Drunken Monkey (2002/Martial Arts/Comedy/Lionsgate)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: C-
The comic
subgenre of Martial Arts films may have allowed it to survive, but it has
always been the greatest compromise in the genre’s history and led to some of
its poorest and most overrated works.
Unless you are part of the eccentric fanbase that loves the overt humor,
forget it. Lau Kar Leung’s Drunken Monkey (2003) is one such film
and it is so over the top that even the good choreography cannot save it.
The
storyline involves something about two brothers, with one finding out the other
is abusing the family security company for criminal reasons. I was no fan of 36th Chamber Of Shaolin either, reviewed elsewhere on
this site, but it could at least be taken seriously. You’d think the same director would come up
with something like Kung-Fu Hustle
(see my Blu-ray review elsewhere on this site) but this becomes thin and boring
quickly unless you are into the conventions of the film. Now they’re clichés. For diehard fans only.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is somewhat soft throughout, as shot by Director
of Photography Wong Po Man. The film
itself is not shot too badly, but the physical humor is just too goofy for
words. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix has
several sound limits noticed in its lack of soundfield, but dialogue recording
is not bad. The only extra is a trailer
gallery.
- Nicholas Sheffo
