Drunken Master II

Director: Lau Kar-leung

1994 / 102min / 35mm

Sixteen years after starring in Yuen Woo-ping’s Drunken Master, the film that cemented its star’s place as the clown prince of martial arts cinema, Jackie Chan returned to the role of bibulous warrior Wong Fei-hung (aka “Freddie Wong”) with Lau in the director’s chair, the result nothing less than a masterclass in breathless kung-fu action. Fei-hung faces off against a shadowy syndicate siphoning precious artifacts out of the Chinese Mainland—and jabberjaw stepmother Anita Mui—in this bonanza of stunning set piece after stunning set piece, climaxing in a 20-minute grand finale that is one of the pinnacles of go-for-broke Hong Kong moviemaking. (After watching it, a cowed Roger Ebert opined, “It may not be possible to film a better fight scene.” We concur.)

Distributor: Park Circus

Part of The Sifu: Lau Kar-leung