Jui kuen III

Humorous action. Nice tricks and not-too-bad fighting scenes. But there's no Jackie Chan around... he's the real drunken master.

Drunken Master III. Starring Jackie Chan. Yeah. Usually when I expect some movie to be good, it actually is ...hmmm... not-so-good... just because I've expected more. But this time the movie, Drunken Master III, really scored.

The story of this production and the film it lives in the shadow of tends to color many opinions. Yes, this is NOT the Jacky Chan Drunken Master and, yes, director Liu Chia Liang appears in that film also. Whatever the issues that lead to Liang quitting the Chan production and starting this one in defiance really doesn't make a difference since the films are radically different.

This film is a farcical take on the time of the democratic revolution of Sun Yat Sen. Apparently the return to power of the Manchu emperor hinges around the possession of a Jade Ring. The Manchu's are supported by the mystical White Lotus gang which is run by a white guy who looks all of twenty years old. Anyway a princess is kidnapped by the revolutionaries so that the jade ring doesn't return to the monarchists. She is sent to the countryside to keep her hidden from a Manchu general played by Liu Chia Hui (Gordon Liu). She and the guy assigned to guard her end up in a wine making factory / unwed mother home (!) run by a kung fu master played by director Liu Chia Liang.

The story, if the description isn't clear, is all over the place. The whole production, while excellently photographed, has a very rushed feel to it. The martial arts, which in a Liang production are usually of high quality, are, unfortunately, not very sharp. Some scenes work very well but there's little to distinguish this from other martial art films of the same time. Regardless the film is well paced and easy to watch. The comedy is not very good but also not annoying. The whole film has a cheerful feel to it, like everyone was enjoying themselves. The only major problem is the abrupt ending. It seems like they ran out of money and had to stop the final fight scene. There are some strange incongruous things in the film such as the evil cult leader who looks like he was found at a martial arts tournament in an American suburb. His haircut is really bizarre.

If you are not looking for the Jacky Chan film and are familiar with the low-budget comedy kung fu film of the early 1980's, this might not be a bad way to spend 90 minutes.

When I read reviews of this movie, I read about the multiple fight scenes that were the only high points in the movie. Well, I found that statement to be a fallacy, because there aren't multiple fight scenes, relatively speaking that is. There are around 3 to note, but the last one is monumental. That gave the movie a 7 for me, otherwise I'd give it a 2 for the Drunken technique in the middle, but that's it. However, at the end, there is a good 15 or so minutes of fighting that I thoroughly enjoyed. Many different ways of fighting, and it was in such a great scene too. Andy Lau and Gordon Liu fight each other in 2 confession booths as well, which was beyond the limits of regular wu shu and into a different but welcome realm. I also enjoyed the new Lau Kar Leung in this, although I didn't like him as much as I did in DM2. And Jackie Chan isn't in this one. Actually Leung went off during the DM2 shooting due to directing arguments with Chan, and he made this. It has a quack story, so don't bother paying attention I think. Has to do with some cult and a princess, and lame music too at times. But still a good rental or if you're into fights, go ahead and make a purchase.

Liu Chia-Liang, once the best and most careful of 'fu film directors, apparently made this film as a way of getting back at Jackie Chan for kicking him off the Drunken Master II (aka Legend of) project. I therefore expected DMIII to be the film that Liu intended to make with DMII that Chan would not allow him to complete.

Instead, what I get is a wildly unfocused post-modern parody of contemporary martial arts films, from Tsui Hark's Once Upon a Time in China to the commonplace crime thrillers that flooded Hong Kong screens after the success of A Better Tomorrow.

What in heaven's name is going on here? I have a high tolerance for post-modern experimentation in cinema, and for parody as well. What I lack is the willingness to surrender good taste to either of these.

It is quite clear that Liu holds much of the Hong Kong New Wave in contempt; but this era in Hong Kong would certainly have allowed him to make a more traditional exploration of the cultural problems presented in DMIII, especially since he had never lost the respect of either the older or the newer generations of filmmakers and film audiences. In other words, he could have done anything he wanted to with this film. It wholly inconceivable that he would throw away this opportunity in order to whine about Hong Kong cinema growing too corrupt to make a better film. But that's all this film amounts to.

Some good fight scenes; but even some of these are unnecessarily confusing.