Sagara West

Once Upon a Time in China III (d. Tsui Hark, 1993)

This installment was quite restrained in terms of how much was going on and I was disappointed.

The plot here is ‘people take a national lion dance competition way too seriously’ and ‘some Russians show up’, including an acquaintance of 13th Aunt who makes Wong jealous. 13th Aunt and Wong get some relationship development and he even manages to call her by her given name a couple of times.

There is a lot of lion dancing, and a lot of fighting whilst in lion costume. Also the climax features a big lion that can simply eat all the smaller lions.

The best lion dance stunts I have seen on film are still Yuen Woo-ping’s in Dreadnaught. Sadly, he action directed Once Upon a Time in China II but not III.

I am going to skip saying more about this one, and instead say a lot about the next film!

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (d. Soi Cheang, 2024)

This was a slightly odd viewing experience because it is a film set in 80s Hong Kong, but it was not made in the 80s, and as the film goes on you realise the genre is not ‘gritty triad action’ but more like a shounen manga about the power of friendship ...

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