Kung Fu Hustle

Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
By Chris Almeda

Description: Easily one of China's best movies of the year, Stephen Chow never stops amazing me. If you look for over the top Slap Stick Kung Fu then this movie is for you.
Notable cast: Stephen Chow... (That's really the only person I know)
Country: China

The year 2004 has been a real slow start for Hong Kong cinema. It seems like every movie that came out was either really bad or just good enough to say it's OK. But, as the year came to a close it took one movie to shift that feeling of hardly mentioning HK films to anyone outside of Hong Kong, to telling everyone you know to watch HK films; and that film was Kung Fu Hustle.

The movie starts out with a gang member beating up some police men (The crocodile gang or something). A little later that guy meets others from his gang and walks out to the street, and to their surprise, guys in suits and top hats (not really top hats but those fancy looking hats) carrying axes come out of each and every street surrounding them. They get the crap beaten out of them and we get informed that this gang (with the axes) are known as the Axe Gang. Apparently, they're the biggest and toughest Gang (who love to dance) who control a lot of Shanghai, China (which is shown through shots of them causing problems around town and other shots of them dancing).

Flash forward some time and we are introduced to a town called Pigsty Alley. It's a pretty ghetto place that only poor people live in, so Gangs have no use for them and just leave it alone. That is, until two people walk into the town: Sung (Stephen Chow) and Donut (???), two Axe Gang members who are in the village looking for a free haircut. They get a haircut but the barber doesn't care if they're from a gang or not, he wants his money. All the villagers end up getting involved, wanting Sung and Donut out of their village. Stuff happens and Sung calls for reinforcements. More Axe Gang members come and start causing problems. Then, out of nowhere one of the villagers starts fighting the Axe gang, and another, and another for a total of three people fighting the Axe gang. Each one seems to have a special form of fighting (one uses hands and legs, another uses monk style and the other uses sticks/spears/pikes). They beat the Axe gang and this is where the story unravels.

Turns out that Sung and Donut aren't really part of the Axe gang but they want to be so they go around pretending to be them. More problems arise with the conflict between the Axe gang and the people of Pigsty Alley. Which then escalates into a bigger battle and better fight scenes.

The story itself is pretty basic, but there are those confusing moments, like exactly why Sung goes and helps Pigsty Alley or how he gets super strong and beats up tons of Axe gang members. The conflict is between The Axe gang and Pigsty Alley, not Sung or his friend. Rather, Sung seems to come in and out of the story, so it's hard to say that he himself is the main character (even though he is).

With that said, the fight scenes in this movie are top-notch. Think Shaolin Soccer (That's right) but more martial arts and better fighting. With the advancement of computer graphics, Stephen Chow and his fight choreographers (Yuen Woo-Ping and, briefly, Samo Hung) seems to be one of the very few people who know how to properly use it; not making it the main feature of the movie but rather a method of how to enhance it. The one particular scene with the two assassins who play that string instrument to kill their foes was probably the best fight scene I've seen this year (Yes, Phil, that also includes Star Wars). The mix of actual fighting, CGI fighting and wire fighting is the best mix and best example of how to use all three properly.

As usual Stephen Chow brings out another good performance. This time it's not only him who has a good performance but other of the cast members as well. Even though the acting is good there is one person who was a little annoying, and that guy is The Beast (???). He is supposedly a master of Kung Fu (or some other form of martial arts) and was in an insane asylum because he could never find a worthy enough opponent. We first seem him in a shirt, shorts and sandals, making it look like he's worthless (but he's not). Now, my knowledge of Mandarin/Cantonese is limited (and I really mean limited) but even I found it annoying the way he talked so slow. That being said, all the roles were played very well.

The music is great here as well. They use that instrument (I don't know what it's called) a lot to make it sound authentically Chinese instead of trying to make it sound appealing to the rest of the world with some normal instruments usually heard (Guitars and what not). This authenticity is great and the music (though hardly important) sounds very entertaining.

Overall Kung Fu Hustle will leave you laughing and entertained. Just don't look too deep into this movie as it might leave you scratching your head... story wise.