Kung Fu Hustle

Stephen Chow, China/Hong Kong, 2004, 95 minutes

Though one of Hong Kong's biggest stars for a while, that Stephen Chow specialised in an unexportable form of Cantonese nonsense comedy had inhibited his ability to crossover into English-speaking markets until recently, when Miramax picked up his kung fu sports comedy Shaolin Soccer and retooled it for US audiences, scoring a minor hit in the process. Someone at Columbia obviously took note, co-funding this kung fu gangster comedy, set against the backdrop of 1930s Shanghai.

Chow plays Sing. After having been humilated when he tried to be a noble hero standing up for the weak and defenceless he decided that the only way to get on in this world was to be a badass. Thing is that, other than some decent lockpicking skills, he's really not that good at being bad.

Anyway, one day Sing and his sidekick venture into Pigsty, a part of town so poor that no-one has ever bothered it before, posing as members of the feared Axe Gang. Their con is quickly uncovered, but not before the real Axe gang has gotten involved and lost significant face...

The only bad thing you can say about Kung Fu Hustle is that fans of down and dirty realistic martial arts action in the manner of Tony Jaa won't like the wire-assisted, CGI-enhanced spectacle on display here.

That, however, is really the only criticism to be made of a film that delivers laughs, romance and action and sentiment in carefully measured doses reminiscent of the populist crowd-pleasers of Hong Kong's golden age from Golden Harvest, Cinema City and the like. Not that this is a dismissal of the work of arthouse auteurs like Wong Kar Wai and Fruit Chan - I would urge you to also go see their films within our programme. Rather, it is to say that a healthy national cinema is one that support all sorts of filmmaking and which kicks high and low.

Review by Michel Gentil
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2006