Zhui ma lao

When I discovered that Liu Chia Liang did again a movie a few years ago, as a big fan of many of his movies, I was glad...

Unfortunately, this is a melting-pot which is on my opinion (even I had pleasure to see it), a rather very weak one.

Even with my greatest respect to LCL, not very excellent, even not very good nor funny !

Basically traditional Kung Fu and/or comedy, I can appreciate...

An LCL did so fantastic ones, that frankly I'm disappointed...

It's not because the weakness of the plot (almost never mind that, it's alike in many KF stories)...

In the beginning, the movie looks like a dark "cowboy KF movie." OK... hum... why not ?

The first fighting scene between LCL and his son Gordon Liu, as usual in LCL movies is... just perfect ! Fast, imaginative, concise, a good short fight sequence. Super, OK.

A little further, with the next scenes, suddenly I wondered if I had not a strange Alice in Wonderland copy ! Did they make a surprising mistake ? Like if they had burned a part of a complete different film together after the first sequence ?!

It looked to me like if I was in a complete other movie... So I checked out, and no, it seems the movie was a whole one... Incredible !!!

To put it down bluntly, it follows with a stupid comedy part... and then some fighting again... Wow ! What incoherent parts put together...

And so it went on... Some parts are good... and some belong to the low silly comedy.

Still with my respect to LCL, I like him a lot, and Gordon Liu too, but unfortunately, this strange mixture is a big mess...

In fact the only goods things in this movie are their faces and the fights.

Fights like LCL used us, very creative, even if he, LCL, for instance, survives to everything, to remain in the story... (that doesn't bother me!)

But the rest in just a bag of no interest...

Mr Yaguy Tajima's comment put perfectly the finger on the holes of that Drunken Monkey 2002. I agree completely with what he wrote, and advise you to read it (dated 29 November 2005).

But, as I said, I had pleasure to see again LCL and Gordon Liu together, but true, for KF buffs only, and even not sure...

If you like the classical type, like me, please search for Return of the Master Killer (LCL 1980, KF comedy type), or one of my obviously preferred Shaolin Master Killer LCL 1978, more deep.

Not knowing these two, if you liked Drunken Monkey 2002, you just will be enchanted of an incomparable higher level... those two, among many others, show what LCL is able to...

I beg you, Mr LCL, please offer us another one, but not a silly one !!!

Well, let's hope...

8 to 9*** for the fights, say 4 or 5*** for the rest ... 6*** all in all... and definitively not more !

Set in the 1930's, the movie is about the head of a delivery guard service who faces the challenges of survival in more "modern" times in Canton, China. Man Bill (Man Biao?), a master at Monkeyfist kung fu, confronts Man Pao, a relative about his lifestyle and different vision for the company.

A young heir and his great uncle, a family betrayal, a government agent, drugs and foreign influence are all interwoven into the plot filled with old fashioned kung fu action and humor.

I wanted to watch this movie because of the director, Lar Kar Leung a.k.a. Liu Chia Liang, whose film credits include: "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin", Chen Kuan Tai's "Executioners from Shaolin" Jet Li's "Martial Arts of Shaolin" and Jackie Chan's "Legend of the Drunken Master". I enjoyed the movie.

Although this gets some heat for being sort of bland at times, it is still great to see Lar Kar Leung show us even as he ages he can still move around like he did 20 years ago.

Although the comedy will sometimes fall flat on its face, the action alone makes the film worth seeing. Wu Jing should be getting more roles after last years Sha Po Lang, and his skills do not disappoint here either. It's great to see Kuan Chun Chi as the villain. I remember him from Eagles Claw (Tai Seng released this and is also a fun kung fu film), and even thirty years later the man is still ripped!

It isn't 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, but Drunken Monkey is an entertaining film, but not up to the standards of Lau Kar's earlier Shaw Bros works.

After looking at the 5.9 average rating for this movie I gave it a try. Good grief! After ten minutes, I told myself I'll give it another ten minutes or so. I couldn't take it after around 25 minutes. Believe me when I say I love movies and I like all sorts. I don't watch TV - I only watch movies on DVD. There have been very few movies that I simply could not justify wasting my time watching the rest of it. As a matter of fact, I couldn't name one now if you asked me. I admit that by not finishing the movie, I don't have much of a leg to stand on. But I wanted to warn those after me to not waste their time. The acting and story is simply horrible. At first I thought it might be a comedy - they were exaggerating the acting on purpose. My conclusion was that they were serious and that was when I took the DVD out.

Chia-Liang Liu is still under appreciated unfortunately. This movie has great action, great humor, great plot and a great cast. What's wrong with this picture then(pun intended)? Many don't appreciate the old style Kung Fu movie meld of comedy and serious action. The most sterling example of this is Chia-Liang Liu's own Mad Monkey Kung Fu a tear jerker with comedy and action that makes it a classic. Here in Drunken Monkey he offers up not a sequel but a movie in the same vein if not as much a tear jerker. The cast including Jacky Wu's acting is good and at no moment in this movie are you left with time to wonder different as it's paced well. I think many have issues with the comedy aspect, maybe if you are not of fan of classic Kung Fu movies I can see. But that means the likes of Fu Sheng, Gordon Liu , Sammo and many others are not for you. As many of their best movies have strong comedic elements and let's face if life was serious all the time everyone would be depressed. Even the sets and backgrounds were excellent and I found it to be a worthy last movie for one of the best Martial Arts directors and action choreographers in the industry. Farewell Chia-Liang Liu you will be missed!