Third in the successful Once Upon a Time In China series, which stars Jet Li as the Chinese hero Wong Fei-Hung, is a step down from preceding episodes. While the first two were natural and innovative, this one feels like a forced attempt to recreate past success. The formula wears thin, and I'm not sure it makes any sense. Only in a martial arts movie could shady political wrangling depend so much on a martial arts contest, the staple plot device of the genre. All the same, the film is not without charm, and the characters and most of the action scenes are fun to watch.