KUNG FU HUSTLE
Stephen Chow has been heralded as Asias next big thing. With nearly 60 films under his belt and the box office receipts to back him up, the writer/director/action-star is poised to invade the West with his inventive mix of cartoonish nonsense and martial arts spectacle. His 2001 film Shaolin Soccer was the most successful movie in Hong Kongs history combining dizzying physicality, flamboyant CGI effects and a joke-y plot that would feel at home in any of the Police Academy flicks. It was stupid, silly, and incredibly entertaining.
His latest, Kung Fu Hustle, is a deliriously manic (sometimes surreal) send up of martial arts films that boasts so many visual puns, gags and effects that its hard not to get caught up in the sheer wackiness of it all. If you can imagine a film that crosses Enter The Dragon, with Raising Arizona by way of The Matrix, you might get an inkling of what were talking about here.
Sing (Chow), a bumbling but affable tramp, attempts to con the poor folks of Pig Sty Alley into paying him protection money by pretending to be a member of the infamous Axe Gang. Much like his heroes, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, Chows lovable loser quickly gets in over his head. His scheme not only fails, it attracts the attention of the real Axe Gang who soon discover that this bedraggled ghetto is actually home to a cadre of retired kung fu masters (all played by real-life retired kung fu masters). Sing finds himself caught in an over-the-top turf war of his own making.
Like Jackie Chan, Chow knows how to effectively blend action and comedy to keep things both entertaining and thrilling. His direction bounces between ridiculously showy and uniquely brilliant. Kung Fu Hustles first ten minutes, a violent showdown between rival gang members that morphs into a Broadway-style dance number, is pure movie magic. Its so exciting and audacious, that the rest of film has a hard time living up to it (though not for lack of trying).
What follows in Kung Fu Hustle is a series of mostly entertaining fight scenes, all paying homage to martial arts films of the past. Each confrontation is more elaborate and absurd than the one that preceded it, culminating in a duel that sends our hero into the stratosphere where he gazes upon the face of Buddha himself before leveling his opponent with a concrete-smashing blow. Chow infuses his rockem-sock em action with pop culture flights of fancy that reference everything from Road Runner cartoons to Stanley Kubricks The Shining.
Unlike Asian action stars Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, Chow isnt trained in martial arts. As a result, his films lack the kind of physical showmanship that can take your breath away. In an attempt to compensate for this, he indulges in elaborate computer effects, extravagant wire-fu (the films fight scenes were choreographed by Matrix veteran Woo Ping-Yuen) and lop-sided camera angles. Occasionally, however, he pushes things too far and too hard. Like a kid with a new toy, he overuses the technology, drawing attention away from what little story there is.
Fans of the martial arts canon will delight, however, with the appearance of so many unsung chop-sockey luminaries. Yuen Wah, one of the great shaolin villains of the '70s, plays a henpecked but valiantly lethal landlord. Yuen Qiu, a female kung fu star who retired in 1975, hysterically plays his kick-ass cigarette-chomping wife. Leung Siu Lung, another high-kicking hero of the 70s, chews the scenery as the insanely evil, The Beast. All three are terrific and Chow knows when to get out of the way and let them strut their stuff. There are many other cameos and appearances and the film offers plenty of insider gags and references to genre devotees.
Over the last ten years Americans have been opening themselves up to Asian cinema and, in particular, martial arts films. Kung Fu Hustle, however, is quite different from movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero. With its shamelessly comedic impulses and giddy visual style it plays like a souped-up version of Jackie Chans early work. Chows influences are as Western as they are Asian, which argues for its International appeal. But it remains to be seen whether he can cross over with his unique style and vision intact or whether he will have to be watered-down like Chan to appeal to a broader (ie. American) audience.