Dance of the Drunken Mantis (1979) User Reviews

not like father, like son

[winner55 · 8/10 · 27 July 2006]

Yuen Woo Ping's own first sequel to the legendary Jackie Chan film, Drunken Master, presents us with something of a puzzle.

Yuen is the son of Simon Yuen, who here re-creates his Drunken Master role of Sam the Seed. Returning home after many years, Sam discovers that his wife has adopted a rather good-natured but dim-witted young man who, of course, wants to learn drunken boxing from his adoptive father. Unfortunately, he can't hold his liquor, so the old man tortures him to convince him to give up on drunken boxing. After the old man is injured in a fight, the young man learns a different fighting style from a former fellow-student of Sam's, and... well, the rest is kung-fu.

What is problematic here is that in all the films Yuen worked with his father, the young man learning from the master is seriously tortured by the older man. In other words, Yuen uses these films to work out some real, deep-seated psychological angst about his father, who happens to be the very actor playing all these sadistic father-figures! There is a lesser known Yuen film hanging around somewhere called "Secret Master", which appears to be about the Yuen family itself, back at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. In that film we find once again this theme of the cruel father and the son (who would be the father of Simon Yuen, if this reading is correct) who overcomes parental disapproval to become the better fighter anyway.

Yuen Woo Ping has continued to explore this theme, by the way, throughout his career. The Yuen family doesn't appear to have ever been a happy household.

Nonetheless, they sure know how to make great kung-fu films. There are decided weaknesses in this film - it doesn't hold together well as a single, developing narrative. But the acting is generally solid, the humor is still pretty likable, and the fight sequences are generally superb, with very little special effects.

Recommended.

Not a Jackie Chan movie folks...but still great!

[ikfmaim · 8/10 · 9 February 2005]

The previous commenter was probably mistaking this for Drunken Master, which Jackie starred in along with Simon Yuen, who plays the same character here. Drunk Mantis was director/choreographer Yuen Wo-ping's attempt to make drunken lightning strike twice, replacing Jackie, who had gone on to more personal things, with charisma-challenged family member Yuen Shun-yee (a.k.a. Sunny Yuen), who, although talented, is no Jackie.

The film is further hampered by a less inventive plot, which calls on the villains to simply disappear through most of the second half because they'd just get in the way of the training sequences. Finally, the revelation of the drunken master's family and surprisingly well- appointed home comes as something of a shock, considering the persona created in Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master.

Even so, from a kung-fu standpoint, the film is wondrous. The villains are superkicker Hwang Jang-lee and future choreography king Corey Yuan Kwai. Linda Lin Ying plays Simon Yuen's wife, who is as adept a fighter as her husband, while Yam Sai-kun makes a memorable impression as the drunken master's brother, who specializes in sick-fu (making me wish the film was titled something like Diseased Snake in the Mantis' Claw)! Yam, by the way, would grow up to become the memorable villain of The Heroic Trio and Iron Monkey.

Despite its drawbacks, this is still an exceptional old-school kung-fu movie.

very cool film

[Egantrotman · 7/10 · 28 August 2013]

To me this was a very good movie. It had everything in it. I especially liked foggy uncle sickness, they should've made him fight a little more. In the movie sickness said his style is the best when he was explaining to foggy about the style of drunken boxing, i think he said sickness then book then medicine then wine. then he said Chinese reads it backwards so they will see it as wine as being the best. making foggy feeling that his dad kun fu was the best,that's why they should have made him prove it. He played that character well, so to did foggy. The fight seen at the end was to short. thats why they should have given sickness a greater part in the movie. but never the less i enjoyed that movie and so did my family. i also liked the part when rubber legs and sam the seed met in the restaurant for a drink and they started to fight, that was a cool fight scene.

The Drunken Master himself returns for an encore

[BrianDanaCamp · 25 May 2001]

In DANCE OF THE DRUNK MANTIS (1979), Simon Yuen returns in the role of Sam Seed, specialist in Drunken Kung Fu and the title character in the Jackie Chan hit, DRUNKEN MASTER (1978), directed by Simon's son, Yuen Wo Ping, who also directed this film. Here Sam has a wife (Lynda Lin), who has adopted a grown son, Foggy (Yuen Shun Yi, aka Sonny Yuen, another son of Simon), during Sam's absence. When Foggy first meets Sam in the street, he gets into a hassle with him only to learn at home that the old man is his adoptive father. High-kicking Hwang Jang Lee plays Rubberlegs, who arrives from the north to fight Sam and prove the superiority of his own Drunken Mantis style. Rubberlegs and Sam have a lengthy fighting/drinking contest.

