Once Upon a Time in China
1991 2h 14m movie Film Hong Kong

Once Upon a Time in China

黃飛鴻

“Never was a Hero needed more...”

Once Upon a Time in China sits in the top 9% of Hong Kong films on this catalog — ranked #77 of 836 by TMDB audience score.

Synopsis

黃飛鴻

“Never was a Hero needed more…”

Set in late 19th century Canton, this martial arts film depicts the stance taken by the legendary martial arts hero Wong Fei-Hung against foreign forces' plundering of China.

Reception Benchmarks

7.2
TMDB Rating
374
Audience Reviews
Highly Rated
Critical Tier

Ranked #77 of 836 Hong Kong films indexed here (91st percentile by TMDB audience score).

Rating is +0.9 points above the Hong Kong average of 6.3/10.

Among Hong Kong Action productions specifically: #38 of 516 (top 7%).

Audience Engagement

374
Reviews
92nd
Review-volume percentile
92nd
Popularity percentile

374 audience reviews — more than 92% of Hong Kong films in our index.

Popularity sits at the 92th percentile among Hong Kong films.

Titles With Overlapping Themes

Films and series that share thematic tags with Once Upon a Time in China. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.

Other Titles From Paragon Films Ltd.

Action + Drama in Hong Kong

136 Hong Kong titles in our catalog blend the Action and Drama genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Once Upon a Time in China itself).

The 1990–1992 Hong Kong Window

Among 73 Hong Kong films we catalog from this window, Once Upon a Time in China places #8 — near the top of its class.

  1. The Best of the Martial Arts Films
    #1

    The Best of the Martial Arts Films

    ★ 8.8 · 1990
  2. The Greed of Man
    #2

    The Greed of Man

    ★ 7.9 · 1992
  3. Hard Boiled
    #3

    Hard Boiled

    ★ 7.6 · 1992
  4. Bullet in the Head
    #4

    Bullet in the Head

    ★ 7.6 · 1990
  5. Song of the Exile
    #5

    Song of the Exile

    ★ 7.6 · 1990
  6. Days of Being Wild
    #6

    Days of Being Wild

    ★ 7.3 · 1990
  7. Center Stage
    #7

    Center Stage

    ★ 7.3 · 1991
  8. Once Upon a Time in China
    #8

    Once Upon a Time in China

    ★ 7.2 · 1991

The 1990s Hong Kong Landscape

Catalog density by release year across the 1990s in Hong Kong, 215 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Once Upon a Time in China premiered alongside 22 others.

'9028'9123'9222'9330'9426'9515'9618'9718'9821'9914

Position in Catalog

Released alongside 22 other Hong Kong films in 1991.

The 327th Hong Kong title from Hong Kong we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1955).

Our Hong Kong catalog contains 836 titles in total (828 films).

Thematic Fingerprint

Tags on Once Upon a Time in China, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.

Distinctive themes · rare across catalog
  • colonisation · 3
Recurring themes · common across catalog
  • hero · 25
  • qing dynasty · 7
Mainstream tags · widely used across catalog
  • martial arts · 369
  • china · 127
  • kung fu · 121
  • 19th century · 32

Production Details

Primary CountryHong Kong
Original LanguageCantonese
Spoken LanguagesEnglish, Cantonese
Production CompaniesParagon Films Ltd., Orange Sky Golden Harvest
Runtime2h 14m
Release DateAugust 15, 1991
IMDbtt0103285