Slightly harshly reviewed on other sites, I feel that Idiot Swordsman / Drunken Dragon Strikes Back is a bit of low-budget fun that held my interest more than the usual 'kill the boss to get revenge' kung fu films.
A famous warrior known as the Drunken Knight disappears and the townsfolk hanker for his return. They (and I'm never entirely sure why) mistake a bumbling drunk for this man, eventually leading to the real Knight (King Boxer Lo Lieh) pretending to be his student and helping him.
This is not Jackie Chan, it's not even Drunk Style kung fu - the Idiot is not a kung fu practitioner anyway. There is some OK swordplay and wire-work and to be honest the jokes aren't brilliant, but the set pieces as the Knight helps the Idiot - held my interest.
The stakes are raised when the Idiot is elected head of a Justice League to wipe out the bad guys and a lady is kidnapped. At first the Idiot took advantage of his status but feels increasingly guilty and out of depth as things get more serious. I found the Idiot quite likable - he's a good guy with a sense of justice, and is moderately brave considering he has no kung-fu.
Mention must be made of the Knight using the Idiot's drunken 'gut booze spray' as a weapon, and the villainess having magic extending fingernail weapons. The ending has a sudden and fairly shocking death for the big boss.
Yes the opportunity to have something really funny and charming was lost by this film but they obviously tried out in Taiwan, and it had a lot more story and plot than other kung fu films - in fact the amount of action probably suffered due to the amount of plot. I thought it was all a jolly bit of fun. The English dub on my version was hilariously terrible too which added to the lols.
