YOUNG MASTER (1980) A movie review by Serdar Yegulalp (C) 1997 by Serdar Yegulalp
CAPSULE: Roaringly good early Jackie Chan vehicle, loaded with splendid stunt choreography and -- no! -- a nifty story.
YOUNG MASTER opens with a scene of such brashness and confidence that I was holding my breath out of fear that they couldn't sustain such a tone throughout the movie. And they really can't, but they come close enough that it makes little difference. The scene in question is a contest between rival martial arts schools, in which two teams dress up as Chinese New Year's dragons and must compete to retrieve a prize from an elaborate obstacle course. It's ten thousand times more riveting that the usual "Ha! Ha! Now you will die!" stuff that most chopsocky movies build their story around. It's also where we meet Jackie Chan's character, named (not coincidentally) Dragon.
Despite being well-coordinated, Dragon still loses the competition to the rival school. His teacher, disgusted with the lack of discipline he shows, kicks him out -- and his brother, as well, when it turns out his brother's a sellout to the other side. This sends the two of them right into gobs of trouble, since Dragon's brother has decided that the best way to make his living is through allying himself with a criminal family. All of this comes roaring out at us at the speed of about six fpm (fights per minute).
What's surprising about all this is that it holds together, makes a strange amount of sense, and becomes a clotheslines for Jackie to hang no end of martial-arts-based visual gags. (One fight, involving a battle fan, required over 300 takes to get right.) The movie also has a fixation with props used in weird ways: there are scenes where a pipe, a bench, and a length of rope get used in ways that boggle the mind.
Jackie Chan has risen from a cult figure to a consummate "total entertainer", a man who so completely lionizes the screen that it's no wonder he was able to make routine HK action movies into something really special. Here's proof.
Three and a half out of four battle fans.
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