Cast Member: Xiong Xin-Xin

At times, the film will have you slipping into a catatonic state and you’ll just be praying for the next bit of action to come along.

The action is still impressive, and deserves 4 stars, but the direction, annoying camera work and lack of real plot drag it down into the 3 star category.

‘Butterfly Lovers’ is a forgettable version of a legend that deserves a definitive screen portrayal – it has moments of interest, but proves to be an unevenly yoked movie.

Liu provides a more than acceptable ‘Don Quixote-lite’, a necessarily truncated interpretation that will hopefully inspire some to read the Cervantes masterpiece in full.

Although not quite reaching the heights of ‘Iron Monkey’, ‘Heroes Among Heroes’ is still a memorable new-wave action film that is packed with superior fight action.

Herman Yau’s conclusion to the story deserves its place among its contemporaries. And any film with Anthony Wong giving his all is well worth adding to your collection.

May disappoint die-hard action fans, but would prove a good introduction to swordplay style films, especially for the H.K uninitiated and Hollywood lovers.

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.