100 films: Jui kuen II
 

http://www.chinkel.com/Pages/produit.../drunken21.jpg
IMDB link

starring: Jackie Chan, Lung Ti, Anita Mui, Felix Wong, and Chia-Liang Liu
written by: Edward Tang & Man-Ming Tong & Kai-Chi Yun
directed by: Chia-Liang Liu
R, 99 min, 1994, Hong Kong

Released in the US under the title Legend of the Drunken Master (i.e. Drunken Master 2), Jui kuen II is the sequel to Jui kuen (1978), the film that made Jackie Chan a star. Chan plays Wong Fei-hung, a master in the discipline of drunken boxing, a form of karate that uses alcohol to losen the body and raise the pain threshold. When the British ambassador begins to steal priceless artifacts, Fei-hung is pressed into duty against his father's wishes.

The copy I saw was unfortunately dubbed, with Chan doing his own voice, but other than that annoyance there's little to dislike. There's a substantial amount of wide-angle lenses used in close quartered fight scenes, but that's probably a technical cheat more than an artistic choice. This is clearly Jackie Chan at the peak of his fight choreography, but what makes the film really stand out is the attention to characters and narrative themes that films of this genre usually lack. At the same time though, the storylines wisely never get in the way of the fighting, but manage to walk that fine line between supplimenting without distracting.

As you'd expect from a kung-fu film, there is the requisite army of bad guys that attack one at a time and elaborate fights that occur for what seems to be no good reason, but the fight choreography is stunning and Chan turns in one of his best performances, especially when fighting drunk. The tension between father and son is well done, and the film continues in the Chan tradition of using humor to suppliment the fighting.

Re: 100 films: Jui kuen II
 

One of the best movies of all time.

That kicking guy was awesome.

Re: 100 films: Jui kuen II
 

Nice review.

This is now on my 'must see' list, about 150th unfortunately - I'm not kidding.

Re: 100 films: Jui kuen II
 

[ QUOTE ]
Nice review.

This is now on my 'must see' list, about 150th unfortunately - I'm not kidding.

[/ QUOTE ]

i know the feeling, my netflix queue is sitting at 330

Re: 100 films: Jui kuen II
 

[ QUOTE ]
drunken boxing, a form of karate

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL !!!

Re: 100 films: Jui kuen II
 

I liked the first one much, much better. I've seen it at least 8 times and wouldn't mind seeing it again right now. The second one, I saw once and that was enough.

Re: 100 films: Jui kuen II
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
drunken boxing, a form of karate

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL !!!

[/ QUOTE ]

isn't it? i know nothing about the martial arts, but it seemed like it was in the same general area.

Re: 100 films: Jui kuen II
 

Karate is a form of martial arts derived from kung fu brought back to Okinawa from China. It eventually came into prominence at the beginning of this century when Gichin Funakoshi, an Okinawan master, brought it to Japan, and is now thought of by many as a Japanese art. Kara and te are the Japanese words for empty and hand.

Drunken boxing is a type of kung fu, developed in China. Saying drunken boxing is a style of karate is like saying that you are your brother's father.

Re: 100 films: Jui kuen II
 

and i almost wrote kung fu in that line.

thanks, i always get that all confused.

Re: 100 films: Jui kuen II
 

[ QUOTE ]
Karate is a form of martial arts derived from kung fu brought back to Okinawa from China. It eventually came into prominence at the beginning of this century when Gichin Funakoshi, an Okinawan master, brought it to Japan, and is now thought of by many as a Japanese art. Kara and te are the Japanese words for empty and hand.

Drunken boxing is a type of kung fu, developed in China. Saying drunken boxing is a style of karate is like saying that you are your brother's father.


[/ QUOTE ]

Six of one, half dozen of another. Come on Bruce Lee, you know what he meant [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Swede