Genre: Martial Arts

‘Oh! Yes Sir!!!’ could have perhaps been more appealing if there had been added emphasis on the action or a little less smuttiness in the humour.

Hark combines a well-paced and beautifully photographed narrative with strong characters and exciting fight action.

Fans of the first two will be sorely disappointed by ‘Once Upon A Time In China And America’ and will no doubt feel somewhat short-changed.

In my opinion, this film does not have the same numerous levels within its story which made the first such an all round classic, however, much of the action is just as impressive.

Tsui Hark very cleverly realised that topping the fight action in part 2 would be almost impossible, and adopted a different style accordingly.

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.

For those that hate the frequent use of wire-fu (like me), you better look elsewhere as action choreography for this film relies heavily upon its use.

The master stroke is of course the incorporation of Yuen Woo Ping as fight choreographer and he serves up some of the best fisticuffs of recent years.

‘One Arm Hero’ has its moments, though they don’t help the finished production achieve anything more than the entertaining.

A few moments of Wang Yu madness creep into the film to enliven things, but this is mostly a hard slog to get through.

‘One-Armed Boxer’, while a little rough around the edges, has lost none of its crazy energy and still packs an almighty bloody punch with its almost non-stop 90 minutes of martial arts fight action.

Without any argument, ‘One-Armed Swordsman’ is therefore a quality swordplay film that has much to offer to viewers today.