Drunken Tai Chi, while directed by the same director from Drunken Master (awesome Jackie Chan movie), is in an entirely different category of kung fu movies than that of Drunken Master. The movie bears a strong resemblence to that of another titled "Drunken" movie called Drunken Wu Tang. In that movie, the use of wires was at it's greatest, very similar to the amount of wires used in Drunken Tai Chi. Another similarity is the fact that the "uncle" in Drunken Tai Chi, was a character named "Rat Face" in Drunken Wu Tang. And, if you look into his face, I think you can see the resemblence of why he's called "Rat Face."
Ever since I watched a Bruce Lee interview where he denounced the recent (of his time) kung fu craze of unreal fighting (the use of wires, mainly), I have been against the use of wires in kung fu movies myself. I used to think that they were ok, and sometimes pretty cool, but now I see they take away from the elegance of true kung fu. In this movie, wire use was rampant. A couple of scenes worked, while many others didn't. I really thought the scene where the fat woman crossed he bridge and juggled the two packages on wires was unnecessary and not effective. Many other times when someone was hit, and was pulled back by a wire was also very poorly done. I don't know whose idea it was in the first place to incorporate wire use into kung fu, but whoever it was, they took a delicate part of kung fu out of kung fu, and that is realism.
I actually liked the use of tai chi in this movie, however I have one comment... I didn't know that tai chi was an aggressive style. I always thought of tai chi simply as movements, not attacks. But, by the way the movie ran, the rat face looking guy covered his tracks pretty well, claiming that the "soft" of tai chi countered the "hard" of other attacks. This is where the yin and yang of China first came into play in my life... rather, where it was first effectively explained and used.
The plot was awfully unoriginal, although I did like the making of the bad guy a good dad. I actually felt torn if I was in the bad guy's place after Cheng safely brought back his son, since the bad guy was paid to kill Cheng, yet Cheng had just saved his son.
Weaknesses: A man fighting in a woman's dress and wig weakly portrays the fat woman in all her fighting scenes. Wires. Mimes. Puppets. Bad makeup bumps.
**Final Judgement** Lay off the wires!!
-Scott-
