Kung Fu of 8 Drunkards (1980)

KUNG FU OF THE 8 DRUNKARDS is a cheap riff on Jackie Chan's DRUNKEN MASTER, with Wu Ma standing in as director and supporting actor. This film features Meng Fei as a rather undistinguished Jackie Chan imitator who learns the ropes at the hands of a drunken master and must work hard to beat some violent foes. It's all very predictable stuff, with lacklustre action sequences to boot, although the extremely broad comedy works rather well. Unfortunately Fei makes for a rather arrogant and unlikeable protagonist in this film.

Although he only appears in support, Wu Ma's character gets plenty of screen time and ended up being my favourite element of the movie. He gets into various scrapes with his drinking and petty crime and he seems to be having a lot of fun, which translates well to the viewer. Other than the comedy, there's not really much here that wasn't done better in DRUNKEN MASTER, and the fight choreography isn't really up to scratch. The end fight in particular is a bit weak and not the show-stopper we usually get in such a production; the low budget hurts this film quite considerably.