Kung Fu Hustle

Kung Fu Hustle

2005 "So many gangsters… so little time."
Kung Fu Hustle
Kung Fu Hustle

Kung Fu Hustle

7.7 | 1h39m | R | en | Fantasy

It's the 1940s, and the notorious Axe Gang terrorizes Shanghai. Small-time criminals Sing and Bone hope to join, but they only manage to make lots of very dangerous enemies. Fortunately for them, kung fu masters and hidden strength can be found in unlikely places. Now they just have to take on the entire Axe Gang.

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7.7 | 1h39m | R | en | Fantasy , Action , Comedy | More Info
Released: April. 08,2005 | Released Producted By: Columbia Pictures , Sony Pictures Classics Country: United States of America Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

It's the 1940s, and the notorious Axe Gang terrorizes Shanghai. Small-time criminals Sing and Bone hope to join, but they only manage to make lots of very dangerous enemies. Fortunately for them, kung fu masters and hidden strength can be found in unlikely places. Now they just have to take on the entire Axe Gang.

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Cast

Stephen Chow , Yuen Wah , Yuen Qiu

Director

Poon Hang-Sang

Producted By

Columbia Pictures , Sony Pictures Classics

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Reviews

sharky_55 Kung Fu Hustle is a comedic triumph, the high point of actor-director Stephen Chow's career over the decades. Before the international hit, he spent years refining his trade as the wacky, roughly-hewn rascal with just the right amount of gold in his heart. Chow plays the bad guy well enough; a bit of stubble, ragged sleeves rolled up, and just a hint of manic crazy in those eyes when he brandishes his little pocket knife that suggests he'll do anything to make it big in this uncaring world. His goal is to ascend to the top of the criminal underworld and join the ranks of the legendary Axe Gang - and Chow's opening scene is a testament to the sort of style and status that he admires. The word here is cool; the top hats, the black suits, the jazz backing, the sashay of Brother Sum as he approaches another victim. Think the goofy KKK clansmen in the Coen's O Brother Where Art Thou, only without the uncomfortable historical baggage. Chow blends touches of class (the slow pull out from within the police headquarters, the inhabitants frozen in fear), realistic grit (black and white newspaper headlines documenting their reign of terror in 1930s China) and pure chopsocky fun (the operatic ridiculousness in the slow motion axe taking off a leg) effortlessly. But while the cities are under constant fear, the slums of Pig Sty Alley live so sloppily they are practically immune from all the outside whizbang. The setting is built up like an old style Hollywood set on the studio backlot, a towering structure with a life of its own, reminiscent of that in Irma la Douce or Rear Window. We find the beating heart of a community that becomes a character in itself - here money is immaterial, luxury is a foreign language, and its petty squabbles are only surface conflict. Chow riffs off traditional wuxia stories by plucking legendary heroes out of the ordinary village fabric, martial arts masters for one day and then back to their modest living. Even with the Buddhist-steeped redemption arc of his own character Sing, it's clear that Chow is attempting to undo some of the mythos surrounding these action figures. They fight out of sheer necessity to protect those who can't, but in the meantime they're tailors and cooks and labourers. The story is the proof that Sing needs to see; that good guys can come from any walk of life, whereas ambition without restraint can often lead one down darker paths.Chow's always had a penchant for goofy, unrestricted action, with liberal use of wire-work that doubles as slapstick comedy (Flirting Scholar comes to mind). He would hit his creative peak with Kung Fu Hustle, in which a quaint village becomes the arena for an increasingly zany series of martial arts battles. The set design is there to be a battered and collapsible playground; walls crack with relish, and stone banisters go flying in bits so regularly it's surprising there are any stairs left by the end of the film. Chow enlisted the best to choreograph his fighting sequences, among them kung fu royalty in Yuen Woo-ping, who brings the same rapid, weightless intensity that the Wachowskis asked for in The Matrix. His sequences verge on the edge of realism, as if real life had merged with a cartoon. Elsewhere there's more of the same slapstick in the way that CGI and sound design lift the live action motion, with puffs of dust trails, legs whipping up into a blur, and Axe Gang cronies dropping like flies from up above and splattering onto the ground. Hear Sing rack up hits like an arcade game in the climatic melee, and the machine gun rattle of the toes broken by his fast feet. And listen to how the traditional Chinese instrumentation like Erhu and the Guzheng build to thrilling crescendos, and in one scene become the actual weapon in a stylised martial arts showdown. It's not every movie that has slapstick and pathos all rolled into one, and leaves us satisfied by the end that the protagonist has come of age, and finally realised his place in the world. This is broad stuff, but Chow has always excelled at the scruffy everyman, the rascal, and although I mention he plays the bad guy well enough, he's not good enough for a pure villain. He doesn't have that snarl, or the complete mean streak. There has always been good in him. There's nothing in those cheap manuals worth a damn, but it's what inside that counts, and in the final scene where the camera swings around and takes us back into the past, we once again glimpse the little boy who believed he could save the world.
