Chang Fung (Meng Fei) is an orphan who was taken in and raised by his bitter Uncle (Kao Chiang) and his daughter, Tong Tong. Together the three of them make a living working in the Uncle’s restaurant. One day, local bullies disturb Chang Fung enough that he seeks the teachings of a martial arts master. Since Chang can’t afford lessons, no teachers accept him. Chang hooks up with a drunken former master, Wu Sing (Lei Ming), who is so cocked he mistakenly teaches Chang the unbeatable 8 Immortals style—a form reserved for the martial arts elite. In the crowded town square, Chang meets up with con artist/gambler Monkey (Wu Ma) and they clash with the local citizenry. In defending himself, Chang uses the 8 Immortal style, which is recognized by a gang member (Ma Cheung). The gang member rats out Chang to the corrupt Officer Tan (Lu Yi Lung). Immediately, Tan realizes that Chang must have been taught by Wu Sing, the only man alive who knows the style. Tan and his benefactor Mr. Pei (Chen Sing), have unfinished business with Wu Sing, and have been unable to find him for years. Mr. Pei orders Tan to find Wu Sing at any cost. Back at the restaurant, a group of thugs refuse to pay the bill, and Chang wants to teach them some manners. His Uncle tells him to chill out, when suddenly a sexy female martial artist named Pei Yu (Sze Ma Yu Chiao) appears and beats the men into submission. Over the next few days, Pei Yu develops a fondness for Chang.

Tan forces the owner of the building to close down the restaurant. With no place to go, Chang, Uncle, and Tong Tong go into seclusion. Chang tries to get a job to sustain his Uncle who has fallen ill. Monkey and Pei Yu search high and low for Chang and his family. Monkey finally finds Chang, and together they stumble onto Wu Sing. An assassin (who had been following them) intrudes and threatens to wipe them all out. Chang manages to defeat the bear-like mountain of a man. Chang tells Monkey to go look out for his Uncle and Tong Tong while he stays to train with Wu Sing. Tan captures Monkey and demands he take him to find Wu Sing. Meanwhile, two fighters called the Silver and Gold Tigers kidnap Uncle and Tong Tong from their hiding place. While escorting Tan through the woods, Monkey gives him the slip and goes to warn the old master. Upon hearing the news of the kidnappings, Cheng goes to Mr. Pei’s restaurant. There he beats up the lackeys and demands to know the whereabouts of his family. The beaten men promptly spill the beans and Chang heads over to the nearby waterfall where he finds Tan preparing for battle. Tan is nimble and powerful but doesn’t stand a chance when faced with the 8 Immortals style. Pei Yu finds the Silver and Gold Tigers and demands they release Chang’s relatives. They tell her that her father who ordered them to commit theses heinous acts and to take it up with him—Pei Yu’s father happens to be the villainous Mr. Pei. She confronts him at their expansive villa and he tells her that he forgives Chang. Mr. Pei wants her to bring him to the villa so he can apologize to him. She goes back into the forest and finds Chang polishing off the Silver and Gold Tigers. She tells Chang that her father wants to apologize to him, and they returns to the villa. They arrive to find Mr. Pei waiting for them; but not to apologize—only to beat the life out of Chang!

Wu Ma certainly has a firm knowledge of direction, performance, and general filmmaking, but his sense of humor sure got the best of him here. Whatever positive qualities KUNG FU OF EIGHT DRUNKARDS has (and there are many), they are drowned out by some of the most annoying buffoonery ever committed to celluloid. It’s hard to believe that this is the same talented individual who gave us THE HEROES (which is currently available from Tai Seng) that same year! THE HEROES was a thoughtful, dramatic tale of self-sacrifice with a permeating aura of doom and dark atmosphere throughout. Gone is the assured direction of THE HEROES or ALONG COMES A TIGER, replaced with a pure carnival atmosphere. To his credit, when the dramatic elements kick into gear in the last half hour, the movie becomes devoid of humor, but by then the damage is done. Wu Ma does deliver some ironic tragedy irony in the conclusion, yet the viewer can’t help but imagine more foolishness to offset this. Basically, the director took the amusing aspects of DRUNKEN MASTER and amplified them times ten. If he was aiming for over-the-top, he exceeded that by leaps and bounds. Technically, the direction is there but the story and cohesiveness is certainly lacking. One surprising aspect of this sophomoric Kung Fu comedy is the bodycount factor. Meng Fei has no compunctions about using 8 Immortals style to maim and kill his opponents; hence the large amount of violence and bloodshed.

