Drunken Master II
Review
Stars: Jackie Chan, Lau Ka Leung, Ti Lung, Ken Lo (hell yea!), Anita Mui
This magnificent movie is about Wong Fei Hung's (Jackie) dealings with someone he thought was a thief (Leung) until he realized that the man was saving one of China's greatest treasures. The treasure was being taken by the British to have as a collectable. Those damn Brits. They also get it back, though. So, Chan embarks upon a mission to retrieve the treasure, as well as all the other treasures taken by the British. And in order to do that he has to use DRUNKEN BOXING!!
Well, maybe that's not exactly what HAS to happen, but it does nonetheless. Pretty well too. Actually, I was more impressed with the Drunken Boxing in this one than in Drunken Master 1. It was faster, cooler, and just better. Here's a run through of the quality.
Jackie, as well as everyone else, does a surpurb job acting (except for the gweilos, they can't act, ever). Even Ken Lo, who has like 15 minutes in the movie, does a great job. But Jackie plays his funny self, and at times gets pretty serious. His drunkenness could fool anyone, and that's the point, plus it makes his technique look even better. I always thought that in DM1 he was being too fake. Not the case here. You actually care about the characters in this one, and even for Leung who dies quite suddenly. Perhaps this is due to Chan's directing efforts to get the audience involved in the whole-of-China-plot that this movie has. I was also very impressed with the sets. Although they're not entirely special, they set the mood very well. The music does the same, with the classical Wong Fei Hung music and other Chinese tunes.
The action does let up at times and the movie goes into some story stuff, but thankfully that doesn't happen too often. Sadly, I'm now in a mode where if the movie doesn't contain 20 minutes of good fighting and about 5 minutes at the END (or 10 minutes of EXTREME FIGHTING, like Pedicab Driver), then I'm not impressed. Supercop didn't impress me, First Strike didn't impress me, Operation Condor didn't impress me, Rush Hour made me mad, and Shanghai Noon was good but not good enough. This, however, was impressive. A good 40 minutes of the film is martial arts, which is REALLY GOOD for a movie made after 1990. They tend to get down to like 12 or 10 nowadays. What made me a little tiny bit angry was that Anita Mui got to fight for a little bit while I thought Ti Lung should have been doing it. The guy looks great when he's moving and it shows when he fights Leung for a minute and even has an encounter with Jackie, his son, who is drunk.
Jackie gets lots of screen time in fights. The first one is against Leung UNDER A TRAIN. It's a weapons fight, Jackie with a sword and Leung with a spear. It's utterly amazing. At one point there is a single cut that must have made Jackie sweat like a dog moving the way he was. After that they fight under waht looks like a dock with the same weapons, again pretty good looking but not nearly as amazing as the fight under the train. Imagine, underneath a train. There is a clearance of MAYBE 3 feet, and they roll around and perform awesome stunts with that kind of space. Next the two fight in a tent area where there's a bunch of hay, and they do hung gar I think (???). I dunno, it looks good whatever it is. A short fight, and then Wong shows Leung some Drunken Boxing stances, but Leung plays it smart and says, "Wait until you're sober" and turns around. It's actually pretty funny. Jackie goes back to the old days and attacks from behind, calling out various moves from different gods. Good stuff.
Jackie also does a brawl with 5 friends of the British outside the Po Chi Lam gymnasium (his father's gym). It's really neat how his mother (Mui) tries to get the villagers to think that Jackie is acting. The reason for this is that Wong couldn't do Drunken Boxing because his father wouldn't allow it. Apparently it's dangerous, and it's power isn't good enough. So, he acts, supposedly. There are a couple moves that were assisted by wires, but keep in mind that Jackie is 40 years old here and his back was always giving him problems. Seeing that the power wasn't good enough, his mother brings some alcohol and throws it to Jackie, who drinks himself stupid and then performs much differently. The moves are now TRULY drunken style. Jackie acts like an idiot, looks like an idiot, makes insane facial expressions and says useless crap, and it's great.
If you've heard of the famous axe fight, it's from this movie. Jackie and Leung take on some 300 members of the axe gang, who all carry a small hatchet. The action here is famous because Jackie choreographed it to make it all look as though EVERY gangster was trying to get at him, but he was just too good. There aren't many times when you see anyone near Jackie not attacking. Same for Leung. Both perform awesomely well. There's a point where about 20 people are climbing up the stairs to get to Leung, so he just smashes the top of the staircase and down it goes. Great stunt. Jackie also shows us what he can do with a bamboo pole, and it's quite a bit.
Jackie fights Ken Lo at the end. I had never heard of this guy until I saw this movie, and I was a fan instantly. He uses his legs like they're hands, repeatedly, and does one kick where he spins twice to wind up and finishes with an axe style drop onto a table, breaking it in two. He does another kick that I never even thought of where he intends to do a jumping reverse roundhouse WITH A BENT KNEE, which is blocked, and he returns to his original position! He must have had his foot 6 feet in the air, WITH A BENT KNEE! Maybe you can't imagine this, so I'll post a clip soon. Kenneth is also pretty talented with his hands too and looks good doing some small time boxing with Jackie at one point. But we can't forget the highlight stunt of the film. Jackie is kicked onto burning coals, on his back, and he climbs out, on his back, with his hands inside his raggedy shirt. I imagine that Jackie didn't even practice for this stunt.
I don't want to spoil the ending (no that's not the end, this fight must be 25 minutes long including the small brawl before it with an American guy with a chain and then the factory workers), but let's just say that Jackie puts on a phenomenal showcase of Drunken Style that is so unmatched today it's funny. I honestly thought that, when I first saw this, that Jackie had made the style himself because he looked so good in it. It just develops with the story, and that's how a martial arts movie should be.
Keep in mind that these are not the only fights. There's one in the middle where Jackie uses (I think, again) Hung Gar against Tsan Li (?) boxing, and it's pretty good looking.
Thanks to Jackie and Leung directing, and Ken Lo's kicks, and the great acting on behalf of all the characters, this movie deserves a:
Rating: 10/10
Return to the home page