Combats de maître

I recently saw "The Legend of "Drunken Master" not knowing anything about it and it was a grwat suprise to find how good this movie is. I have new respect for Chan after seeing this film. The fights scenes in this movie are simply amazing, the final fight that takes place in a steel mill made my jaw hit the floor, it lasts for about 20 minutes and Chan does some amzing stunts. This is the best martial ats movie I have ever seen.

This film is all the more fantastic because it is, however loosely, based on fact. Chan is in one of his finest roles as Chinese hero Wong Fei Hung, fighting foreigners who wish to take artefacts out of China during the Ching dynasty.

An appreciation of turn-of-the-century China does help, but even without it, the film remains incredibly entertaining. The kung-fu choreography is interwoven with a well-written story which should instil pride in any Chinese moviegoer.

Even Chan's acting is excellent, as the young Wong Fei Hung who develops his "drunken boxing" style - a type of kung-fu which is aided by the consumption of alcohol. However, his father forbids his son's drinking, fearing that he will not know when to stop. His stepmother is encouraging, hoping to put her stepson on the map in the local community. The rapport between the characters is superb and realistically acted by the players. The martial arts' choreography here is among the best in any film.

Of Chan's movies set in an earlier time period, Jui Kuen II must rank as his best. An excellent example of the genre.

I may be wrong about this, but I think Chan is responsible for the avalanche of ironic performance fights we have now.

Here's the deal: movies need to be cinematic and fights are cinematic so we have them.

Movies fall into two rough buckets: various concepts of sincerity and those that have (incorrectly as it turns out) been conflated under the concept of irony. Anything that exists in the first eventually has a sibling in the second; that's the way the world works.

So if you have fights, even elaborate kung fu productions that are sincere, sooner or later someone will figure out how to annotate them. Chan was the guy that found a way to turn fights into a show and at the same time produce a simultaneous commentary that says: "watch this, its funny."

To do the annotation, a requirement is that first level be excellent. Chan IS an excellent fight performer, and key to this awareness is the much publicized fact that no cheating is done on the effects. But he also a great humorist as well.

This particular film isn't the turning point for all fight irony that follows. That was much earlier, but this is probably the best and most explicit.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Well, Jackie Chan has had an interesting career. On one hand, he's made some classics like Project A and Dragons Forever. On the other hand, he's made some less-than-spectacular movies like Crime Story and First Strike. This movie is easily his best film ever...and also one the best martial arts movies ever made. He revisits the role that made him famous: Wong Fei Hung, the drunken master. The plot deals with smugglers trying to steal China's treasures, but in the end it isn't important. The fights are what matters, and Chan fights like a son of a gun. There are some excellent traditional fight scenes like him fighting Lau Kar Leung and one w/ a Choy li fut stylist. There's a memorable fight against an Ax Gang (Ax army is more like it). The finale, where he takes on the smugglers led by a super kicking Thai boxer, is probably the greatest fight scene choreographed. This movie doesn't cease to entertain. A must see for any fans of action, martial arts, HK movies, or just Jackie Chan himself.

'Jui kuen II' is another funny Jackie Chan film with some great action scenes that were both skillfully shot and impressively performed. It has its share of funny moments but much of the comedy seems forced to the screenplay and lack the charm of its prequel 'Jui kuen'. The plot is very predictable and clichèd. The set designs, particularly Wong's house have been nicely decorated. The background score is pleasant. Jackie Chan pretty much plays the same character as in most of his films but he's still fun to watch. Anita Mui deserves special mention as she provides the funniest moments and is a delight to watch (even though it felt slightly awkward to see her cast as Chan's mother). So for me what stood out in this film are the brave action sequences (particularly the one at the end) and Anita Mui. Otherwise it's quite an average film as I did not feel as entertained as I would expect when watching a Jackie Chan film.