THE LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER

Made in 1994, THE LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER is another dubbed Jackie Chan movie whose name alone will sell tickets. Though the choreography of some of the fight scenes is extremely creative, the usual upbeat, comic tone has a few out-of-place tense family scenes that make the plot even more obscure.

Wong Fei-Hong is traveling with his father, a type of herbal doctor, and brother via railroad after purchasing some Ginseng in its root form. Since all travelers must pay taxes on their purchases, Fei-Hong decides to sneak his package in with some wealthy British travelers who don’t have to pay custom duties. The train stops, leaving Fei-Hong with the perfect opportunity to sneak into the upper-class car of the train to retrieve his package. To his surprise, a man stealing a similar package strikes him, and after he grabs what he thinks is his package, he runs after him. The two men fight, and though Fei-Hong is younger, the other man is quite good himself. They continue to fight until Fei-Hong hears the train whistle, and quickly runs on board.

Later, Fei-Hong realizes that he has the wrong package, and that he actually possesses a Jade Seal of the Emperor. Back on the train, a group of officers start trouble and accuse Fei-Hong of having the stolen piece. Fortunately, a man on the train who is also a member of the government stops the dispute. However, Fei-Hong’s troubles only continue once he arrives home and his father asks for the Ginseng. His stepmother, wanting to protect Fei-Hong, uses a root from a bonsai tree instead, to give to the patient who asked for it.

The group on the train has now followed Fei-Hong to his hometown and come after him. Fei-Hong fights them and begins using the “drunken boxing technique.” The idea is that with some alcohol in his system, the fighter has more adrenaline for strength and is more limber, also his pain tolerance is also increased. His stepmother throws him bottle after bottle of liquor when he is under attack, and he drinks them in-between punches. He wins the fight, but when his father sees how drunk he is, he takes him home and beats him. When his father finds out the root given to the ailing patient was actually from his prize bonsai, he disowns him. This later brings remorse to Fei-Hong, who vows not to participate in drunken boxing anymore and regains his father’s acceptance. However, when the British upper-class thieves begin taking cultural souvenirs, Fei-Hong must decide to let them get away with it, or defend his country.

THE LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER is another in a series of dubbed Jackie Chan movies that are actually spoofs of martial arts movies in general. Though the characters may seem a stretch from many stereotypical comic male and especially female roles, the comedy is more on the silly side, rather than a great script. However, this movie differed from others by Chan in that there were some scenes that were quite serious, if not intense, making the plot uneven in its flow.

Regrettably, this movie contains a high amount of martial arts violence, and though it is not highly graphic, it is highly imitative and full of implied injury. The depicted drinking was also done in a manner that was rough, often showing Chan gulping down the presumed alcohol at a rapid rate. Although his father rebukes his drunkenness, his character seems to merely learn to have the right balance of drunkenness for “drunken boxing” and is shown strengthened by the alcohol. This element, like the fighting, can be highly imitative, and parents should be extremely cautious about letting their children see DRUNKEN MASTER.