p_h_a_r_o_a_h_e This film is simply amazing. It is the most entertaining movie I have ever seen and it is well filmed. This movie didn't have the biggest budget, but it has the largest ambition.I would recommend seeing Farewell My Concubine(great movie) first to better understand the setting of this movie, which takes place in 1920's China. Once you have seen Farewell My Concubine, this movie becomes much more accessible to the casual viewer.Peking Opera Blues has a bit of everything...and then some. Tons of comedy, excellent action sequences, dramatic twists, well implemented music, fast pacing, etc. Peking Opera Blues has all the ingredients of a recipe for success, and I would say it is the ultimate light hearted flick.NOTE: The once infamous subs are now fixed with YesAsia's version of the DVD. It has a really clear image too. Buy it now!

Andy (film-critic) "Peking Opera Blues" gets a mediocre score mainly due to a heightened excitement at the end, but lacking a strong introduction. There was something exciting about this film within the final thirty minutes, but this film had to be watched during the day. Evening viewings made me sleepy, thus forcing to re-watch the beginning four to five times. This was a challenging film, with intense action and sexual innuendo, it was groundbreaking for the late 80s, but it just didn't have a voice. I don't think I could watch this film again. It was exciting, just not excitable. Remember - there was a cross-dressing woman randomly placed, jackets can block a barrage of bullets, and jewels do not a plot make.

nataraj In contrast to films like "iron monkey" or "tai chi boxer" there is almost no kung fu in this movie. The story is less than gripping and I am not even sure the comedy is intended at all times. The characters' motives, their background: virtually non-existent, though it is very easy to tell the goodies from the baddies: Baddies die, goodies don't.Still this isn't too bad a way to spend an hour and half in the same way an old Fred Astaire dance film can be the right stuff to watch on Sundays - not remotely comparable to current films, not even thrilling, anything but real. Just sort of ...Nice.

FilmLabRat Really enjoyable film in so many ways ... funny, clever, exciting, thrill ride from start to finish. What the plot is or means we may never exactly know [what is that coveted document everyone is willing to die for, anyway? and how is the second general connected to the first?], but we get the basic story idea. Subtitles are such poor translations to make them added humor. I know this doesn't sound like a winner, but trust me - a bonafied "don't miss" feature.