Drunken Tai Chi

One of donnie yens first. It is pretty funny, the obligatory training sequence is well done and the fight scenes are pretty decent. Its one of the last of the Shaw Brothers style films. No wire work and the like.

If you really need a reason to see this film check out the practice scene, set to 'Love is the drug' by Roxy music. Very funny.

First off let me say that most people that give reviews don't know what they are talking about. This movie is Donnie's first and is a very good one. He definitely did better on his first than Jackie Chan (Young Tiger) and Jet Li (Shaolin Temple). This movie is not about drunken tai chi, it's about a drunk teaching a young man tai chi. That's the difference when you get original titles vs American titles. Yen's action is remarkable as well as his acting skills, and the fact that the Yuen family backs him up more than proves his credit in the movie business is A+++.

In this movie you can't help but to feel sorry for Yen as he tries to make his brother feel just as special as he is vs his rotten greedy father. Only to wind up losing them both is when the heart break shows up, but back to the review Donnie more than proves that he is the man for the job once he gets his hands on the Killer Bird. If you want some good ole Asian action, then try this movie out. There are a lot of critics out there but let's see if they can recall America ever coming out with action this good.

All of movie fans know that there are few movies every year (or maybe every decade) that you can watch more that one time. but i think it's one of them.

this is the first movie that Donnie yen has played a major role. I am a huge fan of Donnie's and have seen almost all his movies. I can say that this is one of his bests.

The plot is a simple yet functional and interesting one. action scenes are really good and well choreographed. and comedy is also good. it's very difficult to use comedy that can make people with different cultures laugh. but this movie does it. I really laughed at many scenes.

If you are an action fan, martial arts fan, Donnie yen fan or even comedy, never miss this movie.

I give it 10 out of 10 because it's one of the best movies I've seen.

To Scott...

Yes, hard to believe Tai Chi can be a fighting system. Yes, it is. The problem with that is the image of Tai Chi that Americans or most people in the world is of the "soft", slow movements that are practiced in parks by elderly persons. Movements can be just a general term to describe a technique or a series of techniques in the martial arts. Basically in all martial arts, there are movements, whether they are an attack or a defense that can either be soft or hard in nature; Tai Chi is no different. Because of the health benefits of Tai Chi, instructors normally teach those movements. The hard movements, or shall I say the techniques that you would relate to the more "harder" styles of Kung Fu/Wushu are taught by emigrate Chinese instructors or instructors who have studied with such instructors or have trained in China. I guess it just comes to persons like you or die-hard martial arts enthusiasts who are interested in that aspect of Tai Chi.

Donnie Yen's first movie with Yuen Wo Ping. RE: similarities between this film and DRUNKEN MASTER -- there is so much crossover between their casts and crews, and HK filmmaking in general was so homogenous at the time, I find any similarities not only forgivable, but forgettable.

Donnie wasn't much of an actor at the time, but his performance is bolstered by a supporting cast which includes two of Yuen Wo Ping's brothers: Sunny Yuen as the villain, Killer Bird, and Yuen Cheung Yan as the Master. I have a lot of affection for both actors. You might remember Yuen Cheung Yan as Jet Li's mentor in TAI CHI MASTER, or as police Captain Jie in FIST OF LEGEND. Sunny Yuen played a similar villain in DREADNAUGHT opposite Yuen Biao, the brave-but-bumbling Chief Fox in IRON MONKEY, the protagonist Shang in BUDDHIST FIST... and if you look closely you'll notice him getting clobbered by Hwang Jang Lee in the opening battle of DRUNKEN MASTER.

Anything Donnie lacked in the acting department was more than made up for by his martial arts skills. DRUNKEN TAI CHI is an enjoyable first look at a promising new action star.