Tian shi zhuang xie

By 1983 everything that could be done in a martial arts movie had been done a thousand times. As the genre was about to be pronounced dead a few creative geniuses like John Woo, Jackie Chan, and the Yuen clan reinvented it. This movie is sometimes called "Miracle Fighters 2". It is not a sequel but a continuation of the creativity of the Yuen clan.

Though they were geniuses in martial arts also they used practical effects to reinvent the genre. (A practical effect is a special effect produced physically and this was the only way to do it back then.) In this movie they used illusions that real stage magicians used, such as the ring trick at the end, and greatly elaborated. Rings were often used as weapons in martial arts movies and I hate them because they are not real weapons and mostly ineffective. The Venoms used rings but they were mostly acrobatic props. Here, the Yuens start with the genuine stage magician linking rings trick and raised it exponentially plus made an effective martial arts weapon.

They were also geniuses in the ancient Chinese art of puppetry. The wire work of lifting fighters into the air had been done for decades but the real creativity came with applying puppetry to the props too.

Chinese also knew all about fireworks and the Yuens used plenty of chemical reactions in their effects.

Some might say there was not enough fighting in this movie. Yes, there was less than usual for a typical martial arts movie. In my opinion, it didn't need any more fighting, quality beats quantity. I rate this 8 out of 10 and it has my highest recommendation.

wow! kung fu with lots of puppets, magic, and wine! excellent movie with plenty of comedy. only reccomended to those who love silly ghost/monster movies like Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind. watch for the elaborate domino jail scene, or the thief using a puppet to steal a key. also check out taoism drunkard (0085628), which appears to be the sequel or the same people working on it anyways.

Absolutely bizarre.

This film wastes no time getting started and never really lets up. Lots of magic kung fu. Lots of crude silly 80's HK humor. Over the top acting, insane set design, lots of puppets and a giant poisonous frog! The filming is fast and cheap so some of the editing and continuity is haphazard. The martial arts are silly most of the time but the last big fight scene is very good in it's own weird way. If you like films with some sort of serious subtext then run fast from this one. Nothing is serious here. At one point early on, the Drunkard sinks into the stone floor until his feet are by his face! No explanation on what's going on or why he's doing it! If you can't stand a film this weird, you've been warned.

The same team did Taoism Drunkard and Young Taoism Fighter. All recommended.

Apr 2021

One of the 4 Yuen Clan films from the early 80s, and they are all equally as excellent as each other for me, the others being "Drunken Tai Chi, Taoism Drunkard and Miracle Fighters".

All 4 have to be seen to be believed, they are all so inventive and amazing and funny with it.

They all star Yuen Cheung Yan, Yuen Shun Yee and Yuen Yat Chor.

Sit back and enjoy

10 out of 10.

Went on a bit of a martial arts movie binge tonight as a reward for working a lot lately. I think I kind of saved the weakest of the three I watched for last, Shaolin Drunkard, but this was also the craziest and most experimental. In fact, it's one of the most fever-dream-heavy martial arts flicks I've seen in a good while. I probably haven't seen something quite this weird within the genre since The Boxer's Omen... that one came out the same year, and was admittedly much more gross. Shaolin Drunkard is more bizarre than it is disgusting.

Strangely, for a Yuen Woo-Ping film, the action doesn't really jump out as the best thing in the movie. I think Shaolin Drunkard kind of gets by owing to its oddest elements, but other than some pretty crazy quirks, there's not a whole lot to it, nor its action (which I guess is appropriately weird, I'd have to concede).

I feel like something like this deserves its status as a martial arts deep-cut. Die-hard fans will probably find themselves stumbling upon it eventually, and those who would find it to be way too much will probably live their lives blissfully unaware of its strange existence.