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  Wires in Drunken Master 2 (1994)

"Drunken Master 2" is a masterpiece. The best Jackie Chan movie in the 90's. Perhaps even one of the all-time best shall I say. Definitely comes in the top five. Intricately choreographed kung-fu including some weapon skills, marvelous (and some amazing) stunts, good script and loads of comedy.

So on to the point. Jackie doesn't use wires. Well usually not. Though, he did in "Operation Condor (1992 AKA Armor of God 2)" at the very end in the German fortress scene where he flies through the air. He had to. Even a great guy like him can't defy gravity without the help of wires, you know. Anyway.
The disappointing thing is that he also got wires to help him do some of the actions in DM2. Of course, if you regard his age, 40 at that time, it's not hard to imagine the difficulty to do the drunken boxing style. Lots of swirling and swaying, turning around and bending movements. So, using wires to a certain amount is acceptable. It helps to bring in the somewhat fantasy-alike-side of the drunken fist style too. However, it is sadthat he had to use wires to lift him up to do the jumping back roundhouse kick. The scene I'm talking about here is where Wong Fei-Hong enters the factory as a revenge to meet the smugglers and their boss (played by Kenneth Lo Wai-Kwong) for the final spectacular battle. Jackie as Fei-Hong, jump-kicks after he flicks the sand on the ground and left kicks the approaching bad guy. But why? Why did he have to get the wires to assist him with that roundhouse kick?
I've read in some books that this kick requires great physical strength as well as technique and is actually difficult to manage even for real-life kung-fu masters after the age of 40. So, I just have to guess, sadly but probably, that it is the same for Jackie. And since he last did a full jumping back roundhouse kick in "Twin Dragons (1993)", all the spinning kicks in his movies later have been done in half-spins.

I don't really mind if Jackie used wires. As long as he keeps the action within his style, it is okay. But I hope he doesn't start using them to the point where I find it a 'wire-fu action'. Then I'd be disappointed. If I want to see some wire-fu, I'd go and see a Jet Li movie. Jet Li is the master on wires. I don't mind Jackie Chan using wires to enhance the action he has in mind or to cover up the aging dilemma,  but if it goes over the top and become too much of a fantasy, like people flying in the air doing four consecutive kicks or something, then that's just not his type of action that I have known for years. There was also a lot of wirework in Gorgeous, and although it seems like some people got offended by that, I thought it was still acceptable, because the choreography was not ridiculous. The choreography there was pure Chan&Co. style, and after all,  when I think about it, that is probably what I really want to see.

Additional info: We all know how terrible Jackie's physical condition is, right? After all those years of doing somewhat insane stunts and actions, it is not at all surprising. From a broken finger to a fractured skull....his whole body is in pain. Jackie has had numerous impacts in his back and some of them has caused real trouble. Since the mid 80's, he has had constant pain in the back. An aerial back-roundhouse kick is done with a swift spin in the back, and so in order not to aggravate the condition of his back injury can also stand as an explanation for why he started using wires from Drunken Master 2 to perform this kick.

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