Dunken Master 1 & 2

[benwfelt]

I recently watched both Drunken Master (1978) and Drunken Master 2
(1994) both starring Jackie Chan. If you haven't seen these, I highly
recommend that you do. They are easily in my top ten favorite kung fu
movies. As far as kung fu comedy goes, they're probably the best out
there.

I was surprised by the quality of the 1978 movie. Yuen Woo-ping did a
pretty kick-A job. So many kung fu movies are just fights scenes with
very little plot but in this movie, I can't think of a single scene
that I'd trim. One scene that I thought was worthless at first (Jackie
randomly beats a theif nearly to death) ended up being critical to the
movie. The nearly dead guys dad is powerful, seeks revenge, and
eventually hires a notorious killer to eliminate Jackie's dad. Besides
a well-implemented plot, Yuen Woo-ping is a madman when it comes to
choreography. He and Jackie together were incredible. It's no wonder
there've been about 1000 copycat films. The other genious thing Yuen
Woo-ping did was cast his real-life dad as Beggar Su. Su steals the
show in every scene he's in. He's freaking hilarious. It's completely
obvious when he's using a double but I could care less.

In the 1978 film, Jackie's character has quite a profound change in
character-- the turning point is when Jackie gets his arogant behind
handed to him by the villain "Thunder Leg" who then forces Jackie to
crawl through his legs or die. In the second movie, Jackie is still a
bit cheeky but quite a bit more sober (literally and figuratively).
The plot of the 1994 film revolves around the confilct between the
need for Jackie's crazy drunken boxing skills and his reluctance to
use them for fear of becoming a raging useless drunk.

Jackie is just as funny in both movies and where you had Beggar Su in
the first film, you have Jackie's step-mom in the second film, played
by Anita Mui. Mui was so good I plan on watching a bunch of her other
films soon. I liked the casting for Jackie's dad better in the second
movie. I don't know why-- the character isn't that different.

The fight scenes are possibly better in the second movie-- only
because the final fight is crazy good. Four words-- industrial
strength Drunken Boxing. The first film has a lot of training
sequences and the second film basically left training out completely.
I suppose they figured you got all that the first time around but if
you watch the 1994 film on it's own, you kinda miss how Jackie got his
legendary skills-- you just have to happily accept that he rocks. Not
a major criticism but maybe a flashback wouldn't have hurt. They
couldn't added a dose of Beggar Su that way too.

OK. Here comes one complaint...

The villains in Drunken Master 2 are pretty stereotypical and well...
kinda sucked. I liked Thunder Leg and Bamboo Master better. Besides
lacking awesome names, the villains had very little character
development and lame lines. Oh, and there are about 10 too many of
them. At one point there was this huge muscle man thrown in there
randomly like you'd meet a boss in a video game. Totally random.


Over all, I think these films are equally great. The 1994 film is
funnier and has a better end scene. I really liked Anita Mui and I
think Jackie had become even better at physical comedy. The 1978 film
was better directed, had better character development, better
villains, and Beggar Su who is totally unforgettable.

And that's all I have to say about that.

~Ben

[JiggaJonVilla]

You're right about the last 30 min or so drunken master 2 seeming like
a videogame. It went from minions, to miniboss 1, to minboss 2, to
final boss, game over. Although the boss characters themselves were
kinda wooden and uninteresting, you can't deny how physically
impressive their movements were. You might be interested to know that
the "Final boss" (Ken Lo) of DM2 was actually one of Jackie Chan's
bodyguards. The story goes that Jackie Chan was aware that he had
skill and told him that if he could execute a certain kick stretch
where you hold a high side kick in the air while maintaining
unwaivering balance, he could be in his movie. He did, and you
actually did see that stretch in the movie (completely unaided by
wires). Ken Lo has since been a prominent member of Jackie Chan's
stunt team. If you remember Rush Hour, someone kicks Chris Tucker in
the face and Tucker asks, "Which one of y'all kicked me?" Ken Lo
responded "I did."

Anita Mui succumbed to cancer at the age of 40. She was a popular pop
singer before she gave up her musical career to act. She has starred
in many HK movies (action, comedy, romance). Her final role would
have been as the rebel leader Nia in Zhang Yimou's House of Flying
Daggers, but had to hand the role to a relative unknown due to health
problems. It was a sad day for any HK flick enthusiast, but she was
able to put a great catalogue behind her before she passed. If you
should come across Heroic Trio, Rumble in the Bronx, Mr. Canton & Lady
Rose, or any other of her movies, you should check them out.