DRUNKEN MASTER II (1994)
Time for a few sequels even if, in general, I'm not a huge fan of them. When it comes to Hong Kong movies the second chapters are usually a bit lacking, in terms of the pacing and the story-lines. That whole magic lighting in a bottle thing is tough to recapture. But the ones I'm looking at in this case do contain two of the greatest action finales of all time, which is why I always highly anticipate re-watching them. Maybe things will fall into place this time around, things that don't involve the last twenty minutes of stunt work? Maybe if I watch the real version, instead of 'The Legend of Drunken Master' in which all the music and sound effects are wrong, something will click? Let's see how these two entries in Jackie's early 1990s catalogue hold up.
In terms of the storyline Drunken Master II isn't exactly original. Straight away it revisits that whole stolen artefacts plot from Dragon Lord. It's obviously a period piece but that shouldn't mean it has to be stuck in the past. Wong Fei-Hung (Jackie Chan) is still getting up to no good and disappointing his father. Why Fei-Hung's father is so young, this time played by action veteran Ti Lung (just eight years older) is a mystery. Why his step-mother (Anita Mui) is much younger than them both is also pretty distracting. If so much of the running time is going to concern the lead acting like a child perhaps they should have cast actors closer to how they looked in the original movie? Which would have been a bigger concern if there was any continuity.
Beggar So and the kung-fu school are nowhere to be found, instead Fei-Hung's father is running a herbal medicine practice. Which is more in line with what audiences might expect from the Jet Li series featuring the same lead character. Was there some cross-over in terms of plot and setting to avoid viewer confusion? It's hard to say as there isn't too much information about this troubled production. The credits say Lau Kar-Leung directed this, but Jackie took over at some stage. Some elements, including a character played by Andy Lau, are totally forgotten after the first act. Elsewhere a story involving raising aid funds for victims of a drought come and go. The idea of drunken boxing itself is used more appropriately but the tone is often inconsistent.
Fei-Hung is told he shouldn't be drinking despite it solving his problems last time around. Perhaps this is also a result of the period this film was made in. Too much alcohol now results in life long problems instead of just being a way to have some wacky antics. The ending (deleted from overseas releases) takes the closing note of The Young Master to new extremes. In that earlier finale the consumption of opium from a pipe helped Jackie save the day, but led to cartoon style splints and bandages. Here the film seems more concerned with chastising Fei-Hung for giving in to the demon drink, leaving him blind and brain-damaged. It's still played for laughs but the darker connotations are made clear. You can't have too much fun when responsibility has be be shown.
The semi-dark comedy mixed with a lot of soapy over acting gives the whole story a strangely sombre tone. Drinking is no longer a 'secret style' and mishaps involving herbal remedies lead to a drawn out father versus son melodrama. All the stuff involving Anita Mui seems like part of a different film, again suggesting trouble behind the scenes, which means the mid-section really drags after a while. After causing a lot of trouble Fei-Hung gets completely drunk, turning into a pathetic wretch who can't even defend himself from bad guys in a tavern. The cheeky vibes from the first film are never imitated when they're probably the key ingredient that should have been kept. Perhaps it was impossible to replicate more than a decade later. But has the action evolved in the meantime?
Luckily the fight scenes in the third act are a whole new breed. Early in the story there are some fun stand-offs between Fei-Hung and a jealous merchant. There's a brief spear fight and a mugging turns into a drunken brawl. However, things really kick off in a tea house where the famous Axe Gang arrive to cause total chaos. In a perfect escalation of threats the conclusion leads our hero to a steel mill where the stolen artefacts are being hidden. He's literally dragged over hot coals in a series of bouts leading to the trade boss John (Ken Lo) who is of course a secret kicking master. There are hot bricks, flammable liquids, steel reinforcing bars, buckets of sand and moving rail cars. If ever there was a case of 'wowing them in the end' then this is it.
I'm not in love with the story as a whole but it's easy to see the appeal. If there was more focus on the factory itself perhaps things would work more smoothly. Maybe it should have been reworked into an original film instead of being sold as a sequel, after all there's basically zero connecting tissue. Things like the merchant and his girlfriend could have been a real part of the plot instead of being brought up early and then mostly left aside. There are several discussions of unfair trade practices and things like import duties that serve almost no overall purpose. The action is incredible but the pacing is ultimately lacking and it feels like more than one movie vying for attention. Which in a way it probably is. But in the end that industrial alcohol drinking dénouement makes up for a lot of these issues.
3/5
BONUS REVIEW
POLICE STORY 3 (1992)
Meanwhile here's another favourite that I've always been a bit lukewarm about. In this case I've never seen the 'Supercop' version and suffered with the old Deltamac release. How times have changed thanks to new boutique home video labels! So this is a perfect time to go back to another belated sequel, but why has it never clicked with me? Yes, Michelle Yeoh is excellent during sequences involving bikes and vans and exploding drug caches. Yes, Jackie is on fine form in gun battles and train set pieces. But as the action shifts between Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia, there's just something missing. Perhaps it's yet again a different director (this time Stanley Tong) and a lack of continuity, but Uncle Bill (Bill Tung) and May (Maggie Cheung) are back, so what's the problem?
Maybe it's me and not you. Or maybe it's just the overall tone. The first half of the story is very dry and lacks the kind of opening pyrotechnics that set the original apart from its competitors. The classic Michael Lai music is sorely missing, with all its rhythmic drums and keyboard tunes. Ka-Kui's superintendent has been replaced by Philip Chan from Hard Boiled, while JC Stun Team regular Mars is now playing a totally different character. Uncle Bill and long suffering girlfriend May seem like they're just going through the motions, and don't feel like they're part of the general undercover plot. Which is itself at odds with what had come before. Why is the bumbling Ka-Kui a 'super cop' when he got by on his luck and determination? Why is he the number one choice for this mission?
Putting aside concerns about whether this should also be a standalone feature instead of a sequel, this is still a good mixture of hair-raising stunts and brutal action. Even if the music being used sounds suspiciously similar to Batman from 1989. They started using synced dialogue recording but couldn't get a better score, what happened? Still, the plot contrivances and comedy mishaps lead to an explosive drug deal (borrowing heavily from Predator) and a helicopter sequence for the ages. A more consistent experience might be found in Yeoh's own Royal Warriors (or its sequels) but there's a lot of good stuff here. Despite it all looking and sounding slightly off for a sequel to the 1985 classic it works on its own terms when things finally get going.
3/5