After a lot of tiresome scenes in town, including an overlong encounter with banker Moneybags, played by comic actor Dean Shek, the action shifts to the countryside where Foggy trains under Sick Doctor (who sleeps in a coffin and is made up like a corpse) and learns Sickness Boxing. The training scenes are quite exciting and lead up to Foggy's fight with Rubberlegs' chief student (played by Yuen Kwei, aka Corey Yuen, an action director in his own right). Foggy then joins Sam for a lengthy battle with Rubberlegs.

The film's onscreen subtitle (in the English dubbed print) is DRUNKEN MASTER, PART 2. This is not to be confused with Jackie Chan's l994 sequel, DRUNKEN MASTER II (released in the U.S. in 2000 as LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER). This isn't one of Yuen Wo Ping's best films, but it does provide a good showcase for Simon Yuen and Hwang Jang Lee and offers some gimmicky kung fu with humor, a specialty of director Yuen during this period (1978-83) of his career.

Good

[AwesomeWolf · 7/10 · 3 January 2005]

Version: Cantonese, with English subtitles

So Hai, the drunken master from 'Drunken Master', discovers he has a son, Foggy. More importantly, a stereotypical evil kung-fu master (long-white hair included) named - wait for it - Rubberlegs (Hwang Jang Lee), is seeking out So Hai in order to prove the superiority of his northern Drunken Mantis style. Foggy must learn the art of Sickness Boxing, and join forces with his father to defeat Rubberlegs and his pupil-in-evilness.

'Dance of the Drunken Mantis' is the first sequel to Jackie Chan's 1978 classic 'Drunken Master'. However, it is not 'Drunken Master II', more of a spin-off. Jackie Chan doesn't appear in this movie, however, director Yuen Wo Ping returns to direct this spin-off. It is funny, and has some nice action scenes, but ultimately it has nothing on the original 'Drunken Master'. Yuen Wo Ping and Hwang Jang Lee are good, but nowhere near their best in this, but it is still entertaining.

7/10 - Martial arts fans should enjoy it

The Yuen clan takes over

[ckormos1 · 9/10 · 30 July 2016]

In 1978 Yuen Wo-Ping directed Jackie Chan in his breakout hit, "Drunken Master". In 1979 Yuen Wo-Ping assembled the same cast and substituted his brother Yuen Shun-Yi for Jackie Chan. The resulting movie originally titled "Dance of the Drunk Mantis" went on to be known as "Drunken Master Part 2" for good reasons.

Yuen Wo-Ping took everything good about the original "Drunken Master" and made it better in every way.

He started with Linda Lin Wing. Her performance in "Drunken Master" was presented as "surprise the old lady knows kung fu" and was simply amazing. Her performance in this movie was simply beyond amazing. I only spotted two sequences a body double was used for some extreme acrobatic moves and the rest was all her. Her martial arts skills certainly exceeded all the other more fair of face actresses such as Angela Mao.

He substituted brother Shun-Yi for Jackie Chan. Shun-Yi could at best equal Jackie Chan but the fight choreography in this movie met or excelled everything in the first.

Simon Yuen, the father of the clan, only had two more years to live. He was body doubled in all of the fight sequences. The double had to do some of the most complicated and creative moves ever put on film as of the date and he nailed it. Who was that person? It could have been more than one stunt double. If I ever meet Yuen Wo-Ping I intend to ask him that.

I rank this movie as one of the top movies of 1979 and 1979 had many great martial arts movies. I give it a 9 out of 10 and recommend it for anyone, not just the typical fans.

The drunken master spinoff

[coltras35 · 8/10 · 30 October 2021]

Drunken Fist, Sam the Seed discovers he has a son, Foggy. He tries to train Foggy but to no avail. Foggy is then trained in Drunken Fist from his uncle as he must face his father's rival, Rubber Legs, another Drunken Fist master who combines it with Mantis Fist to create a deadly style.

Energetic fusion of comedy and Kung-fu mayhem which is a spin off of the Drunken Master, and it's just as good, and is filled with funny scenes and acrobatic fights. The person who plays Sam Seed's adopted son is really good and fights very good. Guess who plays the villain Rubberlegs? Hwang Jang-Lee and Simon Yuen as Sam Seed sadly in his last appearance. All in all, a grand entertainment.