Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

SincereFinest disgusting, overrated, pointless

Micransix Crappy film

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

higherall7 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?

leonblackwood 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

Dave from Ottawa ...but still entertaining for the most part. This third move in the series is the weakest and least ambitious of the group, seeming satisfied to ignore the actual politics of China's tumultuous 19th century in favor of some made-up nonsense about Russian spies. There is a martial arts tournament at the movie's center which Wong Fei Hung (Jet Li again) enters and must win for some reason, plus the always welcome Rosamund Kwan is back as Aunt Yee and the movie contrives to put her into danger again and again to keep things lively. The resulting mish- mash of a plot is rather hard to keep straight and honestly there is little profit in doing so. The producers themselves seemed to have a poor awareness of where everything was ultimately leading. Enjoy the good period look and the quite impressive martial arts on display in the tournament and try not to take anything too seriously.

streen2000 I know that there have been a lot of reviews deploring the relatively lower standards of fight choreography, plot, etc. of this third installment. Yet of the 4, this was the movie that left the deepest impression on this humble reviewer - I remember being moved to tears after watching this as 12 year-old. I do understand, though, why other reviewers might have panned this one - it's much easier to understand tsui hark's intentions from the perspective of someone brought up in a more... "Chinese" environment, so to speak.The theme song of the series (the one with the drums and Chinese-trumpets and people chanting "ahhhh... ahhhhhaahhhahhaahhahhh..." - yes, don't you know it) is about a man who wants to become a hero and win glory and honour - he calls others to join him in his quest, and sings of a fire burning in him that is "brighter than the sun" - an example of the sort of nationalistic, patriotic tradition that is very much ingrained into mainland-chinese culture (how much of it is part of a communist government's propaganda-package is anyone's guess). The character of Huang Fei-Hung is the embodiment of all the values inherent in The Patriot: a man unafraid of standing up to oppressive powers (foreign or otherwise) and fighting for the masses. This theme is emphasized throughout the series, and never so well-depicted as in Part III. ***Spoiler*** This episode ultimately ends tragically, as Wong realises that in fighting to "save face" and win honour for his people, he has in reality failed them. As such, the film (in a somewhat didactic approach) deviates from the stereotypical kung-fu-hero-kills-all-the-baddies-and-saves-the-day ending in an attempt to teach its audience just what it really means to fight for your country - that it isn't just scrabbling for some abstract, pedantic bragging rights, but to be prepared to make sacrifices to bring about change that is real and good. For those who just want to watch some chop-socking action, catch the first film. But if you're looking for some insight into the source of Chinese nationalistic fervour, and what drives a man to put everything at stake for family and country, this really is one of the essentials.