Before you think KUNG FU OF EIGHT DRUNKARDS is a total waste, consider the efforts of Meng Fei. As this film is a rip-off of DRUNKEN MASTER, Meng Fei must carry the weight of the Jackie Chan role. Both men are charismatic indeed, but Jackie most certainly is more of a goof. Jackie also uses an overstated acrobatic style of fighting from his time in the Peking Opera. Meng Fei, on the other hand, is more of a real martial artist and less of an entertainer. His movements are much more realistic than Jackie, even in the depiction of made-up styles like the 8 Immortals. In every movie about Drunken Boxing, the young disciple masters the style by imbibing large amounts of alcohol and stumbling all over the place and not feeling his opponents blows. In KUNG FU OF EIGHT DRUNKARDS, Meng Fei doesn’t touch a drop—his instructor does all the drinking. The styles he uses are variations on popular Shaolin techniques like Mantis Fist, Eagle Claw, etc. Except for the final battle with Chen Sing, the fights in the movie are rather short and one sided in favor of Meng Fei. Speaking of Chen Sing, he’s only in the movie for about 10 minutes. He probably filmed all his scenes in one weekend. Still, the conclusion would not be the same without him. I would have preferred to see his face and villainy all through the picture. The other supporting players like Lung Fei and Ho Yu Ming do very well (except for Wu Ma, whose character is merely comedy relief, anyway).

SIGHT
KUNG FU OF EIGHT DRUNKARDS was released theatrically in the 2.35.1 aspect ratio. Ground Zero presents the film in a cropped 1.33.1 version. The print itself suffers from scratches, white spots, and wear. Yet, the sharpness and colors are fully saturated (and at times over saturated, especially the reds). The image is similar to Ground Zero’s TWO CHAMPIONS OF DEATH, very colorful with deep blacks and good contrast. KUNG FU OF EIGHT DRUNKARDS has some good cinematography going for it, especially the scene where Meng Fei battles Ho Yu Ming in front of a large waterfall. For a low budget independent, the movie also offers some good production values that the transfer capably reproduces. The fight choreography is very tight in the full frame transfer, but the fights don’t loose their impact because of it. The transfer for KUNG FU OF EIGHT DRUNKARDS is better than average, barring the source element imperfections and the graininess.

SOUND
Here is where the disc excels. The audio is pseudo-Dolby Digital 5.1, derived from the original mono sound elements. Don’t expect true stereo fidelity or even the decent DD 5.1 that old school HK imports have (such as DUEL TO THE DEATH or MAGNIFICENT BUTCHER), but it certainly beats the usual dull mono presentation. Dialog is full and clear. The martial arts sound effects don’t move around in the soundfield, yet the sounds are clear with a dose of reverb. Bass response is low. The background noise and distortion in the DD 5.1 soundfield is non-existent. The music of Chou Fu Liang blends together with the audio effects and the dialog for a satisfactory presentation. One problem is that the sound field is good enough to magnify the annoying bits of cheeky goofball humor and extremely bad dubbing. The end result is that it could quite conceivably give you a headache. The sampling used by Wu Tang Clan in the menus is very strong and rich. And if you don’t like rap, that could give you a headache, too.

