Saturday Night Fever, Oriental Style!

The Dance that Kills (You with Laughter)!

By Robert J. Sodaro

Kung Fu Hustle: Rating R (95 minutes)

Starring: Stephen Chow, Yuen Wah, Yuen Qiu, Siu lung Leung, Dong Zhi hua

Directed by: Stephen Chow

Steven Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle.

With Stephen Chow's highly-stylized, respectfully-irreverent, cinematic-perfect, wryly-comedic, and whimsically testosterone-fueled, action-packed throwback, Kung Fu Hustle (or, Gong fu, as it was originally titled in his native Hong Kong), the circle of filmic incestuous self-referential back-patting comes full circle, and like, the eternal snake, winds up eating its own tale - not that that's necessarily a bad thing, mind you. The film is The Matrix meets Kill Bill as channeled (Saturday afternoon, Kung Fu Theater -style) via American '40s gangster films, assuming, of course, that you were raised in Hong Kong.

Director and star, Chow (who comes across as the "separated at birth" celluloid offspring of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan), who has previously brought us his frenetic, martial-spoof approach to "chop socky" cinema in such hilarious action-packed flicks as Fist of Fury 1991, and Shaolin Soccer, is rightly hailed as the founder of the particularly Hong Kong comedy genre called mo lei tau or nonsense comedy. More than just Jackie Chan-style punch-pratfall-and-laughs, this style of film is known for its side-splitting plots and slapstick antics which have rightly earned Chow legions of fans across Asia and the U.S.

Sing (Chow), and his companion (Chi Chung Lam) attempt to shake down the residents of Pig Sty ally.

Set in Canton, China in the 1940s, the story revolves around a hapless wannabe gangster named Sing (Chow) and his sidekick (Chi Chung Lam) who aspire to become members of the notorious Axe Gang that rule the province and control the cops. As the film starts out, the pair of hapless thugs enter a slum on the outskirts of town, and wind up wreaking inadvertent havoc when they recklessly pose as members of the Axe gang, and attempt to shake down the inhabitants of the slum. What winds up happening is that they cause a riot between the real gang members and the denizens of the housing project who just so happen to be strangely well versed in the art of kung fu.

The film is a mix of classic martial arts mayhem and Matrix-style CGI SPFX as the fighters all exhibit comic book proportioned suprahuman abilities as they duke it out for supremacy in the area. Included in this oddball mix of heroes and villains are the tenement's obnoxious landlady (Qiu Yuen, who made a special return to the screen after a 28 year absence, by special request of Chow) and her apparently frail husband (Wah Yuen), both of whom seem to exhibit extraordinary powers in defending their turf.

Sing (Chow) takes on the well dressed members of the Ax Gang

Interestingly enough, Kung Fu Hustle fight sequences succeed where The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions fight sequences fall short, in that they have the protagonists (the Beast (Siu Lung Leung) and Sing) not only punching out each other, but the buildings around them, as the sheer force of their unlanded blows flatten the buildings around and behind them. In the Ax Gang fight sequences, we also see visual references to both the multiple Agent Smiths as well as Tarentino's Crazy 88s from Kill Bill, as the overdressed and top-hatted Ax Gang members fight in stylized Jets meet Sharks West Side Story dance-style fights.

The Ax Gang: China’s answer to the Jets and the Sharks.

Needless to say, released last year, this flick is already a world-wide blockbuster (even thought it is just now getting to the U.S.). The film struck gold on its initial release, ranking the highest grossing film in the history of Hong Kong cinema with a record of HK$60 million (surpassing the old leader, Chow's Shaolin Soccer). Not as silly as Chan's films, nor as Drama-laden as Lee's, Chow's unique, and inimitable style has struck Marshall McLuhan-like Responsive Chord, and won over audiences on both sides of the Pacific. So if you are a fan of Lee, Chan, the Wachowski brothers, or even Tarentino's splatterpunk style, then you truly owe it to yourselves to check out this outrageous popcorn flick. You'll be thanking me when you do.

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This entire article is copyright (c) 2005 Freelance Ink, All right reserved. It cannot be reprinted without specific, written permission from the author. Robert J. Sodaro has been writing professionally for over 20 years. His movie reviews have run as columns in Tunes 'n' Times, Hip, Mixx, InterMixx, and The Stamford Times; currently his reviews appear both here and in print in NY & CT MoreSugar.

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