Drunken Master Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Drunken Master
Year: 1978
Director: Yuen Woo-Ping
Country: Hong Kong
Language: Cantonese

Born April 7, 1954 Jackie Chan is one of the most prolific actor/director/producers from Hong Kong. Trained in Kung Fu and Wing Chun, he is known for his comical fighting style which is closely associated to slapstick comedy. Chan's first major breakthrough was called Snake in the Eagle's Shadow.  It established the comedic kung fu genre. His second success, Drunken Master, catapulted the man to the mainstream. 

The father of Wong Fei-hong, has been attempting to teach his son (Jackie Chan)  kung-fu, but has found him too disobedient to teach and decides to send him off to his uncle, a cruel and torturous master of the Zui quan (drunken style)  kung-fu. After much suffering the son comes back to rescue the father from an assassin who has also previously humiliated him.

Almost every Jackie Chan flick is a blast to watch (not you, Rush Hour 3) but Drunken Master may be his greatest achievement, it's certainly my favorite. In this, Chan utilizes the art of Drunken style boxing quite gracefully. Even though he staggers and stumbles, like the typical drunkard, it is clear that Jackie has put plenty of thought into his movement and spent hundreds of hours perfecting his craft. He's at a constant high energy and his performance is memorable. 

Though Drunken Master considerably lacks in plot and logic, all is forgiven because each scene is guaranteed to make the audience laugh. Directed by legendary kung fu choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping, the film has a distinct rhythm to its nonsensical violence. In modern action films the editing is frantic and rapid which makes the fights look quite dull , whereas Woo-Ping's camera lingers on the actors allowing us to see the both the emotional turmoil of the characters involved and the amazing stuntwork of the actors. 

Jackie Chan's charm is undeniable, even when he has had too much to drink we still want to root for him to win the fight. While many attempted to be the next Bruce Lee, Jackie set out to be very different and was successful in doing so. Critics may consider Drunken Master to be "mindless" , but does it matter when it's so fun to watch?