Review: The original 'Once Upon A Time In China' trilogy are undeniable classics, but when it came to creating the fourth entry in the series, Jet Li and Tsui Hark had apparently sworn never to work together again after an argument. Not wanting to put the series to bed, director Yeun Bun helmed this film, and the legendary starring role was handed over to Chui Man Cheuk. OATIC4 isn't the worst film ever made, but the magic of the first three movies is absent.

The very first scene seems to try and calm our fears about the new leading actor. Wong Fei Hung stands in front of hundreds of martial arts students, and spends a couple of minutes going through a kata routine. It's almost as if they are proving that Chiu Man Cheuk is more than a match for Jet Li. The problem is, while the guy is an evidently an impressive martial artist, he lacks Li's star quality, charisma and authority. Li was always a little too young to play Wong Fei Hung, but Cheuk looks practically pubescent.

The action is more stylised than previously, relying heavily on wirework, elaborate death-traps (fighting atop a giant domino rally is a brief highlight) and Lion dancing. In fact, seeing as the Lion dance was the focus of OUATIC3, you have to wonder why this film simply revisits old ground. The foreign invaders bring huge 'lions' shaped like various giant creatures. Among the creatures are an Eagle, a Dragon, a caterpillar and strangest of all, Flamingos. Basically, the climax of the film entails a bunch of guys floating around on wires with giant paper-mache animal heads. It's just too silly to take seriously. If the foreigners want a war, why not just start a war instead of a costume party? At least then the audience might get to see Wong Fei Hung kick some ass, instead of feeling like this is some peculiar Chinese version of Disney's 'Lion King on Ice'.

'Once Upon A Time In China IV' is a weak entry to a classic series. It suffers from poor casting, a contrived plot which serves up weak excuses for more Lion dancing, too little regard for the themes of the series, and nowhere near enough Kung Fu. Hardcore devotees of Wong Fei Hung will probably still want to see this, but for anybody else, this is not so much 'Once Upon A Time In China IV' as 'Once Upon A Time In China Too Far'.

REVIEW:
OUATIC IV follows the story of Wong Fei Hung and his troubles with the Europeans and the Manchurian government. This time around Zhao Wen Zhou takes the lead, replacing Jet Li and subsequently changing the overall feel of the movie. He does play the role very well though, especially considering his young age of 20 at the time of filming. A group of xenophobic females called The Red Lantern Ladies who are also introduced want to drive out all foreigners, but are going about it all wrong and must face up against Wong Fei Hung and the government. Along the way you get to meet Wong Fei Hung’s group of friends including Clubfoot, otherwise knows as Thunder foot in the dubbed edition, and Leong Su. Mak Mok Siu Chung and Hung Yan Yan deliver great performances and when Hung Yan Yan starts kicking it’s a true pleasure to watch him. Hung Yan Yan has also doubled for many famous Hong Kong stars including Jet Li, using the name Xiong Xin Xin.

Lion dances play a big role in OUATIC IV and the whole story revolves around such a challenge. It turns out that the Europeans have created a variety of different creatures and have planned a competition to which Wong Fei Hung has been invited. Unfortunately it’s no simple matter and getting to the tournament turns out to be difficult when you are placed in jail and hunted by a group of angry females bent on ridding the world of seemingly everyone! After helping some foreigners against the female boxers Wong Fei Hung gets thrown in jail. It’s then up to his friends and Aunt May to find out where he is and to help him get to the challenge in time. After escaping from prison Wong Fei Hung gets to know the head of the female boxers better and they form a friendship that helps him save his friends who have just being caught by the rest of the group. In the meantime, the foreigners have hired two Chinese fighters to help sort out the Chinese and they prove to be an obstacle in everyone’s way. One is a fencing master while the other is a powerful fighter capable of killing a horse with one punch, hence the name Iron Fist!

Further on, Wong Fei Hung and his friends do take part in the lion dance competition and showcase some nice kung fu throughout the movie. The story is still a bit more complex than what I mentioned and written much the same as the other movies in the series. The whole feel of the movie is a bit more serious though and does contain a few violent scenes that you wouldn’t see in the earlier titles. Some fighting highlights have to be the fight with the two hired Chinese fighters at the end and if you don’t mind the lion dances they can get pretty interesting too. I have to warn you that the movie does have quite a bit of wire-fu, but none too distracting. Clubfoot is my favorite sidekick and I would recommend anyone to watch OUATIC VI (Once Upon a Time In China and America) if you want to see even more of his kicking goodness! There are also a few funny bits in the film like near the beginning when everyone hides away at the newspaper to get away from Wong Fei Hung.

Hardcore Jet Li fans will dislike this movie even before seeing it, but I prefer this movie to Li's films. The fighting is harder, the story is more serious and movie looks great. I know it can be hard to find this title but if you do find it, it’s worth the watch. I haven’t seen OUATIC V yet, but I have been told it carries off where this film stops, so start collecting!

The first three OUATIC movies raised the bar for the modern "traditional" martial arts movie. Unfortunately, OUATIC4 falls short of its predecessors. Compared to the other films, the story is quite weak. In fact, it's more of a rehashing of elements in parts 2 and 3 than anything else. This might have been forgivable if the action sequences could compensate, but they don't. While Zhao Wen-Zhuo is good enough as Wong Fei-Hung, he's certainly no Jet Li (who left the series after a dispute with director/producer Tsui Hark). That may be an unfair comparision, but if you're changing stars in a series, you'd better make sure your new guy can do the job. OUATIC4 also just looks a lot poorer compared to its predecessors. Yuen Bun does an okay job of creating some good fight scenes, but they -- like the movie as a whole -- lack the polish of the previous films.

The plot follows two distinct lines. Firstly, after his heroics at winning the Golden Lion Medal in part 3, he is asked to compete in a new competition featuring super-powered lions from various countries (most notably Germany!), and they fear that China will lose face if defeated. While this is an ongoing problem, so too are the ladies of the Red Lotus clan, whose aim is to remove all foreigners. Unfortunately, Wong, in saving some Gwailo’s, becomes a target of their fury and further problems ensue. As with the first 3 instalments, much of the plot is driven by important events in China’s history and filled with both overt and subtle political comment.

Action-wise, Chiu is the physical equal of Jet Li, at least in terms of his Wu Shu and acrobatic ability, and gets to impress with some excellent moves. The choreography is not as slick as part 2, obviously suffering without Woo-ping’s involvement, however many of the action set pieces are extremely well shot and entertaining. Unfortunately, the finale is a slight let-down since we see Hung Yan Yan, Chiu Man Cheuk, Billy Chow and Chin Kar Lok take part in what, on paper, is a dream battle. This is not the case and it is a damp squib compared to what I was expecting.

The action (ladder fight excepted) is equal to part 1, but not the dramatic element, and it is certainly not the equal of part 2 for fight choreography. As a result it falls slightly behind earning a respectable 4 stars. If you liked the first 3, you will definitely enjoy this too, and will not feel your time has been wasted in tracking it down. It is a shame that Chiu has not been given more quality roles, as outings in recent films such as 'Body Weapon', 'Fist Power' and 'Black Sheep Affair' have not fulfilled the potential seen in this film and other quality productions like 'Green Snake' and 'Fong Sai Yuk'. It seems as though he, like Jet used to, has trouble adapting to modern day actioners, and I hope it is only a matter of time before he shines again.