THE YOUNG MASTER: Often cited as a pale follow-up to ‘Drunken Master’, even by Jackie Chan himself, the star actually has much to be proud of with this pulse-pounding martial arts comedy. Mixing the throwaway physicality of a seasoned acrobat with the comic consciousness of a silent-film supremeo, Chan explodes across the screen and astounds the audience with fights as elaborate as a Shaw Brother’s classic and aggressive as a modern-day kickboxer. Whang In-Sik is given one of the most incredible introductions in kung fu cinema history, and the star-studded cast, including Wai Pei, Shek Kin and Yuen Biao, is wondrous. To round off the movie, Chan flips the rules a finger and indulges in a tremendous twenty-minute brawl with the near-invincible Whang, with complete disregard for fight scene conventions. This is a classic by any standards. Rating: 5 / 5 .
