Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

'Kung Fu Hustle' is an utterly ridiculous film, and succeeds as a piece of pure entertainment all the more because of this. Shamelessly absurd and flamboyant, this film's hilarity comes not only from its comical characters but from how fast it dispenses of any semblance of logic. It doesn't pace itself evenly or fully flesh out its characters because it doesn't need to. What it does do is deliver on the goods; slapstick comedy and kung-fu fighting that starts off as fairly standard fair and just gets crazier and crazier. It never fails to surprise and delight, and keeps giving until the end. Also the axe gang has to have one of the best villain introductions in cinema. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kZ4SHVKlRA

Lees verder

I can see why people love this movie. It had action, comedy, and lots of special effects. I fell into the liked it, didn't love it category.

What I loved about it was the cast. It was fun to see the incognito martial arts masters come out of their humdrum lives and reveal what they were capable of. Any time I see Yuen Wah featured, I'm a happy camper.

The Roadrunner and Coyote special effects were over the top and fun for the most part. Although the funniest gag in the whole movie didn't involve any CGI. The closer they kept it to reality, the better I liked it.

The martial arts scenes were entertaining, I enjoyed the early trio's more believable fighting the most. The latter fights which relied more heavily on CGI were comic book style and entertaining in their own way, if less satisfying.

Visually it was a stunning movie, the sets, costumes, and cinematography were well above kung fu movie standards.

I wasn't as fond of the first half of the movie with the death and dismemberment scenes. The landlady's schtick wore thin pretty quickly with me although she redeemed herself in the end. Bruce Leung made for a creepy supernatural kung fu madman. I found Stephen Chow's hustler more annoying than funny for most of the film. When he finally picked a side and came out of his cocoon I could get on board with his character even if his character growth and kung fu skills weren't properly explained. This movie cried out for a hero, not a Chosen One who did nothing to earn his greatness.

Perhaps the biggest problem I had with this movie is that I didn't care about most of the kung fu misfits and the ones I did care about didn't last long. Even in a comedy I need some thread of the story to be emotionally compelling and the only one they really offered was lollipop girl and the hustler which didn't touch me at all. The juxtaposition of slapstick over-the-top humor and brutal over-the-top killings failed to resonate with me as well.

While there were parts of Kung Fu Hustle I found amusing, more often I found it borderline cruel and repetitive with flashes of humor. The trio's fights and the final fight saved this movie for me. Oh, and Yuen Wah getting to strut his badass kung fu self helped a lot, too.

Lees verder

Crazy asian kung fu comedy.

For the majority of the general audience in the Western world, Asian cinema consists of either horrors or beautiful, fairy-tale stories that are probably best remembered for all the acrobat-like movements in the air. Which is surprising as we should know better considering the many different, mainly Japanese and Chinese, genres that have inspired the powerful neighbor to the east to produce remakes as well as independent films. The contribution, Kung Fu Hustle, is further proof of the heterogeneity among Asian films.

Sing (Stephen Chow) has big plans for his life. As a child, he was told that he was destined to do great things for the good of the world by using a very special and very unusual Kung Fu technique, which involves defeating your opponent with just one palm. But Sing soon discovered that this technique was not quite so simple and his palm not as powerful as he thought. So instead of saving the world, he decides to become as villainous as possible. As this career also seems doomed to failure, Sing tries to give it new life by applying, together with his crony, for membership in the infamous mafia Yx gang. This party consists of a large number of black-clad men equipped with, you guessed it, axes. After unsuccessfully trying to extort money from a hairdresser in the poor residential area , Sing manages to attract the attention of the leader of the Ax gang. But maybe not really in the way that Sing wanted, as his behavior gives rise to a violent conflict between the Yx gang and the residents of the residential area. He himself finds himself standing in no man's land.

According to the film's title, we should see, during the screening, a lot of Kung Fu practice and we do. Or to be honest, as I am not further acquainted with this martial art, it is impossible for me to distinguish Kung Fu from other similar disciplines. But since the movie is called Kung Fu Hustle and they talk about Kung Fu in the movie, I assume they also practice Kung Fu. The reason why I mention this is not to account for my knowledge or rather lack thereof, but to point out to all of you frowning at another fight movie that this is the first martial arts production (that I've seen) that never gets boring for us uninitiated. The reason is simple: The film is consistently really, really funny. And don't ask me to pick a favorite part because everything is fun in this movie, everything from the props to the lines.

But what I appreciate most is that Stephen Chow (the film's director and lead actor) dares to take down the Chinese film from the pedestal it has been on since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon because of its beauty, by making Kung Fu Hustle into a mundane and slightly disheveled film. Now I hope no one will misunderstand me, with these two words I neither mean that various Kung Fu techniques appear in my everyday life nor that the film looks worn and sloppy. Because it is beautiful, but in an appropriate way, as it refuses to be perfect in terms of appearance. Thanks to this, you as a spectator, full of admiration for the film's surface, do not have to keep a respectful distance. Which you were, more or less, forced to do by the Chinese films previously, in much the same way as when you buy an unusually beautiful material thing and then do not dare to use it for fear of ruining it.

There is only one downside to Kung Fu Hustle, that it is so good that it risks being noticed by those in power in Hollywood and used as a template for an upcoming remake. Which would be devastating given the fate that usually awaits the films that find themselves in such a situation: As soon as the American remake sees the light of day, the foreign predecessors are relegated to the obscured shelves of video stores, observed in the future only by dedicated cineastes. But I may be exaggerating this concern.

Lees verder

Hilarious

I've always been an fan of Stephen Chow and Ng Man Tat (RIP I'm gonna miss you) growing up. I watched so many of their movies, so gonna just do one review for all their works.

All their works are amazing and hilarious, and I find great joy seeing other people finding them these days on YouTube and enjoying it too. From their God of Gambler superpowers, to this Kung Fu Hustle Wuxia style power, to their Out of the Dark scary movie psychic powers, or even normal Fight Back to School, they always include an great sense of humor and love the way he made each movie.
Always gonna be one of my favorite actor, and movie.

Lees verder

I rarely write reviews but I decided that this is a classic that anybody who watches Chinese or Hong Kong works must have in their collection. I remember watching this movie when it first came out and since then I've lost count of how many times I've watched it although it has been a couple of years since my last viewing. I stumbled upon it on Netflix the other day and boy, the magic of this movie is that every time you rewatch, you pick up something new.

It's the perfect blend of action and comedy and it beautifully directed and honestly, it's just a masterpiece.

The movie itself is an absolutely ridiculous concept that makes it amazingly hilarious. Kung Fu Hustle feels like an adventurous dream the whole way through (if you can manage not to laugh yourself awake). Despite being completely outrageous the whole story makes sense and flows smoothly. The only reason I deducted a half mark on the story was that there were just some characters that I wanted to know more about.

This is the type of movie that makes you want to binge watch anything else with Stephen Chow and what more can I say then, please, give it a shot.

Lees verder