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Cast:
Willie
Chi
Michelle
Reis
Adam
Cheng
Ho
Ka-Kui
Gordon
Liu Chia Hui
Andy
Lau
Liu
Chia Liang
Action:
Liu
Chia Liang
Lau
Kar Yun
Lai
Shing Kwong
Producer:
Chris
Li
Director:
Liu
Chia Liang
Score:
 
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DRUNKEN
MASTER 3
AKA:
Drunken Master III ||
Drunken Master Part 3
Year:
1994 Reviewer: Phil
Mills
After
the Mo Mo Revolution, Yuen Shih Kai was given the opportunity
to become King by the White Lotus sect. The one thing he
needs to ensure success is the Jade Ring but he has given it
to his bride to be, Princess Sum Yu (Reis). Kai sends
his men to retrieve her but she has been taken hostage by
Yueng Kwan (Andy Lau), one of the leaders of the
revolutionaries fighting the tyrannical ruler. When the
two of them are injured they end up in the care of Wong Kei
Ying, a famous doctor and father to, yes you guessed it, Wong
Fei Hung (played here by Willie Chi). Kwan leaves the
sick Princess in their care and asks them to bring her to meet
him in a few days. Fei Hung volunteers to transport Yu
to her destination but unfortunately they run into trouble and
end up staying with wine maker and drunken boxing expert,
Uncle Yan (Chia Liang). During their time here the ring
is broken accidentally and when Sum Yu returns to the custody
of the soldiers she is sentenced to death. It is up to
the gang of martial arts masters to save her and stop Shih Kai
from becoming King.
When
Jackie Chan and Liu Chia Liang clashed on the set of 'Drunken
Master 2' Liang decided to take flight and make his own
version of what he envisaged as a follow up to the Wong Fei
Hung classic. The story for the film is a fairly clouded
one which concentrates on the political battles of the time
period and really fails to produce anything of any substance.
It was obviously rushed into production to try to beat Jackie
to the punch and this is apparent when you sit back and
analyse the plot along with the minimal characterisation.
The narrative begins to trail off, particularly in the middle,
and it turns into something of a comedy/farce affair with
little or nothing of any interest happening until the finale
when we get to see some enjoyable kung fu from three great
stars; Liu Chia Liang, Gordon Liu Chia Hui and Andy Lau.
The
main problem with 'Drunken Master 3' is that with so much
talent on board you would expect to see a much better film but
everybody is so under-used. Couple this along with
the fact that the supposed major star power, Andy Lau, is
barely in the film (it amazed me that they managed to
accumulate so much out-take footage of him for the final reel)
and you have a seriously lacklustre movie. The only
saving grace has to be some of the well choreographed action,
especially the fight between Simon Yam and Willie Chi, but
even this is fairly bland in comparison to most of 'the Pops'
previous work. It's watchable but definitely not a true
sequel to the 'Drunken
Master' legacy.
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