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Kung Fu Hustle
Category: On DVD
Posted by Mark Runyon | June 02, 2005 | 01:18 AM
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Grade: A |
Genre: Foreign Comedy
Summary: Kung Fu Hustle is basically a parody on all the classic kung fu movies of yore yet unlike most parodies that I've ever experienced, its crafty and inventive rather than being lathered in cheesiness.
The only thing you can really say after watching this film is "Wow." Then go ahead and say it again to try to get it out of your system. This is one super interesting film. Kung Fu Hustle is basically a parody on all the classic kung fu movies yet unlike most parodies that I've ever experienced, its crafty and inventive rather than being lathered in cheesiness. The dialog is thoughtfully inane, the characters are oodles of fun and I would put the action sequences toe to toe with anything from the Matrix to Hero. I'm still trying to grasp how they pulled this magnanimous feat off. Time to stop questioning and sit back to take it all in. |
The film opens with the Crocodile Gang ruthlessly mistreating the ineffectual police in 40's mob run China. They walk out the door of the station to find the Axe Gang, who is ready to turn the rival gang into a finely sliced pieces of cheese. They strut and posture about like something out of West Side Story. There is a brief moment of shock where your inner monologue says, "Uh oh, what is this crap? The first Bruce Lee musical." Next, we flash to the slums where three great warriors are toiling away in menial professions trying to blend in with the common folk. Trouble walks into town bearing the name Sing (Stephen Chow) and his right hand heavy man. They are dressed in attitude claiming to be henchmen of the Axe Gang come to push these petty farmers around, but they weren't counting on resistance. To the challenge, "Whoever wants to die, step forward." Everyone steps forward. A woman and her onion kick his ass, which tells you everything you need to know about Sing. He's a mobster wanna-be who has been pushed around his entire life. He runs his mouth, but as Stinger said in Top Gun his "mouth is writing checks his butt can't cash." His dorkiness attracts the Axe gang into the fray. Their presence brings out the masters who wipe the floor with the cutlery posse.
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| Kung Fu Hustle |
| Starring: Stephen Chow, Lam Chi Chung, Yuen Wah, Yuen Qui & Leung Siu Lung |
| Director: Stephen Chow |
| View the Trailer (Quicktime). |
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I'll quit rehashing the plot because it's pretty standard fare for this genre, and I'm forced to gloss over the best parts -- the humor and the film's composition. This movie is a wicked mix of traditional beat 'em up martial arts extravaganza, part real life cartoon dished up with a side of slapstick comedy. The fight scenes are a careful blend of the best martial arts drawn from films like the Matrix and Hero focused on the ultra-fighting that bend the edges of reality. In one fight, the beast knocks Sing's head into the ground -- literally. Not once, not twice but about a dozen times. Is his head now a bloody pulp? Nope, he's a little bruised up though he just had to pull his head out of the foot hole in the asphalt as if Superman were battling Doomsday. The Matrix-like qualities of a relative universe are very present here. Anything is possible. If the prior didn't clue you in on the cartoon elements, wait till you see one character chasing after another. It's like watching Wiley Coyote chase after the Roadrunner -- except with real people. I understand this is an impossible image to grasp, but it's damn cool to see put into action. It is slapstick in the way Sing is his own worst enemy during a fight. He'll throw a dagger only for it to come back and impale himself in the arm. How can this man stick himself with three of his own knives and become buried in poisonous cobras all by his own doing? It's like watching Chaplin fumble his way into the most unlikely of pickles. Yet somehow Sing always prevails like the lovable Tramp.
Sing isn't the only character worthy of screen space. The portly landlady of the Pig Sty (Yuen Qui) is also a master warrior eternally decked out in tattered nightgown and hair curlers. Her gift is her nagging yell, which can disintegrate even the undead. And you thought your girlfriend was bad. The head of the Axe Gang spends more time preening than fighting. When he lights his hair on fire, he shows Michael Jackson's locks don't have the monopoly on being torch food. The Beast (Leung Siu Lung) is the baddest warrior in the world. Curiously, he looks like your grandfather who hasn't taken a shower in a month. This colorful cast inflates this film to larger than life proportions.
This film isn't one that shapes its way into words. It just has to be experienced to understand the genius of what is taking place here. This is one savvy comedy that doesn't short sheet us on the action part of the drama. The story is witty and fresh as it pulls out all the tired stale cliches and turns them on their heads. You'll hear characters spout out phrases like "it's tiring being tough" and four-eyed poindexters emerge from the lockers they were stuffed in circa high school to whip up on our bad ass wanna-be. Stephen Chow is a dedicated student of film, and it shows in this fantastic collage, serving as slick homage to cinema's founding fathers. Kung Fu Hustle is one of the most clever and delightful comedies I've seen to date. Like Napoleon Dynamite, this film has the goods to stake it's claim on "cult classic" status.
Buy or rent Kung Fu Hustle now.
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