Once Upon a Time in China 3 (1993)

Wong Fei Hung had to battle a local baddie, a romantic Russian, and dozens of lions all while trying to work out his relationship with 13th Aunt and thwart an assassin. All in a day's work for the martial arts folk hero. This outing for Jet Li's Wong Fei Hung tended to be busy, loud, and unfocused. There were moments of humor and romance, and a few good fights buried within the film.

The evil Empress Dowager wanted to impress the foreigners and encourage more martial arts by holding a lion dance competition. Instead of uniting the martial artists they ended up fighting each other in violent dance offs with lions. WFH tried to calm everyone down, but the local oil factory owner kept everyone stirred up. WFH also had to deal with a Russian who had eyes on 13th Aunt. Meanwhile, 13th Aunt worked at getting a marriage proposal out of WFH. She had a cute scene with WFH teaching him some important English words.

If you love violent lion dances, this is the movie for you. There are numerous lion dance fights throughout the movie. The problem with them, is that regardless of all the hidden swords, fire, arrows, and meteor balls, much of the action was hidden under the costumes and giant heads. They ended up in a tangle of costumes and erratic movements.

There were a couple of good fights. Most used quite a bit of wire-fu and advantageous camera angles. Jet Li was in his prime making all the extras distracting. The final lion dance fight was difficult to follow and the climax with the local baddie underwhelming.

Much like the lion dances, the story could be a confusing mess. Jet Li as WFH and Rosamund Kwan as 13th Aunt were fine in their roles. Much of the rest of the cast became lost in the noise.

If you are a fan of this series and Jet Li this is a perfectly watchable movie and much of it was entertaining, especially when Jet fought and we were able to see him fighting. He was quick and talented in his scenes, especially one on an oil slick floor. If you are a fan of vicious lion dances you are in for a real treat, if not, OUATIC 3 might be a letdown.

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