Ip Man (2008) / Drunken Master II (1994)

 

Ip Man (2008) – W. Yip (3 stars)

Drunken Master II (1994) – K.-L. Lau (3 ½ stars) 

Amon likes action films and has seen most of the good Jackie Chan films already, so we thought we would branch out to the more recent Ip Man series (available for free streaming on SBS).  However, it didn’t take long to realise that Donnie Yen’s portrayal of historical figure Ip Man (who brought the Wing Chun style of kung fu to Hong Kong and eventually trained Bruce Lee) was akin to a super-hero who could never be defeated. This was in keeping with the strongly nationalistic flavour of the film which takes place during the Japanese occupation of China just prior to WWII. The drama is pretty heavy going with Ip Man often going it alone against the sadistic invaders. This film spawned three sequels but we aren’t too interested. 

In contrast, Jackie Chan’s films from his best period (80s/90s) use a nice blend of slapstick comedy and action. Although he began to gravitate toward expensive set-pieces (hanging from a helicopter or a bus, car stunts etc.), his original stardom came as a result of his hand-to-hand combat skills (learned as part of the HK Peking Opera troupe he joined as a kid).  Drunken Master II returns us back to that style while also giving Jackie a chance to reprise his role as Wong Fei-hung (another historical figure, also played by Jet Li – with wires – in the Once Upon a Time in China series), which he originated in the 1978 action comedy Drunken Master directed by Yuen Woo-ping (who worked on The Matrix and also later with Donnie Yen).  Jackie’s kung fu style here (and in the earlier film) is called drunken boxing and is apparently amplified if the proponent actually drinks alcohol.  Set in Canton (in an earlier part of the 20^th century than Ip Man), this time the Brits are the baddies, although they have some disloyal Chinese fighters working for them (smuggling antiquities out of the country).  As usual, things start with a great deal of humour (including by pop singer Anita Mui as Jackie’s stepmother) but begin to turn rather grim as Jackie’s family gets dragged into the protests at the steel factory (where workers are treated as slaves).  It’s another film with a lot of fire stunts (similar to Police Story 2) which I find less fun than the rough-and-tumble choreography in films like Project A.  Ultimately, Jackie needs to drink industrial alcohol for the final boss fight, leading to a scene where he is blind and mentally crippled played for laughs (not included in the US release called The Legend of the Drunken Master, which is the version we watched).  Although Drunken Master II has received high ratings everywhere, it seems a step down from Jackie’s best films, despite his clear athletic prowess.