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Drunken Master II (1994)

© Jonathan L. Bowen

Drunken Master II once again stars Jackie Chan as the legendary Wong Fei Hung, a renowned martial artist who lived around the turn of the nineteenth century. In Drunken Master II, Wong Fei Hung hides his father's Ginseng medicine in the luggage of a wealthy man to avoid paying duties on it, but he is unable to recover it later, which causes numerous problems between him and his father. Fei Hung's father has repeatedly told him not to practice Drunken Boxing, primarily because it requires alcohol, meaning there is a fine line between an efficient drunken boxer and an alcoholic.

Drunken Boxing is a martial art form that requires its users to give the appearance of being extremely drunk, and in many cases they really are drunk. Masters of the art are able to give the appearance of being unable to fight because of how loose and weak they appear, but opponents quickly learn that appearances can be deceiving. Fei Hung is an excellent drunken boxer, just as he is capable of using most other, major martial arts forms. Ultimately, he must harness his powers as a drunken boxer to help stop the European and world powers from stealing precious artifacts that are vital to the cultural identify of the country.

Most fans of Hong Kong action consider Drunken Master II one of the greatest movies in the genre. True to its reputation, Drunken Master II is easily Jackie Chan's most impressive and enjoyable film. Among martial arts movies, only Jet Li's first two Once Upon A Time in China movies surpass the quality of Jackie Chan's own depiction of the legendary Wong Fei Hung. Drunken Master II boasts a strong story that is partially based on historical facts, but because nobody knows many details about Fei Hung's life, the filmmakers took many liberties. The movie's impressive musical score complements its well-developed story.

In addition to boasting a strong story, Drunken Master II is more humorous than many of Chan's other films. The physical comedy works especially well because of the nature of Drunken Boxing. Chan is fantastic as Fei Hung, even though he was forty years old in the second installment. The movie's humor shines through even in the English release, which is known as The Legend of Drunken Master (2000). The dubbing of the English version is very good, although it is not anywhere near perfect.

Most of the fighting in Drunken Master II is unarmed combat, which works very well for Chan's style of humorous fighting. He performs absolutely amazing stunts during combat, especially in the final fight sequence, which required nearly four months of filming. Chan also uses surrounding objects to escape dangerous situations, in which he often finds himself involved. For instance, he uses a large bamboo pole to distance himself from seemingly hundreds of attackers in a restaurant. The movie contains an excellent combination of humor, fighting, and character development.

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