Film

The Young Master

Name: The Young Master
Genre: Action, Comedy
Released: 1980
Cast: Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, Wai Pak, Hwang In-shik, Lily Li

Martial arts action

Jackie Chan's breakthrough leading role is a martial arts comedy that balances genuine danger with physical slapstick. Lung searches for his missing brother while being hunted as a criminal he didn't become. It's where Chan proved he could anchor a film with charm and vulnerability alongside astonishing acrobatic fighting. For anyone who loves action with a human heartbeat.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love Jackie Chan-era kung fu comedy where the fights are staged like physical jokes, with slapstick timing, gleeful set pieces and a hero who is more mischievous than invincible.

Skip it if you want a tight, serious martial arts drama; the tone bounces between broad comic mugging and brawling, and the plot is loose enough that it can feel like a string of scenes.

What it asks of you: It runs about 107 minutes and moves briskly, asking you to go along with its playful, cartoonish shifts in tone rather than follow a dense mystery.

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

If you liked this

Police Story1985

Chan's masterpiece refines everything The Young Master established: a cop fighting bureaucracy and corruption with improvised weapons, stunts that risk his actual life, and comedy that never derails the stakes. Peak Chan.

But If you want a straightforward action film, the plot is deliberately convoluted and sometimes secondary to the choreography.

Drunken Master1978

Sammo Hung directs Chan in a comedy-action film where physical comedy IS the action. The training sequences are hilarious, the villain is genuinely menacing, and Chan's energy is infectious. His star-making turn before The Young Master.

But The plot is gossamer-thin, and the drunken master gimmick can feel repetitive if you're not charmed by the bit.

The Protector1985

Chan plays a New York cop protecting a witness, giving him room for both earnest vulnerability and brutal, grounded action. James Glickenhaus directs with real tension. It's Chan in serious mode without abandoning his physicality.

But The script is thin and the New York location feels wasted. Some of the logic gaps are hard to forgive.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Young Master

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Magnificent Butcher1979

Both are Hong Kong action-comedies from the same era that use physical comedy and fighting as two sides of the same storytelling coin. Sammo Hung directed Drunken Master (above) and represents the same lineage.

Sammo Hung stars as a kung fu chef avenging his master's death. It's a missing link between Shaw Brothers martial arts and the comedic action that Chan perfected—brutal fights interrupted by slapstick, a hero who is skilled but not invincible. Hung's direction is precise and the tone walks a knife's edge.

But It's rougher than Young Master, the print quality can be poor, and the pacing occasionally stalls. The humor is sometimes broader than modern taste allows.

Wheels on Meals1984

Chan and Sammo Hung run a fast-food delivery van and stumble into protecting a wealthy woman. It's pure joy: the stunts are inventive, the comedy is warm, and the chemistry between the leads makes you believe in their friendship.

But The plot meanders and the female lead barely exists as a character. Pacing can feel slack to modern viewers.

Project A1983

Chan plays a Coast Guard captain fighting pirates. It's a perfectly assembled action-comedy with a clock-tower stunt that is genuinely terrifying, comedy that builds rather than interrupts, and a willingness to let scenes breathe.

But The central plot—involving a stolen cannon or some such—is nearly impossible to follow or care about.

Police Story 3: Super Cop1992

Chan goes undercover in a drug cartel and the film lets him be clever, vulnerable, and spectacular. Michelle Yeoh fights alongside him. The action is inventive and the emotional stakes land because Chan earned them.

But The script is conventional cop-movie stuff and some of the dubbed dialogue is distractingly bad.

Rush Hour1998

Chan's American breakthrough pairs him with Chris Tucker. It's mainstream, funny, and the action is precisely tailored to Chan's strengths: improvisation, physical comedy, and the willingness to use furniture as weaponry. It's charming.

But If you've moved past the '90s action formula, the plot is predictable and Tucker's energy can wear thin.

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow1978

Chan's first film. A janitor learns snake-style kung fu from a secret master. It's scrappy, the fights are inventive, and you can feel the hunger in every frame. It shows where it all started.

But The production quality is rough and the pacing is uneven. It's historically interesting more than it's fully formed.

Police Story 4: First Strike1996

Chan plays a cop caught in an international conspiracy involving nuclear weapons. The action is dense, the stunt work is reckless, and there's a whole sequence on frozen lakes that shouldn't work but does.

But The plot is genuinely confusing and doesn't really make sense. You'll spend more energy parsing the story than enjoying the action.

The Bodyguard1992

Where The Young Master mixes comedy and action, The Bodyguard separates them: the fighting is serious, the character work is serious. Both prove that martial arts leads can carry a film through performance, not just stunts. Both come from the same Hong Kong action tradition but point in different directions.

Jet Li plays a cop assigned to protect a prosecuting attorney. It's shot with balletic clarity—you see every blow land—and the action is meditative rather than frantic. The emotional core is genuine: loneliness, duty, the cost of protection. No wasted movement.

But If you want constant action, there are long stretches of quiet. Li's English is minimal and the plot is archetypal. It's a mood piece, not a thriller.

Come Drink with Me1966

Both feature a hero searching for a missing brother, but this is where that structure came from. It's the DNA of every martial arts film after it, including Young Master. Watching this shows you what Hong Kong cinema was building on and where the tradition came from.

King Hu's 1960s martial arts masterpiece about a female swordmaster rescuing her brother. It predates every modern action film you know by decades and invented the vocabulary they use. The fights are balletic, the cinematography is stunning, and it moves like a dream.

But It's in black and white, it's paced like a chamber piece not an action film, and the plot is simple to the point of abstraction. If you want Jackie Chan-style kinetic energy, this is the opposite.