Leofwine_draca DRUNKEN MONKEY was made as a tribute to the glory days of the Shaw Brothers studio, reuniting some old faces with some new and youthful energy. It's a low budget film which feels a bit rough around the edges, and the choreography is never quite as slick as you wish. The biggest detraction are some long scenes without any action at all, substituting it instead for lame comedy involving mugging actors who definitely deserve less screen time. This was a labour of love for the great director, martial artist and choreography Liu Chia-Liang, who shines in all of his roles; this was to be his swansong excluding a role in the Tsui Hark movie SEVEN SWORDS.The story is simplicity in itself, involving the corrupt members of a security team who use murder to achieve their ends, which lie in profiteering through smuggling. Liu Chia-Liang learns of the misdeeds and barely escapes with his life, before proceeding to train up a trio of young 'uns in 'monkey king' style. Wu Jing is the youthful hero and acquits himself well, and Gordon Liu has a small but pivotal role. Best of the lot is the inimitable Chi Kuan-Chun, still impossibly muscled some 30 years after his Shaw Brothers debut, and absolutely burning up the screen in style.

wanderingviet After looking at the 5.9 average rating for this movie I gave it a try. Good grief! After ten minutes, I told myself I'll give it another ten minutes or so. I couldn't take it after around 25 minutes. Believe me when I say I love movies and I like all sorts. I don't watch TV - I only watch movies on DVD. There have been very few movies that I simply could not justify wasting my time watching the rest of it. As a matter of fact, I couldn't name one now if you asked me. I admit that by not finishing the movie, I don't have much of a leg to stand on. But I wanted to warn those after me to not waste their time. The acting and story is simply horrible. At first I thought it might be a comedy - they were exaggerating the acting on purpose. My conclusion was that they were serious and that was when I took the DVD out.

Kane Anderson As a big fan of Lau Kar-Leung, Gordon Liu, and Wu Jing I absolutely loved this movie. Wu Jing will be a face to watch out for in future action movies and it's good to see the old timers still going at it.The story is a standard Kung Fu tale with signature dumb Asian comedy thrown in. In all actuality I could go without the silliness but it doesn't degrade the movie at all. The title may lead some to believe that this film will have many drunken fights in it but this movie focuses more on the monkey style without so much drunkenness thrown in. Drunken Monkey really feels like the old Kung-Fu films of the 70's and 80's and that's a welcome surprise. The last action scene of the movie (that last like 30 minutes) is simply amazing and this movie is worth seeing for it alone, although the movie as a whole is great too.Overall this is a very enjoyable Kung Fu film with some old and new faces throughout. I'm glad they're still making old-style martial arts films.

mikaelfodor The last traditional kung fu movie i remember is Tai-Chi Boxer from 1996 with Jacky Wu again in that movie. I've been looking forward to seeing more from the bad sighted wushu expert, and here it is a comeback from shaw brothers of all people.The name was promising for a start drunken monkey. So you immediately think that its gonna be a sort of mix between Lau Kar-Leung's Drunken Master 2 and Mad Monkey Kung fu, although its more the monkey though than the Drunk. Its great to see that Lau can still hold a kung fu fight sequence after around 40 years in the business. Jacky Wu also shows how he has progressed since Tai-Chi Boxer.The story keeps with the traditional kung fu themes, its great fun to watch and reminds one of what the Hong Kong film industry earned its name from. I really hope Shaw Brothers releases more.Its the most enjoyable Hong Kong movie i have seen for along time. I recommend it highly to anyone who enjoys kung fu movies and martial arts in general. If you don't it may not be your cup of tea but you could give it a chance anyway.