Jackie Chan.
These two words make up the name of one of the most famous stunt-men currently
known in North America, save Ray Park. Chan is known for his leading man roles
in many action movies. Most of these movies rely on slapstick antics and his
self-deprecating sense of humour, not to mention Chan's exceptional skills as
both a stunt man and a martial-artist.
This movie is different.
To begin, while there is slapstick, it's put to a minimal. And while there are
stunts, even these aren't all that many. No, if you see this movie you're not
seeing it for the stunts as with most Jackie Chan flicks, but rather for the action.
That's right, Legend of Drunken Master is a kung-fu action movie, and it's fight
sequences are phenomenal. Fast-paced and fun to watch. And above all, they're
peppered throughout the entire movie. Unlike Romeo Must Die, which was great
the first time through but afterwards the story scenes grow tiresome. Legend
of Drunken Master, however, is quite different. While the fights in Romeo were
few and far between, the action in Drunken Master is consistent. Not ten minutes
of story goes by before the viewer is subject to another sweet martial arts
or comedy sequence (and believe me, the comedy in this movie is quite funny).
It fails to let the story drag it down.
Speaking of story, it's just as with most other action movies: Nothing to write
home about, but it serves its purpose.
Basically, we have some big Westerners who are trying to obtain sacred treasures
of the city in which Chan's character lives. It involves a smuggling operation
and a few other things which I can't remember at this time (as I write this it's
been a good month since I saw the movie... what can I say? I procrastinate). But, as
I've already mentioned, the story isn't what's important to the movie except to
tie one action scene to the next.
And, as I've said before, the action scenes are amazing. Spectacularly fast and
amazing fun to watch. Funny as well, such as when Chan first gets drunk and begins
to fight a bunch of baddies, he goes into different stances and names each of them.
This may not sound funny, but it is.
Just so you know, the premise behind the drunken-fighting-style that Chan's character
practices states that the consumption of alcohol heightens one's fighting abilities,
but only so much can be consumed. It's easy, they say, for the fighter to go from a
phenomenal figher to a phenomenal drunk, hence the danger to those who practice it.
It makes for a loose, elastic fighting style, and one that's exceptionally amazing
to bear witness to.
With all this said, it's still only an action movie. Just a fun romp in the kung-fu
park. Can't fault it for that, but it's not a four- or five-star flick.
And even with that said, for a fun movie, I can't recommend this one enough.