451. Da Zui Xia/Come Drink with Me (1966)

Running Time: 95 minutes
Directed By: King Hu
Written By: Ye Yang
Main Cast: Cheng Pei-pei, Yueh Hua, Chan Hung-lit, Lee Wan-chung, Yueng Chi-hing
Click here to view the trailer

EVERYBODY WAS KING HU FIGHTING

Well my streak of good movies comes to a crashing halt here at the blog. My last seven reviews written have all been positive reviews, but "Come Drink with Me" would have had to serve me up something A LOT better to get anything even remotely close to positive.

While traveling in a caravan, a general's son is kidnapped and held hostage in exchange for the release of a bandit leader, who is to be put to death. The bandit gang of kidnappers agree that they'll give the opposition four days to release their leader, or else they'll kill the general's son. The only thing that they must worry about now is Golden Swallow (Pei-pei), the general's daughter, coming at them, in retaliation. Of course, she does and we find out soon that their fears were legitimate, as we see Golden Swallow showcasing some pretty fancy sword work and throwing pieces of money as if it were daggers. On her mission to free her brother, Golden Swallow meets up with beggar, Drunken Cat (Hua), a man who turns out not to be a beggar at all, but another warrior and wielder of the Green Wand, a magic wand that turns Drunken Cat nearly invincible. Ultimately Drunken Cat agrees to assist Golden Swallow and an all out war is waged as we head into the climax of the picture.

If you'll remember my "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" review, then you'll remember me filing that film into the folder entitled, "not for me". "Come Drink with Me" is basically "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" thirty years earlier, except the cinematography isn't as flashy and the special effects aren't as poured on. It's a film that looks like it's age and in my opinion, that's a big drawback. The story in "Come Drink with Me" just wasn't very interesting and ultimately I just didn't care about the heroes or the villains that were battling one another or the outcomes of their situations. I'll give them a few brownie points for some mildly exciting action sequences and some attention grabbing swordplay scenes. This is something that if it had a much stronger story and had just a little bit more flamboyancy, it could've really been a home run. Instead, this film just feels so mundane and unimportant. I haven't seen a whole lot of kung-fu films, but I have a strong feeling that this is just another in a plethora of cookie cutter martial arts flicks.

Also, this is apparently another case of the book just throwing something in for historical value, rather than a movie ACTUALLY being a must see. A quick trip to the IMDB page for "Come Drink with Me" and you'll find a message board post claiming that this is King Hu's worst film, where many supposed martial arts buffs denounce this film, recommending that everyone take a look at anything but "Come Drink with Me" when it comes to King Hu cinema. Not good enough for ya? The book also says and I quote: "...despite it's great charm, this is still early King Hu; his mastery of all aspects of the medium, especially his inimitable approach to editing, would only be perfected in later masterworks such as A Touch of Zen." Okay, so THE BOOK is basically flat out saying that, "Yeah this movie's okay, but if you really want a treat check out A Touch of Zen". Must I see something from a director who has yet to perfect his style, according to this book? Really? Nevermind, I've scratched my head over this one long enough.

RATING: 3/10 Not the worst thing I've seen from the book and a few, minor pieces of interest get it a '3', but still a recommendation to avoid. I've moved "A Touch of Zen" to the top of my Netflix queue, so that I can rip this band-aid right off, in one quick motion.

MOVIES WATCHED: 352
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 649

November 22, 2011 7:10pm