While this may not be the definitive edition that fans may want, the original ending and new 4k transfer are reasons alone to grab this release. This isn't the first Jackie Chan film to be released by Warner Archive Collection, and hopefully won't be the last. Fans such as myself who have only known the Dimension Films release will certainly be intrigued to check this one out.
Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided us with a free copy of this Blu-ray/DVD that we reviewed in this blog post. The opinions we share are our own.
“Wong Fei-Hung knows the rule: no drunken boxing without his father’s permission. Rules, however, are sometimes made to be broken. So is anything else that crosses Wong’s path.
Jackie Chan plays Wong in the wildly inventive and hilarious action-comedy hailed as one of his all-time best. Determined to stop the smugglers of priceless national artifacts, Wong confronts his foes with drunken boxing, a loose-limbed fighting style in which he staggers, leans, weaves and clowns like a sailor on shore leave. The style’s name belies the intricate nature of its choreography. The show-stopping final smackdown alone – with bravura touches that include Wong turning himself into a human blowtorch – took four sober-minded months to shoot. It’s 200-proof excitement!”
This isn’t the first Jackie Chan film to grace the catalogue of the Warner Archive Collection, as their treatment of Mr. Nice Guy in 2019 was everything that Jackie Chan fans could have hoped. Drunken Master II, or, The Legend of Drunken Master as it is also known as, has gone through its fair share of distribution rights, with its previous DVD/Blu-ray release done by Miramax, who is probably most responsible for the film being seen in America. The Miramax version had its issues, so needless to say I was pretty excited to get a version of the film that has a new 4k transfer from the original camera negative.
Drunken Master II is very different from the first film, which has absolutely nothing to do with it either, except I guess the fact that there is drunken boxing. For many American audiences, including myself, this was one of the first introductions to Jackie Chan and his brilliant comedy/action routines that were unlike anything I had ever seen before. While other martial art films certainly had some impressive fight sequences, the choreography and precisely timed stunts ensured that Jackie Chan would become one of the biggest action stars of all time. The fight sequences in Drunken Master II are nothing short than brilliant. The style is fun to watch, and what Chan is able to do in terms of using it against the other fighting styles and building the fight choreography around that is very impressive. His use of the sets and surroundings are also staples of his style, including some amazing and dangerous stunts that Chan always insists on doing himself, namely in this film, throwing himself into a pit of burning coals.
While the film itself is unquestionably entertaining, and easily one of his best, the issue of this release lies in the rights that Warner Bros. do and don’t have. Now, as much as I gravitate toward hearing a film in its original language and reading subtitles, this wasn’t always an option when I was younger. When the rights to distribute the film were acquired by Dimension Films, a new English dub was created, in which Jackie Chan himself provided his English voice for. Warner Bros. don’t have the rights to that audio track, and I was quite shocked when I turned it on and heard a completely different voice other than Jackie Chan. Even in Cantonese, Chan doesn’t provide the voice, so you won’t hear him in any way on this release. One of the downsides to the new English dub that was created by Dimension was that all the sound effects and musical score had to be re-done as well, which, comparatively, aren’t as good as the original. The trade-off is a pretty big one here. The Warner Archive Collection version is, for me, like watching the film for the first time, because in a way it is. Much of the dialogue has changed from the Dimension dub, which for instance, has Jackie Chan name all the fighting styles he uses while he’s using them. This doesn’t have any of that. Long story short: if you’ve previously seen the film under the title The Legend of Drunken Master, you aren’t going to be seeing the same movie. Is this a make-or-break reason for buying this? For me, it was a bit of a letdown, namely for nostalgia’s sake, of not hearing Jackie’s voice in the English dub, and while I would normally watch the film in its original language with subtitles, it’s that nostalgia again that pushes me toward the former. After the initial shock passed, however, and comparing the transfer with that of the previous Miramax release, this is the far superior version visually.
Video
Drunken Master II is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen 2.40:1 with a new 4k restoration from the original camera negative. The biggest difference from the previous versions of the film is the black levels, with the Miramax version having a very poor transfer, to the point the black bars on the top and bottom looked grey. In this new transfer, those are the deep black they need to be, with colors very vibrant. Flesh tones especially look very natural as opposed to the previous release. Overall, the film already sounds different, it might as well look like a new film as well, and indeed it does. This new transfer is the best thing about this release, and those on the fence about this purchase should consider this the deciding factor.
Audio
The audio is presented in three different ways, the original DTS-HD Master Audio Cantonese 2.0 Mono track, Mandarin 2.0 Mono Track, and the English Dub 2.0 Mono Track. These audio tracks present the film in a clear and concise way, and while they don’t offer the audio range that many may be accustomed to, they do sound good. While we don’t have Jackie Chan’s voice on the English dub, the improvement to the sound effects and musical score do offer a nice change from the previous release, allowing the film to be heard in a new way.
Special Features
The disc doesn’t offer any extras per se, but it does include a few things worth mentioning in this section that does offer some additional benefits for those still on the fence. As more of an oddity, the film contains the original English subtitles that appeared on the theatrical prints in Hong Kong that contained spelling and grammatical errors. It’s interesting to give the different subtitles a try for a certain sequence, to see how different they are, because in the sequences I watched, it was like two completely different conversations.
Additionally, the film contains the original ending that was cut from the Dimension Films release that was deemed to be in poor taste, showing the effects of Fei Hung drinking industrial fuel during the final sequence. This does not contain any English dubs, but switches to Cantonese for this section.
The release of Drunken Master II by the Warner Archive Collection isn’t without its limitations due to rights issues, and certainly would have benefitted from some updated subtitles or extras of some kind. However, the new transfer looks fantastic, and with the original ending included, this release should be a must for Jackie Chan fans.
