Wong Fei Hung / Once Upon A Time In China I (1991) - Hilarious slapstick moments meet stunning martial arts grace - 8/10 (04/03/2012)

The first part of "Once Upon A Time In China" is an amazing mixture of slapstick comedy, brilliant martial arts action and a big shot of Chinese culture, history and life. Be sure to watch the full movie and not an old shortened version as this movie introduces many truly interesting and unique in scenes that seem like entertaining but unnecessary sidekicks in the beginning but that turn out to play a rather big role towards the end of the film.

The strongest points of this movie are the characters. You have a very courageous, strong and vise master Wong portrayed by a very good Li Lian Jie, the very amusing idiot with a heart of gold called Fu who is very well played by Yuen Biao, the stuttering and intellectual outsider So incarnated by a strong Cheung Hok Yau, the naive but very loyal and honest Lang played by a very entertaining and talented Cheng Juk Si or the charming, careless and westernized aunt Yee that is portrayed by Guan Ga Wei. Even the minor roles in this movie are very well done and this cast would have had the potential for the establishment of a successful year long television series. The roles are very addicting and really rate this movie up and make it stand out of many great martial arts movies with a historic background that came out at that time.

Nevertheless, the battle scenes are truly amazing. In the beginning, they are rather disappointing and the movie in general kicks off on a rather low note but the further it gets, the better the battles are. The fighting scenes in the port of the city, inside the warehouse and finally on the ship are all outstanding and have a stunning choreography. This movie truly wants you to learn martial arts if you haven't done them yet.

Apart of the action scenes, the humorous element of this movie is a really strong point. It's priceless to see when Porky Lang is disguised for an improvised theatre play and everybody recognizes him in a hilarious manner. The idiot Fu and his addiction to aunt Yee is also very entertaining in his acts of plumb voyeurism and silly approaches to the beautiful and mature lady. The nervous So who turns out to be rather intelligent is also a strong character and the way he acts on the ship during the final battle almost made me laugh tears.

In the end, I look forward to discover the follow-ups of this amusing, entertaining and fast-paced epic Chinese movie. This movie is nothing innovating or truly outstanding but a first class entertainment I would regularly like to enjoy.