Jackie Chan was 39-years-old - about to turn 40 - when "The Legend of Drunken Master" (original title: "Drunken Master II") was released in February of 1994 in China. The mentioning of Chan's age at the time of the film's release is significant because while he was approaching a time in his life when he should have started thinking about writing, directing or producing feature films, he clearly showed no signs of stopping.
And that's a good thing.
In fact, it's a very good thing.
By 1994 when "The Legend of Drunken Master" was released (an English-dubbed version of the picture eventually saw a wide North American distribution in October of 2000), Chan had already starred in well over 40 films since the mid-1970s, and was the next major Chinese martial arts star following Bruce Lee's death in 1973. What Jackie Chan did to distinguish himself from Bruce Lee (and other martial arts stars of the era), was his trademark combination of martial arts, do-it-yourself fight choreography and elaborately-staged stunt-work (which Chan famously performed himself), and slapstick humor - which made him something akin to an Asian Buster Keaton or Fred Astaire.
Another interesting tidbit is the fact that by the mid-'90s, Chan was already pretty well-known to American audiences and was a household name - despite having not yet had a major hit in Hollywood. He had tried to make a name for himself in the United States with his first English-speaking leading role in an American film with "The Big Brawl" (1980), but he was unhappy with that film and a few others he did for Hollywood in the early '80s because U. S. filmmakers would not allow him to practice his unique blend of eclectic slap-happy martial arts and D-I-Y stunt-work due to fears that he was an insurance liability for the studios who didn't want to take a loss financially in the event he got seriously injured on one of their film productions. This caused him to retreat back to Hong Kong, where his popularity continued to soar. The international box office success of Stanley Tong's "Rumble in the Bronx" (1995) prompted renewed popular Hollywood interest in the work of Jackie Chan, and Hollywood producers sought him out for the action-comedy "Rush Hour" in 1998 (which paired him up with comedian Chris Tucker), which became a worldwide hit and Chan's first commercially successful American film and suddenly he was a global superstar as EVERYONE now knew who he was finally.
But let's go back to "The Legend of Drunken Master." Directed by the legendary late Chinese filmmaker Lau Kar-leung ("The 36th Chamber of Shaolin"), "The Legend of Drunken Master," a loose follow-up of sorts to Chan's earlier break-out film "Drunken Master" (1978), is routinely regarded as one of Chan's greatest films. (Yes, granted Chan has an exhaustive catalog of "great" movies that can be considered his best, but "The Legend of Drunken Master" is frequently cited as, arguably, the greatest film he's ever made, or at least one of the top-three greatest films he's ever made. After all, the praise surrounding this film's extensive fight scenes, stunts, and choreography have earned it a place on many lists as one of the greatest action movies of all time.)
Set in China in the early 20th century when the country was still under British colonial rule, Chan plays Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung, who is a master of the legendary Drunken Boxing style of Chinese gong-fu, and is so-called because its erratic, unpredictable movements are based on the fighter being, well, drunk, and the fighter's abilities may be enhanced if he or she is genuinely intoxicated. Hung's Father (Ti Lung) is a pacifist who encourages his son not to fight - out of concerns that Hung may not be able to control his drinking - and Hung tries his best to respect his wishes, but his dashing Stepmother (the late Anita Mui) often aids him in his schemes to try to do something good with skills.
When Hung inadvertently discovers that British officials (and their traitorous Chinese subordinates) are smuggling priceless Chinese artifacts out of the country - threatening to further erode Chinese national pride and culture during a time when both are at a nadir - he puts his fists and feet to work and become a hero to his people, one drink at a time.
As you can see, like a lot of martial arts movies, "The Legend of Drunken Master" doesn't have a plot that is terribly complex, but also like a lot of Chinese martial arts movies, it speaks still in a simplistic fashion of the need for the Chinese people to have pride in their country and history, and do their best to try to preserve it. Of course, the plot primarily serves as a "clothesline," in the words of the late film critic Roger Ebert (from his positive three-and-a-half star review of the film), for its numerous martial arts set-pieces, including an extended fight with Hung and former Manchu general Fu Wen-Chi (played by Kar-leung himself, who was also one of the film's fight choreographers along with Chan and his Jackie Chan Stunt Team) against the feared "Axe Gang" (Stephen Chow used them in his blockbuster 2004 action-comedy "Kung Fu Hustle") in a restaurant. But the film's most widely talked-about action sequence is the climatic two-on-one final battle between Hung and John (Andy Lau), a turncoat Chinese enforcer for the British consulate, and his right hand Henry (Ho-Sung Pak, of the first two entries in the "Mortal Kombat" video game franchise), in a steel factory - which reportedly took four months to film, with Chan himself citing that just one day on set only resulted in about three seconds of usable footage.
Such dedication to perfecting his action scenes and Chan's willingness to get wheeled out on a stretcher after a hard day's worth of filming is nothing short of commendable.
From all of this, you can now clearly see why "The Legend of Drunken Master" is regarded as one of the greatest action movies of all time, and why Jackie Chan has also earned his place as a globally recognized martial arts superstar.
Lastly, it's also worth noting that "The Legend of Drunken Master" was released the same year as the Gordon Chan-directed, Yuen Woo-ping-choreographed Jet Li epic "Fist of Legend" (1994), which is also regarded as a martial arts masterpiece, and its style and fight choreography were cited as major cinematic influences by The Wachowskis on "The Matrix" (1999).
