Film

Drunken Master III

Drunken Master III swaps Jackie Chan for Andy Lau and borrows the drunken-boxing name for a turn-of-the-century plot about a kidnapped princess, a jade ring, and the White Lotus Society's imperial scheming. Directed by genre architect Lau Kar-leung, it's broader and clumsier than its namesake — part slapstick, part revolutionary intrigue, part detour through the Wong Fei-hung mythology. Fine, minor, mostly for completists tracing the drunken-fist lineage rather than newcomers.

TMDb rating3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love kung fu comedies where the slapstick is built on real martial choreography and a romance that sneaks up between the punches, the kind of playful period adventure that trusts its physical gags.

Skip it if you want a tight, serious martial arts drama; this one leans into broad clowning and farce, and the plot is a loose vehicle for the fights rather than something to be taken seriously.

What it asks of you: Roughly ninety minutes of nonstop motion, so you need to be willing to go with its loud, bouncy rhythm and let the silliness wash over the more plotty stretches.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Drunken Master1978

This is the film that gave drunken boxing its name and comic engine — Jackie Chan as the feckless student forced into brutal training, turning humiliation into some of the funniest fight choreography ever filmed.

But Chan's manic slapstick and the long training-montage structure can feel repetitive if the style hasn't won you over yet.

Drunken Master poster

The Legend of Drunken Master1994

Jackie Chan returns to the drunken-fist well one more time, and the finale — fighting on burning coals against Ken Lo — is one of the great action sequences of the decade.

But Same year, similar title, genuinely better film — might feel like doing your Drunken Master homework twice over.

The Legend of Drunken Master poster

Once Upon a Time in China1991

Jet Li's version of Wong Fei-hung — the same folk hero lurking at the edges of Drunken Master III — gets the full wuxia-epic treatment, gorgeous and politically serious with peak Yuen Woo-ping choreography.

But It plays its history and nationalism much straighter than the comedy you just came from.

Once Upon a Time in China poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Drunken Master III

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Come Drink with Me1966

Drunken Master III borrows its disguised-rescuer-and-hidden-royal-object plot wholesale from the wuxia tradition King Hu invented decades earlier here; this shows you the serious, stately ancestor of the joke.

King Hu's wuxia landmark gave Hong Kong action cinema its grammar — Cheng Pei-pei's swordswoman going undercover to rescue a captured official is the ancestor of every disguised-hero rescue plot around.

But No comedy, minimal slapstick — this is elegant and controlled where Drunken Master III is broad and silly.

Come Drink with Me poster
More like this (8)

Iron Monkey1993

Another Wong Fei-hung riff, this time as a child, with Yuen Woo-ping directing wire-fu at its most elegant — fast, funny, and gravity-defying in a way few films have matched since.

But The old English dub that circulated for years was choppy; hunt down a subtitled cut or the charm evaporates.

Iron Monkey poster

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin1978

Lau Kar-leung — credited here as "Uncle Yan" and one of the genre's great architects — directs the training-film template everyone since has copied, with Gordon Liu earning every inch of his mastery.

But Slower and more monastic than the knockabout comedy you just watched; the training really is the whole film.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin poster

Project A1983

Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao together in a colonial-era Hong Kong caper full of clock-tower stunts and genuinely dangerous physical comedy — the trio at its most purely joyful.

But Looser plotting than the drunken-boxing films; it's more a string of jaw-dropping stunts than a tight story.

Project A poster

Kung Fu Hustle2004

Stephen Chow takes the same slapstick-kung-fu DNA and pumps it full of CGI and Looney Tunes energy — a cartoon fight movie with real heart underneath the absurdity.

But The tonal whiplash between broad gag and heartfelt underdog story isn't going to land for everyone.

Kung Fu Hustle poster

Fist of Legend1994

Jet Li at his physical peak, in a film that trades comedy for pure fight-choreography seriousness — one of the best-shot martial arts films of the era.

But Barely any jokes; if comedy was the draw for you, this will feel like a different genre entirely.

Fist of Legend poster

The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter1984

Lau Kar-leung again, this time also on screen, in a story about grief, betrayal and pole-fighting technique that's far more emotionally serious than its title suggests.

But Grim in places — family tragedy sits oddly next to the elaborate weapon choreography.

The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter poster

Kung Fu Panda2008

Master Oogway and Shifu's unpredictable, wobbling fighting philosophy is a sincere cartoon translation of the exact comic-kung-fu engine Drunken Master III runs on, just aimed at eight-year-olds instead of grindhouse crowds.

An American animated family film built almost entirely out of drunken-master tropes — the wobbly old teacher, the unlikely student, the training montage turned physical comedy — played dead straight for kids.

But It's a Dreamworks cartoon with none of the real stunt risk or grit that makes Hong Kong kung fu comedy feel dangerous.

Kung Fu Panda poster

It Happened One Night1934

Strip out the martial arts and Drunken Master III's plot is a captor-falls-for-captive road comedy; this is that structure's clearest, funniest blueprint, from a wholly different country and decade.

Long before Yeung Kwun kidnaps a princess and starts falling for his own hostage, this Capra screwball classic ran the same setup: reluctant escort, runaway aristocrat, forced proximity, a romance neither will admit to.

But Zero kung fu, obviously — dialogue-driven 1930s American comedy, gentle where Drunken Master III is loud and physical.

It Happened One Night poster

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Recommended by

Project A, Drunken Master, Police Story 3: Super Cop, Rumble in the Bronx, The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, Supercop 2, Jackie Chan: My Stunts, The Legend of the Swordsman, Police Story 4: First Strike, Street Fighter, Twin Dragons, The Accidental Spy, Fantasy Mission Force, Yes, Madam!, Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars, Ride On, God of Gamblers, Wing Chun