#1103c: TSUI, Hark: Once Upon A Time In China III (1992)

TSUI, Hark (Hong Kong)
Once Upon A Time In China III [1992]
Spine #1103c
Blu-ray


Jet Li’s third outing as the storied martial-arts hero Wong Fei-hung in the Once Upon a Time in China films is an exhilarating celebration of Chinese culture peppered with a dash of international espionage. This time around, Wong travels to Beijing, where he finds himself drawn into the intrigue surrounding an epic lion-dance competition, spars with a Russian rival for the affections of his beloved Thirteenth Aunt (Rosamund Kwan), and fights to foil a foreign plot to assassinate the real-life Chinese diplomat Li Hongzhang. The eye-popping lion-dance set pieces—which combine vibrantly colored, fire-breathing pageantry with martial-arts mayhem—rank among the most visually spectacular achievements of the series.

112 minutes
Color
Monaural
in Cantonese and Mandarin
2:39:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2021

Director/Writers

Screenplay by Tsui Hark, Hanson Chan Tin-suen, and Charcoal Tan.
Tsui was 42 when he directed Once Upon a Time in China III.

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Forty-eight page booklet featuring essays by film critics Maggie Lee and novelist Grady Hendrix.

Commentary

None.

Interviews

With director Hark, Film Workshop cofounder Nansun Shi, editor Marco Mark Chi-sin, and critic Tony Rayns.

Excerpts 1

From audio interviews with Jet Li conducted in 2004 and 2005.

Deleted scenes

From Once Upon a Time in China III.

Documentary

From 2004 about the real-life martial-arts hero Wong Fei-hung.

From Spikes to Spindles

A 1976 documentary about New York City’s Chinatown featuring uncredited work by Tsui.

Excerpts 2

From a 2019 master class given by martial-arts choreographer Yuen Wo-ping.

Archival interviews

Featuring Tsui and actors Wakefield, Yen, and Yen Shi-kwan.

Behind-the-scenes footage

For Once Upon a Time in China and Once Upon a Time in China and America.

Trailers

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

By Spine #

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Criterion Collection By Spine #

#331: OZU, Yasujiro: Late Spring (1949)

#304: ROEG, Nicolas: The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976)