Once Upon a Time in China/YMMV
- Alas, Poor Villain - The death of Master Yen Jer Dong under the gunfire of American mercenaries.
- Complete Monster - With few exceptions, the Western invaders. Also, the Chinese people who sell out their people to the West.
- Inverted in the second movie, where the villains are a violent Chinese cult and the corrupt Chinese government. The British ambassador can even arguably be considered heroic.
- Crowning Music of Awesome - "To Be A Hero", the heart-stirring theme song of the franchise, based on the traditional Chinese Ballad Jiang Jun Ling (General's Orders). A hot-blooded song that tells you to "shine brighter than the sun!"
- Even Better Sequel - Part 2.
- Sequelitis
- Tear Jerker
- Unfortunate Implications - Americans in this series are mostly portrayed as violent, greedy, trigger-happy barbarians, but frankly this is not an entirely unfair picture of the behaviour of Westerners in China at the time.