was so good. Disappointing!Round-Up: They should have called this movie "Return Of The Strings" because some of the action scenes was ridiculous. The fighting in mid-air went way too far and a lot of the action was unrealistic. I doubt that I'll be watching any of the other movies in this franchise because it went downhill after the first movie and they also don't star Jet Li. Once I started to see the flying in the air, I knew that the rest of the movies might go down this road so I've chosen to stay away from them. Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: HK$27.5millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their Jet Li movies and who are familiar with this franchise. 2/10

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.