Watches
May 05, 2007
Part 3 in the now infamous martial arts franchise. This is the film where the series loses its darker edge, and the comedy takes on a more central role. There's also a little less actual fighting, with a stronger focus on lion dances and acrobatics. Also very cool and spectacular, but not quite the same as watching Jet Li at the peak of his form flying around and knocking out opponents with legs and fists.
Hung arrives in Beijing, right on time to participate in a big tournament, organized to get people interested in martial arts again while teaching them the value of local traditions. A villainous clan also enters the tournament with less noble intentions, and they make a real effort to get rid of their competitors well before they have to face them in the arena.
The dream team is still very much present in this third part, but the new direction didn't really warrant the longer runtime anymore. 90 minutes suffices for a film like this. The comedy is nice enough, the lion dances/fights are lovely to watch and the production quality is definitely on point. It's just not quite as good and distinctive as the first two films.