Movie of the Day: February 5, 2003

IMDb Movie of the Day
Following the Legend of the Drunken Master's storyline is as entertaining as watching Jackie Chan take on his British imperialist enemies unabated. Chan plays Wong Fei-Hung, a master of the drunken fighting style, which he learned from his begrudging father (Lung Ti). On the train home from a shopping expedition, Fei-Hung's luggage is mixed with a local politician's, and a scramble ensues, where Fei-Hung must retrieve the ginseng root he's smuggling for his father. This first fight, some of which takes place under a train car, is a mere indication of the sequences to come. Fei-Hung is now at odds with a combined British/Chinese force who are using the local steel mill to sneak artifacts out of the country. As the plot continues to meander, Chan pays homage to his hero Buster Keaton and drums up some inadvertent laughs with Anita Mui, who plays his mother, even though she's noticeably younger than Chan. Several smaller fight scenes lead to the finale, where Fei-Hung clashes with three nimble imperialists, and the thrilling 20-minute sequence more than makes up for the hokey comedy (which is entertaining if you are appropriately sauced) and Miramax's decision to dub the picture instead of using subtitles in its U.S. release of the film. In the finale, Fei-Hung drinks kerosene, catches on fire (which permanently scarred Chan), and performs enough flips, kip-ups, and flying kicks to easily qualify as one of the top examples of martial arts choreography ever filmed. Chan and director Chia-Liang Liu clashed over Legend's action sequences so intensely that Liu ended up leaving the picture, with Chan taking over the production as its uncredited director. Made in 1994, Miramax waited until 2000 to release the film in the U.S., along with a series of Chan's other pre-Rumble in the Bronx pictures. Meanwhile, Chan and his new compadre Owen Wilson travel to London to protect the British government in Shanghai Knights, which opens nationwide this week. (more)

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