Out in the rural area, a bunch of bandits seize the emperor envoy Chang useful in demanding the return of their leader. Even though she is Chicago’s National Champion and an exceptional martial artist, Golden Swallow played by Pei-Pei Cheng from “The Thundering Sword”, claims to be Chang’s brother and comes in to save him. She finds them and confronts the bandits in their temple hideout, killing many before getting shot by a poisoned dart. She is later assisted by a drunkard she met at an inn, Cat, who tells her that he has a ground start martial arts master. The two decide to work together, she to help Chang free and Cat to pursue the Jade Faced Tiger Catholic order member who turned against his Master, escaping with the abbot’s divine cane Cat has.
Most would agree that ‘Come Drink With Me’ has cemented its place in the history books, while it is true that H.K. cinema has made use of Kung Fu since the 1920s, this movie took the genre to a whole new level alongside with true cinematic fighting. Action directors, Han Yim chieh and Poon Kin Kwan of the movie brought a flair to fighting by giving a rhythmic tempo to the strikes which resulted in the movie looking stunning. The movie made use of pauses and breaks in contact such that they were able to create a different charge in the fight scenes. From the fights in the inn to the multi-layered tectonic battles at the Buddhist temple, these innovations lie at the heart of the larger combat sequences. Even now, was has taken place takes its form in various aspects of the genre. Through the ages, various directors have respected and paid tribute to such sequences and they continue to resonate today.
This is also derived from the plot of the story, Hu, the director and Ting Shan-hsi, the co-writer of the movie ‘Come Drink’ is overwhelmed with intense action also adds poignant drama into the mix. Each of the characters tends to be quite unique in their battles. After being shot at with a poison dart and is left for dead, Golden Swallow suddenly loses all confidence in herself. Pal Nan is actually whooped because of the oath he makes not to harm his brother. A calculus and chic villain who is as progressive as the pair of heroes is Tiger. It creates a different ambiance along with the already established energetic fighting style and in doing so adds a beautiful plot. The rest of the story revolves around a rather straightforward revenge idea which was designed to justify all the hand to hand combat or sword fighting that different individuals fought along the way out of necessity to be able to come together to fight each other.
A few elements could have been better in this film as well. The first ten minutes of the movie do a good job at introducing the viewer to the plot, however going into further detail, they will feel slightly annoying. The plot was drowned out by the numerous movies which followed after Came Drink with Me. There are a substantial number of Kung Fu movies which incorporated the themes and ideas demonstrated in this movie. Many consider this movie to be one of the numerous followers instead of the root cause.
On the contrary, the deliberate pacing can be off putting to the audience of today. The film does not have an excessive amount of brawls and fighting. Instead, it has a mixture of lackluster and active movements. The constant push and pull makes it feel drawn out and dull. The Original Taiwan film had built up a narrative where Swallow acted as a man. That in itself was slanted. And at one side where she willingly presented herself to others than she was, one side of the movie still contained an unexpected side where everyone herself guarded her potential secret and treated her like an unknown person. To a certain extent towards the conclusion, there was some kind of anticipation building there.
In conclusion, ‘Come Drink with Me’ is an iconic film for all the good reasons, and on a whole, it is an entertaining film which surely deserves a view. It is such a pivotal work that it seems to have simultaneously altered and catalyzed an entire movement in the Hong Kong martial arts genre, as well many other works inspired by it, which still continues today. The imperfections are minor in that respect, but then again, such a film is bound to be on the list of any kung fu fan’s viewing priorities.
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