Get Your Reps In: “Drunken Master II” Is Jackie Chan Embodying Poetry in Motion

Drunken Master II (1994)

In Drunken Master II (1994), Jackie Chan reprises the role that first made him an action-comedy star—so swooning he’s untouchable, so uninhibited he can’t miss.

The sequel to 1978′s Drunken Master finds Chan again embodying poetry in motion via “drunken boxing,” a style of martial arts that operates in seemingly inebriated gestures.

Drunken Master II screens on May 2 at Cinemagic—part of the theater’s Cinema City series celebrating the “boom years” of Hong Kong films.

Of course, part of the vaudevillian fun of the Drunken Master movies is that Chan’s Wong Fei-hung—here cast as a defender of Chinese artifacts against British smugglers—is nearly Popeye-esque. Chugging whatever wine, liquor or ethyl alcohol happens to be nearby instantly activates his wobbly fighting superpowers. The results (especially in the film’s climactic showdown) are as gymnastic and brutal as they are transcendently cartoonish.

ALSO PLAYING:

5th Ave: Lords of Dogtown (2005), May 3-5. Academy: Ghost World (2001), May 3-9. Road House (1989), May 3-9. Cinema 21: Fantastic Fungi (2019), May 2. The Room (2003), May 3. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), May 4. Cinemagic: Trancers II (1991), May 3. The Last Dragon (1986), May 3 and 4. Silverado (1985), May 4 and 5. Fright Night (1985), May 4 and 5. Fallen Angels (1995), May 6 and 8. Happy Together (1997), May 7 and 8. In the Mood for Love (2000), May 6, 7 and 9. Clinton: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), May 4. The Witch (2015), May 5. Hollywood: Day of the Dead (1985), May 2. Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), May 4 and 5. New Life (2022), May 4. One From The Heart (1981), May 6. Night of the Kickfighters (1988), May 7. Living Room: Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), May 3-5. Tomorrow: Godzilla (1954), May 5. Destroy All Monsters (1968), May 5.