Drunken Master III (1994)

Drunken Master III (1994)
Aka: Drunken Master Killer
Chinese Title: 醉拳III
Translation: Drunken Fist 3

 

Starring: Willie Chi Tin-Sang, Adam Cheng Siu-Chow, Michelle Reis, William Ho Ka-Kui, Gordon Liu, Lau Kar-Leung, Andy Lau Tak-Wah, Giorgio Pasotti, Simon Yam Tat-Wah, Lau Kar-Yung
Director: Lau Kar-Leung
Action Directors: Lau Kar-Leung, Lau Kar-Yung

After being fired from Jackie Chan's Drunken Master II,  Lau Kar-Leung teamed up with another studio to make this unofficial "sequel" to the yet-to-be-released Jackie Chan masterpiece, quite possibly in hopes of making a buck off of the upcoming film (note: I read that in another review, although considering this film was released in July and DM2 in February, I don't know how true it is), Asylum-style. Well, that was probably the what the studio thought. Lau probably just wanted to show Chan that he could make his own Drunken Master movie. Unfortunately, the end product is a pretty sad little effort and all-around waste of the talents involved. It actually makes the extremely uneven Drunken Monkey look pretty good in comparison.

Set after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Shi-Kai (a historical figure who showed up in such 90s films as Blade of Fury and Little Hero on the Run) is trying to set up a new dynasty in China, much to the chagrin of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, who wants to install democracy in China. To consolidate his power, Yuan must marry a princess who holds a jade ring deemed sacred by the anti-foreigner White Lotus Sect (who showed up in Legendary Weapons of China and Once Upon a Time in China 2). Bizarrely enough, the head of the White Lotus Sect is played by Italian martial artist Giorgio Pasotti, but don't ask me what the heck is up with that. Anyway, the princess (played by the hawt Michelle Reis) is taken away by rebel patriot Yeung Kwun (Andy Lau, who has more to do here than in DM2). They are injured during the escape and end up in Po Chi Lam. Yeung Kwun entrusts an injured princess in the care of Wong Kai-Ying (Adam Cheng). When she gets better, Wong has his son, Wong Fei-Hung (Willie Chi, of Burning Paradise), take the princess to the rebels' rendez-vous point.

During the trip, the Wong and the princess end up at a huge winery run by an altruistic martial artist, Uncle Yan (Lau Kar-Leung). The princess begins to doubt her position as the next queen of China while Wong Fei-Hung refines his drunken boxing with Uncle Yan. The White Lotus Sect eventually appears at the winery and make off with the princess after a big fight. So Wong Fei-Hung, Uncle Yan, Wong Kai-Ying, and Yeung Kwun storm a Halloween party and open up a can of a whoop before the White Lotus Cult can sacrifice the princess to get the gods' approval for Yuan Shi-Kai to become king.

Lordy.

As a fight fan, the first major problem is that there's almost no major fight sequence until about 40 minutes in, when Willie Chi has a long, but uninteresting fight with Simon Yam, who plays a gay rebel. Then we have to wait a little longer for the big fight at the winery, which is better, but still below the performers' abilities. The only fight that pays off is the extended finale, but even then, the whole drunken style bit is mainly an afterthought. Wong Fei-Hung never gets drunk (which may be a Lau Kar-Leung decision), but like Willie Chi's "hung gar" in Burning Paradise, it feels more like generic wushu with some stances thrown in for flavor. Pops himself was more impressive in DM2 than he is here. Adam Cheng gets to perform some vintage swordplay, which fans may enjoy. The duel between Andy Lau and Gordon Liu is actually pretty good, which is sorta sad when you think about it. By and large, this film is a letdown in the action department.

The result of the problems listed above mean that I as a viewer end up paying more attention to the other flaws. The comedy is largely unfunny and the characters are annoying. Wong Fei-Hung is devoid of any personality whatsoever beyond him being an arrogant guy with a sharp tongue. In the end, the hero could have been a generic martial artist who went by the name "Lee" and the film wouldn't have lost anything. The princess is the only person who has anything resembling a character arc. So yeah, there's some bad writing here. And why in Shen's name would an anti-foreigner cult like the White Lotus be cheffed by an Italian? And why would they perform a ritual on Halloween, a Western Holiday/celebration? And why would they wear Western Halloween masks while doing so? Man, even the derivative Red Flower Society in Once Upon a Time in China 4 were more credible than these bozos.

So yeah, this big disappointment is only for Drunken Boxing or Lau Kar-Leung completists.