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Drunken Master
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Final Verdict: [Pretty Good]
Drunken Master
Martial Arts Action / Chinese / 1978
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Chicken, Eel, Duck, Sparrow, Pork, Goose, Shrimp... "Gruper"?
The first Drunken Master is unusual because it actually shares a lot more in common with Snake in the Eagle's Shadow than Drunken Master 2, mainly because it's largely the same cast in largely the same roles, only this time instead of learning Snake Fist, it's 8 Drunken Gods. The reason for the similarity can probably be attributed to shared director Yuen Woo-ping who worked on Snake in the Eagle's Shadow the same year prior.
I said previously that I think think Yuen Woo-ping is someone to keep watching given that he directed Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, Wing Chun, and was even fight choreographer for Fist of Legend, all of which I've given a 4 out of 5, and the trend holds true here.
Drunken Master has a SLAMMIN' 12 fight sequences, all of which are unique and quality fights (except for maybe the bald guy fight, that was kinda stupid) which make regular use of slapstick, weapons, and props. I daresay the movie is probably more fight that not and it's hard to complain when I've spent so long watching Jackie Chan try to force large quantities of drama into hour and a half movies.
I really can't complain, especially given the return of Beggar So who flawlessly kicks ass with the nearest prop on hand at any given time...
...at least until that one scene where he goes for a couple minutes without his booze and he starts getting the shakes and I begin to wonder whether he has a crippling addiction.
The movie's not without it's flaws, that's for sure, it's sadly not as cheesy as one would hope, and by that I am not counting instances of obviously cartoony moles, drawn freckles, and fake overbites.
There is one cheeky bit of cheese and it's when Jackie's trying to dry his pants over the fire and the Big Bad walks up and picks a fight with him, kicks his ass and then offers to give him his pants back before tossing them in the fire. Queue string section. I don't know what it is about Chan's movie's that have him always running away in tears, but that was the most dramatic and heart-wrenching death of a pair of pants I've ever seen.
There's also this one moment where I see Jackie Chan strung up to the ceiling in a compromising position and I begin to get the BDSM thoughts.
Despite not being anywhere near as annoying as the drunkard he plays in Drunken Master 2, Chan's character isn't especially likable in this one given his casual attempts to lie his way out of a restaurant bill only to then call someone else a swindler in another scene. ****in' hypocrite. He's also pretty sexist too because when it turns out the 8th Drunken God style he needs to master is a Goddess he bitches out not wanting to learn "sissy" stuff. Go **** yourself, Wong.
And that's how he turns tables on the Big Bad too, with a falsetto and hipchecks. >_>
Anyway, despite a wealth of complaints and a small zoo of animals that somehow still manages not to irk me as much as Drunken Master 2 did... and I'll even concede flat out that there are better fights in both Drunken Master 2 AND Snake in the Eagle's Shadow...
Drunken Master is jam-packed with martial arts goodness, it's varied, it's impressive, and it's creative enough to distract from it's occasional moments of self-mutilation, like when Jackie Chan farts in a guy's face and then drops him in poop.
Coulda done without that.
REWATCH UPDATE:
It's been over 2 years since last I saw Drunken Master and it's interesting to how my opinion hasn't changed much.
Again, I find it difficult to complain about a movie comprised almost entirely of Jackie Chan's trademark prop martial arts comedy, it deserves high ranks for that reason if for no other, but that's still not to say that doesn't still annoy in other ways, particularly Jackie's character being a blatant thief in one scene, pointing fingers and calling shame down on another person for scamming people in the next, and then ostensibly stealing again in another scene soon after.
His chauvinism is also tiring, when the 8th drunken god comprising the Drunken Master martial arts style is a woman, you'd think he wouldn't be so dismissive, especially when out of the 3 characters he loses a fight to in the whole movie is a woman and she's the only one who remains undefeated by the end.
I was amused to see that the same fight stuck out to me this time as it did before even though I had completely forgotten about it:
The guy who's fighting style consists of constantly attempting to headbutt his opponent was ****ing dumb, and they really made it into a cartoon with his huge eyebrows and the bumps they plaster onto his head to make it look like he failed to catch Roadrunner.
Something interesting that stood out to me is how the movie tries to explain that Jackie's torturous physical training isn't pointless; how you need to "learn how to fall". It's a total throwaway line you would think, but there's actually a lot of sense behind it. So much of the movie consists of Jackie Chan on the ground, usually rolling away, around, or through enemies when he doesn't immediately flip himself back up into a standing position or use the ground as a place to counterattack from. If he were a D&D character he'd basically have dumped all of his skill points into Tumbling.
Considering Drunken Master style frequently involves stumbling around or appearing fall over only to turn the tables on their opponent, it only makes sense that this be incorporated as an important skill to master, not to mention this isn't unique to Drunken Master but martial arts in general, the term "ukemi" (albeit a Japanese, not a Chinese term) is often used in video games to refer to a timing mechanic allowing you to quickly returned to standing position after being knocked down. This is often coupled with similar alternative solutions including the "Emergency Roll", indeed even across fighting games, learning how to fall is critical to maintaining the flow of combat and avoiding getting your face stomped in.
