- Title: VARIOUS: JACKIE CHAN RELEASES NEWLY DUBBED FILM "THE LEGEND OF DRUNKER MASTER"
- Date: 13th November 2000
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) JACKIE CHAN SAYING "The most important thing: they re-dubbed the music, we re-print, sound-effects, I dubbed my own voice, all in English --so difficult, turning it into English, with all the comedy. So now I'm very excited to wait until see what happens.
- Embargoed: 28th November 2000 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA AND NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STAES AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA88F3236IT1E7JEJYD4J6GW6P2
- Story Text: Can you blame him and would you argue with him? Jackie Chan has taken advantage of the insatiable Western craving for Hong Kong action flics - releasing a newly dubbed English version of his 1994 "Legend of a Drunken Master, follow-up to his 1978 breakthrough "Drunken Master." Some people like to fight when they get drunk - Jackie likes to get drunk to fight.
Though hardly likely to score a staggering box office upset, "The Legend of Drunken Master" could attract a wider audience than previous "Americanized" versions of Jackie Chan's Hong Kong-produced hits.
Unlike "Operation Condor," "Twin Dragons" and other recent English-dubbed imports toplining the acrobatic and charismatic superstar, this picture is a lavishly produced period piece that emphasises hand-to-hand combat more than death-defying stunt work.
In North America, the extended fight scenes have earned an R rating for the Dimension Films release.
Long available on video in an English-subtitled version, the picture is a follow-up to "Drunken Master" (aka "Drunken Monkey in the Tiger's Eyes"), the 1978 Hong Kong production that served as Chan's breakthrough star vehicle.
Produced in 1994 as "Drunken Master II," retitled sequel stands alone as self-contained narrative, with Chan cast as Wong Fei-hung, a real-life Chinese folk hero who has been portrayed by scores of other actors in literally hundreds of other Asian pics. (Jet Li takes on the character in Tsui Hark's "Once Upon a Time in China" series.) Set during the early Republican era, "Drunken Master", filmed on location in Shanghai and Northern China, renders Fei-hung as a reluctant warrior who fights best when he's in a drunken stupor.
The opening scenes quickly establish Chan's character as a boyishly impulsive rascal who occasionally annoys his stern but loving father, herbalist and kung-fu master Wong Kei-ying (Ti Lung).
While travelling by train back to their home in Canton, Fei-hung mistakenly grabs a bundle containing an imperial jade seal.
The seal has been swiped by agents of a corrupt British consul who's smuggling Chinese antiquities out of the country.
Bad guys pursue the seal, causing no end of trouble for Fei-hung, his family and assorted innocent bystanders.
Director Lau Kar-leung co-stars as Fu Min-chi, a crafty old man who's really an undercover agent on the trail of pilfered antiquities.
Even more impressive, however, is the pictures grand finale, a stretched out grudge match between Fei-hung and a smooth-talking villain (Low Houi-kang, aka Ken Lo, Chan's real-life bodyguard) in a steel factory.
Even with flashes of Chan's trademark comic shtick, battle is gruelingly intense and occasionally vicious, yet also remarkably graceful, fluid and antic. According to reports, Chan really did singe himself when flung atop a pile of burning hot coals.
Some might complain that Chan, who was 40 when "Drunken Master" was filmed, is at least 10 or 15 years too old to be completely believable as Fei-hung. Chan himself sees it differently. "They were shocked, they were surprised how I'm doing all kinds of (stunts) without special effects, without blue background, I still can do a lot of incredible stunts."
The box office verdict may be viewed as an early indicator of U.S. commercial prospects for the far more stylised and spectacularly flamboyant "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," the Ang Lee magnum opus arriving (in an English-subtitled edition) at year's end. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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