Being a fan of Jackie Chan and never having seen "Drunken Master" before 2012 is sacrilege, I know, but I just never gotten around to it, not even with all the high praises for this 1978 movie.

Well, I finally got around to watch it and it was with some expectation and anticipation to it. Was it worth it? Well, yeah it was, but at the same time it wasn't all that I had expected.

The story was fun and well-thought through, about Wong Fei-Hung who is a rascal, dishonoring his father who is a Kung Fu master. As a punishment he is to train with his uncle who is said to be ruthless and mean. The young Fei-Hung is in for some rough training, but eventually comes to see the meaning of the tough training.

"Drunken Master" is more of a comedy (or Comedy Fu, if you will) than it is an actual Kung Fu movie. There is a lot of slapstick comedy in this movie, as is to be expected from a Chan movie. But it also shows off the grace, dexterity and skills of Jackie Chan quite well. However, for the Kung Fu, well it was fun to watch, lots of great movies and funny situations, but wow it was so horribly staged that it was painful to watch at times. It just lacked that natural flow to it, to make it seem realistic and natural. I am not saying that it wasn't enjoyable, far from it, just don't expect it to be all that and a bucket of chicken, because it was really staged from start till end.

This Jackie Chan movie is a definite must have in any DVD collection of any Jackie Chan fan, just don't do the mistake that I did that compare this movie with the movies from the last two decades.

I got a Sony DVD release of the movie from Amazon, and despite playing the original Cantonese language track, it kept changing between Cantonese and some seriously doubtful English dubbing. The dubbing was so bad it was beyond belief, they were even doing racial, stereotypical slur at the dubbing - it was just horrible. Luckily the DVD was in Cantonese most of the time, but when it changed to English dub (by its own will) it was just painful to listen to. These movies are meant to be watched with the original language track. English dubbing always has, and always will, be a horrible experience.

And the ending of the movie, well I was stunned at that. It just ended immediately after the final showdown. It was the most abrupt and sudden ending to any movie that I have ever witnessed.

Directed by legendary kung fu choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping, Drunken Master is considered by many martial arts fans to be one of the best films of Jackie Chan's career, but while it certainly displays the star's kung fu and acrobatic ability to great effect, and is a thoroughly enjoyable watch, I found the plot just a little too generic (and the comedy a little too broad) to rate it any higher than an 8 (I actually give it a 7.5, but I've rounded my score up for IMDb).

There really is very little going on here in terms of storyline, and what there is most seasoned fans of old school martial arts fans will have seen countless times before: a young upstart, Wong Fei-Hung (Chan), causes trouble in his local town and is sent by his disappointed father to train with a kung fu master, Beggar Su (Siu Tin Yuen). Beggar Su's techniques are harsh but very effective, so when an assassin named Thunderfoot (Hwang Jang Lee) is hired to kill Fei-Hung's father, the young man is able to step in and save the day.

Jackie Chan's comedic style is very much in evidence here, with buffoonery, slapstick action, and fart and poo gags, plus quite a few characters with peculiar facial features (a hairy mole, a red nose, drawn on freckles and goofy teeth), and the humour will not appeal to all (I nearly always struggle with Chinese comedy). Thankfully, the excellent fighting more than makes up for the silliness, with Jackie performing some mind-bogglingly amazing feats of physical prowess, making the absolute most of his Chinese Circus training. He leaps, he flips, he tumbles, he kicks, and he punches, performing snake style, monkey style and—of course—drunken style, all with incredible energy, speed and split second timing; it's absolutely breathtaking to behold.

Naturally, Beggar Su and Thunderfoot are no slouches in the chop socky department either, the old drunken beggar pulling off some very cool moves against a baddie called The Stick King (Hsia Hsu) and Thunderfoot more than living up to his title: with his technique 30% hands and 70% legs, Hwang Jang Lee is given plenty of opportunity to show off his legendary kicking skills. Also very impressive in her small role as Wong Fei Hung's auntie is Linda Lin Ying: I don't know much about her, but the one fight scene she shares with Jackie is quite stunning—her flexibility and leg control made my jaw drop (I must check out some of the other titles in her filmography—Dance of the Drunk Mantis also stars Hwang Jang Lee, so that would seem like an obvious place to start).

Now I saw "Legend of Drunken Master" first which is a kung-fu film that blew my mind because of it's awesomeness. And since this film didn't seem all that notorious, I shunned this one sorta. Despite it being the film with Jackie Chan showing his drunken boxing and being kind of a pioneer of that style. I just wasn't expecting this film to be so darn entertaining. Sure, it doesn't have that much resources going for it. But Jackie did just about everything physically possible. And it really did pay off. I also wasn't expecting such high comedic moments even for a Jackie Chan film and I was wrong in every way. This film has all that trademark Jackie Chan elements and it's highly entertaining and humorous. Sure it is kind of cheesy but it actually works for a film like this. And for a Kung-fu flick from the 70's it seemed to be ahead of it's time. I was either smirking or laughing most of the way through while watching this amazing kung-fu film. The plot does seem a bit random at times and more bonding parts with Jackie Chan and the Drunken Master would have been cool. This is like the way better version of "The Karate Kid", comparing because it does have slight similarities. Except this film came first. The creativity in this is also top notch, especially when it comes to the fight sequences. This film was made during the prime of Jackie Chan and it does show what Jackie is capable physically and athletically. I saw this with English Dub and despite Jackie's British accent, it wasn't bad. "Drunken Master" is one of Jackie Chan's best.

8.4/10