In 1978
Jackie Chan was a fairly unknown actor in the world of Hong Kong cinema when he
was cast to play Wong Fei-hung the protagonist of Drunken Master. A decade and a half later, after becoming
better known he revisits his old role in the Drunken Master II. The connection between the two is tenuous and
is generally not explored by the sequel choosing to present the movie as a
standalone with only the unique fighting technique used in the first movie
really showing continuity. What I specifically
want to explore is how the certainty of Jackie Chan’s role in cinema is
reflected in how his story is told in comparison to the original and in so many ways stronger.
The
first noticeable difference between the sequel and the original is that, well
time has passed and now Wong no longer looks quite the rebellious son that he
did in the original being better dressed and portrayed by an older Jackie. The personality though is something that they
managed to preserve fairly well from the original. In the first movie Wong is childish looking
to pick fights where ever at the drop of a hat and causing trouble (especially
for his father).
The film chooses to include a bit more dialog and antics at
first rather than the first ones approach of taking us straight into fight
scenes or scenes that directly set up fights.
In the sequel it does not feel quite like a fight is inevitable but
rather that he falls into it or just takes a situation to far. Although the new Wong is still a belligerent
guy he does not go looking for fights all the time but once they find him he
makes a commitment to fighting them all the way through. Of course being a kung-fu movie fights break
out in almost every other scene even if it is only a quick skirmish but they
are better spaced with the odd antics of Chan’s character.
There
are several parallels that can be drawn between the stories of the sequel and
the original especially in relation to how Jackie’s characters are portrayed,
that is as a sort of bumbling hero who trips and falls but will get back up
stronger than ever. In the first one he
is humiliated by Thunder-legs by his lack of power to fight back and thus must
seek training to make up for his failure and overcome that weakness. In the sequel it is a different story as he
has already mastered the skills he needs it is just he lacks a certain level of
personal control. It is because of this
lack of self-control that he enters a hero’s fall and runs away from home not
unlike his running from his master in the first one. It is then that his lack of control much like
his lack of skill gets him humiliated and beaten. Just as before the main martial villain he
must face later stands immaculate over Chan’s character as he must stay
battered on the ground.
He is forced to accept his
weakness and then becomes repentant and seeks to devote himself to bettering
who he is. It is a classic hero’s tale
formula and is not unexpected in a very normative genre but is carried out in entirely
two different ways. It works to much
greater effect to see a training montage though to show learning and growth to
overcome weakness it is entirely a different thing to try and show personal
growth and repentance towards his reckless ways. He does follow through and appear to take responsibility
for his actions but that is soon pushed aside for what is clearly more
desirable, a big fight scene. Just as
before the climax of the film is at the very end and is finished with a fight
just as most kung-fu movies.
There
are also commonalities found in the roles filled by the supporting cast while
at the same time getting a better look at those characters. For instance in the original it was an
important point that the hand of mercy sparing Wong from his father’s wrath was
his aunt one of the few feminine influences in the film. With the original we find his aunt tries to
spare him from the full brunt of his father’s wrath upon hearing that he picked
another fight and thus gave him a fighting chance. In the sequel this role is fulfilled by Wong’s
step-mother. Yet filling the role does
not do justice to her character as she plays a pivotal role in moving the story
forward and can even be said to have one of the most central positions in the
cast. She is not only the hand of mercy
helping Wong out of tight situations but acting as an accomplice and someone who
is willing to stick their neck out for him for the sake of protecting him. She is a stark contrast to the typical
step-mother, showing a wry affection and general concern for the well-being of
her step-son. In addition she goes above
and beyond helping him going so far as to stem further troubles for Wong rather
than stopping the trouble in front of her.
She can almost be seen as fulfilling the role that the master filled in
the original. She takes on the task of keeping an eye on the childish Wong
while being in only slightly more mature, in addition to giving him booze for
his fights. She is always ready to fight
to help Wong out and yet will change tactics to insure a level of control over
the situation and to prevent it from getting out of control.
The
movie has many things that it does that can remind one of Chan’s older work
that still very much carries through the passage of time. His fighting style is very similar to the old
films with the two cup stance being preserved yet there is not a great deal of
explanation for it and it is simply accepted.
I find it in some ways a bit of a letdown that it seems everyone is
aware that Chan’s character knows drunken boxing and sees it as a kind of
spectator sport rather then it being a legitimate style (which is entirely true)
making it feel as though it is a cheap trick a dog does to amuse the crowd
though perhaps that is the intention.
Other thing like Chan’s prop fighting make it in with him
using the environment to his advantage and taking on impossible odds in strange
ways. There is an instance that is
particularly strange where in the midst of a mob of gangsters he hides under a
table. This in the original was a sign
that he was weak and afraid, here it is just another chance for him to do something
crazy in the midst of the fray like using the table as a spinning shield.
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| Wong looking out at the horde. |
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| Wong as he attacks the ax gang with a table. |
Although this particular film was a squeal to the
original it does things differently while still feeling like the same movie just
set later in the future. Many of the
usual stunts Chan pulls are still there and in some ways amplified and capitalized upon now that he is more recognizable as a stuntman turned
star. He pulls off his role with a
childish glee that sets him apart from other kung-fu and action stars, taking
things as they come putting on a serious face when necessary but general taking
in things with a grin. As stories go it
is a pretty straightforward affair with nationalistic undertones that speak of
a growing awareness the Hong Kong’s neighbor China. Still it does an admiral job adding more to
the formula then simply random fights breaking out and giving us a taste of the
simple things even if they do have a tendency to spiral into an all out brawl. The style and depth of the story is not just a typical kung-fu and that is what makes it fun to watch and yet we can to a degree lose ourselves in the silliness and forget that we will soon be falling into yet another fight. The over all change is for the best and we can find ourselves watching in wonder at the polished gem that Drunken Master has become much like Jackie Chan.