If there's one thing I want to draw more attention to this time it's the English dub, because so much of it consists of Chan's voice actor making whinging moans anytime he gets hurt and he's such a whiny bitch in the movie, there's no shortage to his wailing. The falsetto he puts on during the final battle because he copped out and never learned the 8th Drunken Master stance in a lame attempt to imitate a woman is quite simply balls. It is objectively balls. And it spoils an otherwise solid end to a largely plotless movie.
By the way this movie has a plot.
The first Drunken Master is unusual because it actually shares a lot more in common with Snake in the Eagle's Shadow than Drunken Master 2, mainly because it's largely the same cast in largely the same roles, only this time instead of learning Snake Fist, it's 8 Drunken Gods. The reason for the similarity can probably be attributed to shared director Yuen Woo-ping who worked on Snake in the Eagle's Shadow the same year prior.
I said previously that I think think Yuen Woo-ping is someone to keep watching given that he directed Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, Wing Chun, and was even fight choreographer for Fist of Legend, all of which I've given a 4 out of 5, and the trend holds true here.
Drunken Master has a SLAMMIN' 12 fight sequences, all of which are unique and quality fights (except for maybe the bald guy fight, that was kinda stupid) which make regular use of slapstick, weapons, and props. I daresay the movie is probably more fight that not and it's hard to complain when I've spent so long watching Jackie Chan try to force large quantities of drama into hour and a half movies.
I really can't complain, especially given the return of Beggar So who flawlessly kicks ass with the nearest prop on hand at any given time...
...at least until that one scene where he goes for a couple minutes without his booze and he starts getting the shakes and I begin to wonder whether he has a crippling addiction.
The movie's not without it's flaws, that's for sure, it's sadly not as cheesy as one would hope, and by that I am not counting instances of obviously cartoony moles, drawn freckles, and fake overbites.
There's also this one moment where I see Jackie Chan strung up to the ceiling in a compromising position and I begin to get the BDSM thoughts.
Despite not being anywhere near as annoying as the drunkard he plays in Drunken Master 2, Chan's character isn't especially likable in this one given his casual attempts to lie his way out of a restaurant bill only to then call someone else a swindler in another scene. ****in' hypocrite. He's also pretty sexist too because when it turns out the 8th Drunken God style he needs to master is a Goddess he bitches out not wanting to learn "sissy" stuff. Go **** yourself, Wong.
And that's how he turns tables on the Big Bad too, with a falsetto and hipchecks. >_>
Anyway, despite a wealth of complaints and a small zoo of animals that somehow still manages not to irk me as much as Drunken Master 2 did... and I'll even concede flat out that there are better fights in both Drunken Master 2 AND Snake in the Eagle's Shadow...
Drunken Master is jam-packed with martial arts goodness, it's varied, it's impressive, and it's creative enough to distract from it's occasional moments of self-mutilation, like when Jackie Chan farts in a guy's face and then drops him in poop.
REWATCH UPDATE:
It's been over 2 years since last I saw Drunken Master and it's interesting to how my opinion hasn't changed much.
Again, I find it difficult to complain about a movie comprised almost entirely of Jackie Chan's trademark prop martial arts comedy, it deserves high ranks for that reason if for no other, but that's still not to say that doesn't still annoy in other ways, particularly Jackie's character being a blatant thief in one scene, pointing fingers and calling shame down on another person for scamming people in the next, and then ostensibly stealing again in another scene soon after.
His chauvinism is also tiring, when the 8th drunken god comprising the Drunken Master martial arts style is a woman, you'd think he wouldn't be so dismissive, especially when out of the 3 characters he loses a fight to in the whole movie is a woman and she's the only one who remains undefeated by the end.
I was amused to see that the same fight stuck out to me this time as it did before even though I had completely forgotten about it:
(except for maybe the bald guy fight, that was kinda stupid)
Something interesting that stood out to me is how the movie tries to explain that Jackie's torturous physical training isn't pointless; how you need to "learn how to fall". It's a total throwaway line you would think, but there's actually a lot of sense behind it. So much of the movie consists of Jackie Chan on the ground, usually rolling away, around, or through enemies when he doesn't immediately flip himself back up into a standing position or use the ground as a place to counterattack from. If he were a D&D character he'd basically have dumped all of his skill points into Tumbling.
Considering Drunken Master style frequently involves stumbling around or appearing fall over only to turn the tables on their opponent, it only makes sense that this be incorporated as an important skill to master, not to mention this isn't unique to Drunken Master but martial arts in general, the term "ukemi" (albeit a Japanese, not a Chinese term) is often used in video games to refer to a timing mechanic allowing you to quickly returned to standing position after being knocked down. This is often coupled with similar alternative solutions including the "Emergency Roll", indeed even across fighting games, learning how to fall is critical to maintaining the flow of combat and avoiding getting your face stomped in.
If there's one thing I want to draw more attention to this time it's the English dub, because so much of it consists of Chan's voice actor making whinging moans anytime he gets hurt and he's such a whiny bitch in the movie, there's no shortage to his wailing. The falsetto he puts on during the final battle because he copped out and never learned the 8th Drunken Master stance in a lame attempt to imitate a woman is quite simply balls. It is objectively balls. And it spoils an otherwise solid end to a largely plotless movie.
By the way this movie has a plot.