When I discovered that Liu Chia Liang did again a movie a few years ago, as a big fan of many of his movies, I was glad...
Unfortunately, this is a melting-pot which is on my opinion (even I had pleasure to see it), a rather very weak one.
Even with my greatest respect to LCL, not very excellent, even not very good nor funny !
Basically traditional Kung Fu and/or comedy, I can appreciate...
An LCL did so fantastic ones, that frankly I'm disappointed...
It's not because the weakness of the plot (almost never mind that, it's alike in many KF stories)...
In the beginning, the movie looks like a dark "cowboy KF movie." OK... hum... why not ?
The first fighting scene between LCL and his son Gordon Liu, as usual in LCL movies is... just perfect ! Fast, imaginative, concise, a good short fight sequence. Super, OK.
A little further, with the next scenes, suddenly I wondered if I had not a strange Alice in Wonderland copy ! Did they make a surprising mistake ? Like if they had burned a part of a complete different film together after the first sequence ?!
It looked to me like if I was in a complete other movie... So I checked out, and no, it seems the movie was a whole one... Incredible !!!
To put it down bluntly, it follows with a stupid comedy part... and then some fighting again... Wow ! What incoherent parts put together...
And so it went on... Some parts are good... and some belong to the low silly comedy.
Still with my respect to LCL, I like him a lot, and Gordon Liu too, but unfortunately, this strange mixture is a big mess...
In fact the only goods things in this movie are their faces and the fights.
Fights like LCL used us, very creative, even if he, LCL, for instance, survives to everything, to remain in the story... (that doesn't bother me!)
But the rest in just a bag of no interest...
Mr Yaguy Tajima's comment put perfectly the finger on the holes of that Drunken Monkey 2002. I agree completely with what he wrote, and advise you to read it (dated 29 November 2005).
But, as I said, I had pleasure to see again LCL and Gordon Liu together, but true, for KF buffs only, and even not sure...
If you like the classical type, like me, please search for Return of the Master Killer (LCL 1980, KF comedy type), or one of my obviously preferred Shaolin Master Killer LCL 1978, more deep.
Not knowing these two, if you liked Drunken Monkey 2002, you just will be enchanted of an incomparable higher level... those two, among many others, show what LCL is able to...
I beg you, Mr LCL, please offer us another one, but not a silly one !!!
Well, let's hope...
8 to 9*** for the fights, say 4 or 5*** for the rest ... 6*** all in all... and definitively not more !