FEATURES
When you load up the DVD, Wu Tang Clan member Rza greets you on the New York City subway system (they don’t call these discs the Wu Tang Underground Collection for nothing!). The entire DVD navigation system resembles the NYC subway, so if you are familiar with mass transit, you’ll have no problem getting around the multitude of features on this DVD. From the Secrets of the Underground Menu, you can view the Wu Tang Clan music video. Secrets of the Lyrical Chamber is some more rhymes from the group. Hand to Hand with Rza also allows you to bask in the Kung Fu street wisdom of rapper Rza as well as an interview with U-GOD. Movie-wise, there is a Bio page with brief overviews of Meng Fei and Chen Sing. From these Bio pages, you can jump to their respective fight scenes in KUNG FU OF EIGHT DRUNKARDS. There is another sub menu called Ground Zero which holds trailers for GZE’s urban films BLAZING, GANGSTRESSES, VICIOUS CIRCLE, SLIM SHADY, & more. And of course, we have the 18 Fatal Trailers. Most of these trailers are full frame and run 1:04, some are widescreen as indicated below.

REVIEW
Mang Fei re-teams with director and co-star Wu Ma in this humorously entertaining story of drunken boxing, gambling, and bad hair.

Who ever said working in a noodle shop was easy? Certainly not Chang Fung (played by Mang Fei). Chang is constantly harassed by his lazy uncle who runs the shop. Then after getting a thrashing from a drunk, Chang ends up enduring a month of painful training from him before walking out in frustration. Shortly after, Chang draws the attention of Master Pai, a wealthy martial arts master who wants that drunken beggar dead. His cronies cause all sorts of trouble for the young man. Thankfully, Chang receives help from a mangy-haired street gambler named Monkey (Wu Ma) and a beautiful young woman with a potent Mantis fighting style who falls in love with him. Monkey manages to win money to repair Chang's shop after its destroyed, but the family is eventually kicked out. Chang tries to fight Tan Hun, Pai's head crony, but fails. He returns to the drunken beggar to complete his training and learns of the beggar's rivalry with Pai. Pai hires a mysterious fighter in a basket hat who follows Chang to the beggar's hideout, but gets beaten. When Chang's cousin is kidnapped and his uncle left for dead by Pai's men, he fights his way through Tan Hun, two more hired baddies known as the Silver and Gold Tigers, and finally takes on Pai himself.

Kung Fu of Eight Drunkards is an amusing film along the same lines of Sammo Hung's Filthy Guy (1980) or Knockabout (1979). Classic kung fu comedies were at their peak thanks to the previous success of Jackie Chan's Drunken Master (1978). While not as well known, Mang Fei was a competent comic lead in his own right and a decent martial arts star to boot. I must admit to being a biased fan of Mang, but he really does pour on the charm as an over-anxious, yet fun-loving fellow. Wu Ma seems to be wearing the same dirty wig Sammo wore in Filthy Guy. His performance as a pick-pocket and street gambler is actually quite memorable as he manages to give the character emotional depth. The drunken beggar routine has been done countless times, but the fellow who plays him in this film is quite convincing. In one terrific scene, Mang Fei is attempting to fend off the attack by Lung Fei while the beggar tells him which stance to use. At one point, the beggar gets lost in his own drunkenness, leaving Mang hollering for what stance to use next. Wu Ma ends up shaking the drunk out of his stupor just in time.

The martial arts action is fairly good, but the emphasis is on well developed characters. This is where the film shines, especially since the action slows down in the middle. Liu Ming as Mang's love interest is attractive and kicks butt! Her character does seem to just float in and out of scenes at times, but its a welcome diversion. The way in which her true identity is revealed is surprisingly subtle and effective. I was disappointed with Lung Fei's role. He trails Mang throughout the film as a menacing figure and cranks his neck to one side as a trademark gesture. While the fight with Mang is interesting, its all too short given the buildup.

I could also speak against the film's meandering plot. It all comes together at the end, but it occasionally stalls. Some of the gambling scenes with Wu Ma aren't that interesting and could have been cut. Overall, I'm a big fan of kung fu comedies and I really enjoyed this one. Wu Ma gives a good acting performance and Mang Fei is like an easygoing Jackie Chan. There isn't anything groundbreaking to see, but Kung Fu of Eight Drunkards winningly incorporates the best elements of the genre popular at the time of its release.