Once Upon a Time in China and America

This is one of the best movies in the "Once upon a time in China" series. Funny once in a while with its goofy Chinese humour and filled with fast fightingsequences that are beyond us "normal" people. :) The synchronized sound is, as usual not the best, but it does the trick..

Jet Li returns as Wong Fei Hung in this great epic series of China's history. With Sammo Hung at the director's chair, one can expect some high-quality choreography. And good fights are not lacking in this movie. I thought that the characters were more defined and likeable then in OUATIC 4. I thought that the epic quality of the story and themes weren't there, but setting that aside, the movie is fun to watch. Sammo proves that he's one of the best choreographers, and Jet Li proves that he's one of the best on-screen fighters.

After watching the first 3 in a two period to see what was so good about the series, I decided to watch this as an off-chance. I was horribly disappointed. While it might have come out before Shanghai Noon, this was just plain unbearable to watch with painfully BAD stereotypical dialogue with a plot thrown in around the last 2/3rd of the movie. Do yourself some justice and skip this movie if given an option. Only watch it for morbid curiosity, but you'll only be disappointed. I feel like this horrible film tainted my eyes after watching the first 3, which were full of movie magic. The action scenes in this one didn't even keep my attention at times.

This movie kind of makes you wonder if he wants to hit that niche that Jackie Chan has in China. The fighting is not only off the wall, but it's comical as well. Don't expect to see the serious Jet Li that you're used to though, otherwise you'll be disappointed. The best thing about this movie is; you didn't have to see any of the others in the series to know what's going on. Most Chinese sequels tend to leave anyone who hasn't seen the first movies in the dark. If you just take it for what it was meant to be, you'll enjoy it immensely. You can tell that Jet Li was making an attempt to start making his presence in America. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who's a fan of Jet Li.

The sixth film in the series, and the welcome return of Jet Li after a break in parts 4 and 5. This time around Wong Fei Hung and his cohorts take a trip to the wild west, a reasonable idea but ultimately one of the weakest of the films. The plot limps along rather pointlessly, although the frequent fight scenes (choreographed by Sammo Hung) are as exciting as ever. Their power is somewhat diminished, however, as at no point do you feel the characters are in any real danger.

Jet's cool bullet-dodging in the climactic fight is fun, but only real highlight is the scene where Fei Hung's loyal comrade Seven attempts to cure his master's amnesia by fighting him in the styles of villains from the previous films.

The supporting cast are a painful bunch of stereotypes, and their acting ability leaves a great amount to be desired, but if you can get past that this is enjoyable enough hokum.