sol- A vicious axe-wielding Chinese gang attempts to intimidate the working class residents of a housing complex, but are unprepared for the kung fu skills of not only the residents, but their sullen landlord and landlady in this offbeat action comedy. Not only is the fight choreography impressive, the battles become more insane (in the best possible way) as the movie progresses, with mind-blowing special effects as all concerned perform stunts as if they are Keanu Reeves in 'The Matrix'. It is an incredibly funny film too, with the best moments had by a deadpan Qiu Yuen as the no-nonsense landlady with a gift for speed. Not all of the humour works with some silly stereotype supporting characters, but there is a lot of fun to be had in the wannabe gangster character that director Stephen Chow has written for himself, comically stabbed multiple times by his own knives at one point (!). Throw in a fun reference to 'The Shining' and camera-work that never sits stills and this is a pretty appealing concoction. The character arc of Chow's character leaves a little to be desired, but this a film in which the images reign supreme over the story. There is a delightful weirdness to all the axe-wielding gang members running about in top hats and tuxedos/suits and Qiu Yen's kung fu powers turn her into the very epitome of a moody landlady who you don't want to mess with.
rhkoehler Kung Fu Hustle is a movie about Kung Fu masters facing one another, protecting one another, and battling the Axe Gang. I have never heard of this movie and I was told to watch it for my final for my Perspectives class and I truly did not have high hopes for this movie, but I was wrong! This movie was absolutely great and I enjoyed watching it so much. It was such a good mix of feelings for the viewer as well. You felt sad at some points, you felt happy in others, and the rest of it was just plain exciting. I can not tell you how much I laughed during this movie and I was watching it with my mother as well, she thought it was weird but she laughed multiple times. The movie also has an interesting mixture of time periods and mixing of different cultures. It was sort of like a western film, mixed with roaring 20's, mixed with old school gangs and mafias like in "The Godfather", mixed with a goofy Stephen Chow movie. I thought the story line was goofy, yet exciting and I would totally recommend this to anyone who wants to watch a goofy Chinese Kung Fu movie. I honestly wish there was a remake of this movie!
Leofwine_draca KUNG FU HUSTLE is Stephen Chow's comedic follow-up to SHAOLIN SOCCER and enjoyed a massive success around the world on first release. I'm sorry to say that I didn't enjoy it as much as SHAOLIN SOCCER; this is a slightly weaker film with an over-reliance on silly CGI effects and a sometimes boring, meandering plot line that refuses to give the viewer any character to really root for. This time around, Chow – who directed as well as acted – is an unappealing lowlife criminal for most of the plot, before turning into an obvious Neo impersonator for the climax, which heavily rips off THE MATRIX RELOADED.Unlike SHAOLIN SOCCER, there are no obvious good guys or bad guys, instead most of the characters are ruthless or selfish or get what they deserve. Chow is unlikeable, his fat buddy barely gets a look in, and while the kung fu-fighting landlady is supposed to be a character that viewers love and find hilarious, I'm afraid she didn't impress me for a second. Better is Yuen Wah, better known as the baddie in DRAGONS FOREVER, enjoying a fine new taste of cinematic success after languishing in the doldrums for a decade. Wah, who doesn't seem to have aged at all since his bad guy days, is a brilliant fighter and a good actor to boot and I wish he had more screen time.Elements of the film are obvious from SHAOLIN SOCCER – indeed, some of them haven't changed at all, like the tacked-on romance with the mute girl. There's also a ton of the special effects work we saw in the football flick, except it's not novel here anymore, and it's overused throughout. When most of the fight scenes rely on crazy effects, you know you're in trouble. Pretty much all the attempts at humour fall flat – watching characters race at impossible speeds through the countryside, like they're in a Disney cartoon, just doesn't work for me. The script is limited and the fact that there are too many different characters means it's impossible to focus your attention on any one bit. Instead this is a mish-mash of old jokes, new tricks and one too many MATRIX jokes which don't really seem to understand what parody means – simply repeating scenes we saw in the Hollywood blockbusters isn't funny.The other good thing in the film – aside from Yuen Wah – is the bad guy, The Beast, played by Siu-Lung Leung, better known as the '70s Bruce Lee impersonator, Bruce Liang, who appeared in the likes of MAGNIFICENT BODYGUARDS. Leung – who hasn't acted in twenty years – has a ball as the supreme bad guy and he's impossible to dislike. Elsewhere, while the plethora of fight scenes are always entertaining, making this a film to be enjoyed despite the myriad flaws.