My review of a masterpiece
Directed by and starring Lau Ka Leung
Co-directed by and starring Jackie Chan
Screenplay by
Edward Tang
Tong Man-ming
Yuen Chieh-chi
Produced by
Eric Tsang
Edward Tang
Barbie Tung
Starring
Anita Mui
Ti Lung
Felix Wong
Ho Wing-fong
Chin Ka-lok
Lau Ka-yung
Ram Cheung
Ken Lo
Ho-Sung Pak
Andy Lau
Yvonne Yung
Suki Kwan
Vindy Chan
Release date: February 3, 1994
Synopsis
From a land where honour and tradition reign, comes the legend of a martial-arts hero unlike any other -- the "Drunken Master" -- who can turn just one drink into devastation and humiliation for his enemies. His technique is fast, furious... and powerfully funny. Fei-hung Wong (Jackie Chan), a young martial artist who knows the ways of Drunken Boxing is caught between respecting his pacifist father's wishes or stopping a group of disrespectful foreigners from stealing precious artifacts when Wong Fei-Hung is unwittingly caught in a battle between smugglers who want to steal ancient Chinese artefacts and loyalists who are determined to save the pieces from leaving the country.
Review
Drunken Master II / The Legend of Drunken Master was Jackie Chan's first traditional martial arts film for 12 years since the release of Dragon Lord (1982). While he hadn't done any martial arts films for twelve years, wow. He definetly improved with DRUNKEN MASTER 2!
Drunken Master 2 is the pinnacle of Hong Kong 90s action films right beside the US cut of Supercop (1995). Watching as Chan gets his butt beat, you know he's gonna win but it's super interesting to see. The movie also has an inpeccable soundtrack in both versions, scored by William Hu in the original version and Micheal Wandmacher in the Dimension Films / Miramix re-release.
I'm not saying that Micheal W's is bad, but it's like store-bought pizza. The real thing is better, and in this case the real thing is William Hu's score. Micheal W's score is just "durr insert Asian noises" and so is the original, but because it's about an Asian fighting style. Not to mention it actually uses Asian instruments beautifully. William takes the win.
The movie also teaches a lesson to drinking and all the bad things that happen to Fei-hung (getting beat up, disowned AGAIN just like in Drunken Master 1, and brain damage at the end of Hong Kong's OG version of the film) unlike 1978's Drunken Master, which glorified drinking.
The film shows a lesson, has impeccable music and fight choreography, and a mix of Lau Kar-leung's serious action which is more respectful and accurate to actual Drunken Boxing / Drunken Fist / Drunken Fairy / Drunken Monkey (Jui kuen/Zui quan) Jackie Chan's comedy kung fu.
The movie also has multiple scenes with comedy during fights, like when Kei-ying fought his own son and Fei-Hung started touching his nose and saying "Oh, papa ha ha what a cute nose!" and when Anita Mui's character (Wong Ling) fakes pregnancy to not get her stepson in trouble, and when Fei-hung spits out kerosene on a burning rod and he looks at the flame then to Ken Lo with a "Huh, cool." face then goes back to beating him up. Same with when Fei Hung throws a Drunkfit (Temper tantrum) right in the middle of the fight and breaks a box then goes back to fighting him, then at the end of the fight Fei hung blows a bubble out his mouth, has a fazed/shocked expression then falls unconscious to the ground.
Anyways, Let us have a non-alchaholic drink to how amazing this movie is.
Watch The Drunken Master II on
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