"The 1991 Hong Kong movie "Wong Fei-Hung" (released in the US as "Once Upon a Time in China" was produced, directed, and co-written by Tsui Hark ("Leung juk"). It is a long (134-minute), jumpy, and blatantly racist movie with a whole array of forces arrayed against the simple, virtuous (and xenophobic, proto-Boxer) kung-fu master and healer Wong Fei-Hung (Jet Li). I can tell the British from the Americans, the triads from the Qing officials from the patriotic militia commanded by Wong, though viewers unfamiliar with the various forces of late Qing-dynasty China (or with other Chinese movies set in that era) might have difficulty telling the antagonists apart. (I have to admit, however, that I am not sure about the nationality of the Jesuit missionaries.)

There is hardly any character development (the partial exception is Yuen Biao's Leung Fu). Still, this telling (there are more than a hundred others on film, including five sequels, three with Jet Li), includes some undeniably virtuoso fight scenes, especially the early and witty umbrella one, the final one between kung fu masters (Jet Li and Yan Yee-Kwan as "Iron Vest" Yim) on ladders that are anything but stationary, and, intercut with that one, one in the riggings of a US ship. This leaves another hour and a half of less impressive fights and chases plus a few minutes of various groups of villains conspiring and Wong's followers teasing one another).

There is some slapstick comedy, which is alien to Jet Li (in contrast to Jackie Chan or Stephen Chow, Jet Li does not mug... or call people "Porky" or "Bucktooth"...). And some desultory leering (by Wong) and shadow fantasizing by "Aunt 13" (Rosamund Kwan). Jet Li is a very great master of martial arts (he was a champion before making movies with elaborate wire work), but comes across (in movie after movie, not just this one) as pure and asexual, not as a romantic figure. (This has nothing to do with being physically attractive, which he seems to be insofar as one can be with the shaved-forehead and long queue hairstyle imposed by the Manchus (Qing dynasty) and loose full-length robes of the era).

The editing (credited to Marco Mak, who won a Hong Kong Film Award for his work on this movie, and another for the 1998 Lau Wai-Keung's "The Storm Rider") within fight sequences is often frenetic. That the movie runs on far longer than most kung-fu movies (and than that it oughtta have) is more a function of the profusion of villain factions and the number of fight scenes than of slack editing. (BTW, the cinematography credit is split six. ways—perhaps one per faction?).

Not least in that the Chinese title of the movie is the hero's name and that this is one of a legendary (albeit historical) figure in China (as Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid were historical figures, albeit less paragons of virtue than Wong Fei-Hung), I don't think the movie was inspired by "Once Upon a Time in the West." Charles Bronson only prevails over three assassins in the main duel of Leone's long but rich movie. Jet Li dodges volleys of bullets and defeats scores of assailants at a time. And Kwan's Aunt 13 seems derived more from "The Perils of Pauline" than from the resourceful widow Claudia Cardinale played in "Once Upon a Time in the West." (Leone's villain factions are not as diverse, though it is "modernization" in the form of the encroaching railways that wants Sweet Water in "West." No one wants the physical grounds of Wong's kung-fu school/emergency medical station.)

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In that there are lengthy, informative (and well-informed) 4-star-rated epinions by experts on the genre—Walter Chaw and Mike_Bracken—that provide historical and cultural context about Wong Fei-Hung, I did not intend to write a review of this movie, But, as often happens, what I wrote for my account of the movies I watched during a month grew, and to dent the excessively high ratings this racist mess of a movie has received here, I decided to post an express review (which then expanded further, exceeding the express review word limit). There are in this movie (IMHO) 20-25 minutes of awe-inspiring fight choreography that are genuinely deserving of 5-star rating, but the whole is far inferior to its best parts. I would have rounded 2.5 up if it were not for all the 5-star ratings of the movie. It is my least favorite Jet Li movie (though I've only seen 5-6 others.)




Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age