9/10.
And that's a good thing.
In fact, it's a very good thing.
By 1994 when "The Legend of Drunken Master" was released (an English-dubbed version of the picture eventually saw a wide North American distribution in October of 2000), Chan had already starred in well over 40 films since the mid-1970s, and was the next major Chinese martial arts star following Bruce Lee's death in 1973. What Jackie Chan did to distinguish himself from Bruce Lee (and other martial arts stars of the era), was his trademark combination of martial arts, do-it-yourself fight choreography and elaborately-staged stunt-work (which Chan famously performed himself), and slapstick humor - which made him something akin to an Asian Buster Keaton or Fred Astaire.
Another interesting tidbit is the fact that by the mid-'90s, Chan was already pretty well-known to American audiences and was a household name - despite having not yet had a major hit in Hollywood. He had tried to make a name for himself in the United States with his first English-speaking leading role in an American film with "The Big Brawl" (1980), but he was unhappy with that film and a few others he did for Hollywood in the early '80s because U. S. filmmakers would not allow him to practice his unique blend of eclectic slap-happy martial arts and D-I-Y stunt-work due to fears that he was an insurance liability for the studios who didn't want to take a loss financially in the event he got seriously injured on one of their film productions. This caused him to retreat back to Hong Kong, where his popularity continued to soar. The international box office success of Stanley Tong's "Rumble in the Bronx" (1995) prompted renewed popular Hollywood interest in the work of Jackie Chan, and Hollywood producers sought him out for the action-comedy "Rush Hour" in 1998 (which paired him up with comedian Chris Tucker), which became a worldwide hit and Chan's first commercially successful American film and suddenly he was a global superstar as EVERYONE now knew who he was finally.
But let's go back to "The Legend of Drunken Master." Directed by the legendary late Chinese filmmaker Lau Kar-leung ("The 36th Chamber of Shaolin"), "The Legend of Drunken Master," a loose follow-up of sorts to Chan's earlier break-out film "Drunken Master" (1978), is routinely regarded as one of Chan's greatest films. (Yes, granted Chan has an exhaustive catalog of "great" movies that can be considered his best, but "The Legend of Drunken Master" is frequently cited as, arguably, the greatest film he's ever made, or at least one of the top-three greatest films he's ever made. After all, the praise surrounding this film's extensive fight scenes, stunts, and choreography have earned it a place on many lists as one of the greatest action movies of all time.)
Set in China in the early 20th century when the country was still under British colonial rule, Chan plays Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung, who is a master of the legendary Drunken Boxing style of Chinese gong-fu, and is so-called because its erratic, unpredictable movements are based on the fighter being, well, drunk, and the fighter's abilities may be enhanced if he or she is genuinely intoxicated. Hung's Father (Ti Lung) is a pacifist who encourages his son not to fight - out of concerns that Hung may not be able to control his drinking - and Hung tries his best to respect his wishes, but his dashing Stepmother (the late Anita Mui) often aids him in his schemes to try to do something good with skills.
When Hung inadvertently discovers that British officials (and their traitorous Chinese subordinates) are smuggling priceless Chinese artifacts out of the country - threatening to further erode Chinese national pride and culture during a time when both are at a nadir - he puts his fists and feet to work and become a hero to his people, one drink at a time.
As you can see, like a lot of martial arts movies, "The Legend of Drunken Master" doesn't have a plot that is terribly complex, but also like a lot of Chinese martial arts movies, it speaks still in a simplistic fashion of the need for the Chinese people to have pride in their country and history, and do their best to try to preserve it. Of course, the plot primarily serves as a "clothesline," in the words of the late film critic Roger Ebert (from his positive three-and-a-half star review of the film), for its numerous martial arts set-pieces, including an extended fight with Hung and former Manchu general Fu Wen-Chi (played by Kar-leung himself, who was also one of the film's fight choreographers along with Chan and his Jackie Chan Stunt Team) against the feared "Axe Gang" (Stephen Chow used them in his blockbuster 2004 action-comedy "Kung Fu Hustle") in a restaurant. But the film's most widely talked-about action sequence is the climatic two-on-one final battle between Hung and John (Andy Lau), a turncoat Chinese enforcer for the British consulate, and his right hand Henry (Ho-Sung Pak, of the first two entries in the "Mortal Kombat" video game franchise), in a steel factory - which reportedly took four months to film, with Chan himself citing that just one day on set only resulted in about three seconds of usable footage.
Such dedication to perfecting his action scenes and Chan's willingness to get wheeled out on a stretcher after a hard day's worth of filming is nothing short of commendable.
From all of this, you can now clearly see why "The Legend of Drunken Master" is regarded as one of the greatest action movies of all time, and why Jackie Chan has also earned his place as a globally recognized martial arts superstar.
Lastly, it's also worth noting that "The Legend of Drunken Master" was released the same year as the Gordon Chan-directed, Yuen Woo-ping-choreographed Jet Li epic "Fist of Legend" (1994), which is also regarded as a martial arts masterpiece, and its style and fight choreography were cited as major cinematic influences by The Wachowskis on "The Matrix" (1999).
9/10.