Jackie Chan is one of the most exciting stars to ever break out of Hong Kong on a global scale. Those who only know his American output such as Rush Hour or Shanghai Noon are missing out on decades of fantastically thrilling films from his homeland that solidified him as one of the most innovative performers ever to hit the silver screen. Before he would truly make a mark in America in Rumble In The Bronx, Chan would craft one of his most acclaimed action comedies with 1994’s Drunken Master II (alternatively known as The Legend of the Drunken Master upon its release in North America). The film marked Chan’s first return to traditional martial arts since the early eighties. The film was released in a slightly butchered form by Miramax in 2000, but this new Blu-Ray provides the original cut for fans to enjoy.
In all honesty, most will not come to this movie for the story, but there is nothing to complain about when it comes to the narrative. Even if you have not seen the original Drunken Master from 1978, there is nothing you cannot follow on this journey. The setting is 20th century China and Chan plays the young Wong Fei-hung, who at the beginning of the story is traveling home to Canton by train with his pacifist father Wong Kei-ying (Ti Lung) and servant Tso (Ram Chiang) after visiting the Northeast. It is on this train that he gets mixed up with Fu Wen-chi (Lau Kar-leung), a former member of the Chinese military who is carrying valuable artifacts. A misunderstanding leads to a fun and occasionally hilarious brawl in which Fei-hung is trying to protect his honor. While they leave each other on good terms, an unintended package mixup leaves Fei-hung with a priceless artifact that many parties are looking to retrieve.
The main crux of the film concerns Fei-hung’s desire to solve problems with combat, specifically the famed drunken boxing technique that especially does not sit well with his father. Even when successful, Kei-ying does not appreciate his son’s public drunkenness or displays of violence. Fei-hung wants to protect his father and stepmother, Ling (Anita Mui), from the encroaching forces, but he makes a vow to his father to give up this way of life. Luckily for the audience this does not last too long as the fight is brought to his doorstep. This film has some of the most intricately choreographed fight scenes that are given added weight due to Chan’s insistence on doing all of his own stunts. Over half of this film feels like it is providing the audiences with high-impact fight scenes including a destructive restaurant brawl and the final onslaught that ranks among the finest ever committed to film. This sequence took four months of intense shooting to complete, and every single moment feels like you are on a rollercoaster. Fight scenes do not get much better than when you have Jackie Chan in his prime.
One aspect of the film that may surprise you is how deeply funny it can be at times. Many of Chan’s older features had quite a bit of silly humor in them, but in this feature the humor is dialed in to almost the perfect level where you get plenty of laughs without being too over the top. A lot of this humor can be attributed to Anita Mui as Ling, who has impeccable comedic timing and a command of her physical comedy that the film handles with care. Her relationship with the more reserved Kei-ying leads to a lot of solid laughs. Even with Chan being the star of the story, there are plenty of moments for the talented ensemble to shine. It takes a very special movie like the John Wick franchise to deliver action that audiences completely flip over in modern times, but Jackie Chan used to do this kind of stuff year after year. Drunken Master II is one of the best examples of his dynamic brand of energy. If you have never sought out his work popularized outside of the United States, you owe it to yourself to check this classic out.
Video Quality
Drunken Master II comes to Blu-Ray thanks to Warner Archive with a brand new 1080p master from 4K scan of the original camera negative, which is technically accurate. Hardcore fans of the film may have previously imported the Blu-Ray that was released in Japan in 2018, and this release seems to be struck from the same 4K scan. What Warner Archive appears to have done is given this a new master that provides a slight improvement over the Japanese release thanks to a better encode on a BD-50 disc instead of a BD-25. Those who own both releases may find the differences minimal, but this new Warner Archive Blu-Ray is the best the film has looked on disc anywhere in the world.
This presentation is really quite beautiful from beginning to end, but just slightly less than the perfection we usually get from Warner Archive. Black levels are very deep with no trace of black crush or compression artifacts. The contrast is well defined, and there is no sign of print damage to be found. There is a stunning amount of detail present with nice textures on the clothing and within the production design. The new transfer shows off a great amount of depth and enhanced detail. The only flaw with this presentation is what appears to be a slight amount of noise reduction that renders some details looking a bit waxy in certain scenes. Warner Archive has done a nice job with this release, it just does not hold up as a 5-star effort.
Audio Quality
The Blu-Ray comes with three standout DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio tracks in the original Cantonese, a Mandarin dub and an English dub. All three offer up a great audio experience for this action-packed film. The first thing newcomers will have to get used to right away is that even the original Cantonese does not provide perfect audio-sync due to how the sound was recorded. This track shows no discernible age related wear and tear such as popping or hissing. Dialogue and background noises are represented in perfect harmony with all competing elements so that nothing gets lost in the mix. The visceral action sound effects are purposefully dialed up to hit a bit harder than would be natural. The music complements the competing various sounds quite well, but certain portions of the track can sound a little thin. There are numerous conflicts throughout the film that provide quite a bit of activity in the soundtrack with everything presenting quite well.
There are optional English (SDH) subtitles included for the feature film. The options for these are “dubtitles” as well as a set of literal-translation subtitles that were created for Hong Kong theatrical prints. The latter do present some occasionally perplexing grammatical errors, so it would have been nice if Warner Archive had sprung for a new set of improved subtitles that conveyed what was being said more accurately. It should also be noted that the English dub is not a version where Jackie Chan provides his own dialogue. That version could not be included due to legal issues with Miramax.
Special Features
- Trailer: A two-and-a-half minute English-narrated promotional trailer is provided here.
Final Thoughts
Drunken Master II is a landmark effort in the career of the incredible Jackie Chan. The film delivers a good balance of comedy and action throughout this spritely paced narrative. There is something about what this martial arts icon was accomplishing during this period in his career that is unlike what most stars would ever be capable of executing. Warner Archive has released a Blu-Ray that has a pretty solid A/V presentation even though some of the decisions of audio and subtitle inclusions may upset certain fans. Those who have always wanted to own the film can now do so with the best presentation that has been put to disc yet. Recommended
Drunken Master II can be purchased directly through the Warner Archive Amazon Store or various other online retailers.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Warner Archive has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.