The Daily Bloon

A little outdated, but who cares, right?

Title: Kung Fu Hustle
Genre (Movie): Kung Fu/Comedy
Description: The best trashy Kung Fu movie I’ve seen in a long, long time.
Quickrating: 7.5/10

I can’t always go for kung fu movies. Flying people kicking at each other in ballet shoes just doesn’t always ring my charms. But every once in a while, I’m up for watching a great, epic, everybody-was-kung-fu-fightin’ movie with cool moves that’ll have me flipping down the stairs and kicking furniture as I go. The usual problem is, however, that when I am usually up for one of these movies, I’m not up for the high drama that it entails. I mean, Hero and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon had epic plotlines and meaning to take from them. If I’m up for kicking the hell out of my couch, I’m probably not gonna be up for philosophy at the same time. Thus, loyal readers, I give you Kung Fu Hustle.

If any of you have seen Stephen Chow’s other movie, Shaolin Soccer, you know that he doesn’t take martial arts seriously. Well, maybe he does, but he doesn’t really…revere it that much. Actually, it’s kinda hard to describe. You can tell he cares for this art, but….more in the fashion of cracking jokes with God kind of reverence. And it works beautifully. (For the few of you who have seen Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle is quite different) Set in the 30’s, Kung Fu Hustle is about a young man striving to join the notorious Axe Gang, famous for killing anyone and anything that gets in their way. It also coincides with a small slum called Pig Sty Village, which houses several kung fu masters that are willing to defend the village at all costs.

KFH is funny. Not the kind of Wedding Crashers funny, but the kind of…several chuckles in a half hour, but the rest of the time you’re wearing a definitive grin on your face. The action sequences are beautiful, even the ridiculous ones. There’s a guy who fights by jumping. And ribbiting. It’s called the Toad Technique. And it’s beautiful and hideous at the same time. Not many movies can do that, my friends.

The movie is a parody at heart. Even I, one of the most unlearned of Kung Fu movie-watchers, can spot some parodies. It takes cliches and turns them upside-down so that it’s a cliche wearing a pink tutu and $2 plastic sandals you find at WalMart. While it hops around like a frog. It has funny parts, sure, but it’s a serious movie about a struggle found inside every one of us. It just manages to make fun of itself while being a serious movie. And I think Stephen Chow a very talented director for being able to do so.

Plus, Brother Sum is just awesome.

“You’re blocking my view.” –Brother Sum