KUNG FU HUSTLE (2005) 3 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Stephen Chow, Yuen Qiu,
Yuen Wah, Leung Siu Lung and Huang Sheng Yi, Music composed by Raymond Wong.
Fight choreography by Yuen Wo Ping. Screenplay by Stephen Chow, Elizabeth Hunter
and Tseng Kan Cheong. Directed by Stephen Chow. Rated R. Running time: 99
minutes.
Kung Fu Hustle is an imaginative, cartoonish martial arts extravaganza laced with
humor and action.
Set in Hong Kong in the 1930s, the movie pits the vicious Axe Gang against the poor
residents of Pig Sty Alley, where much to the surprise of the bad guys, a group of
martial arts masters are residing, keeping their talents a secret.
Written and directed by Stephen Chow, who delivered the delightful Shaolin Soccer,
Hustle is a rapid-paced conglomerate of action and laughs, mixed with special
effects that look like they were lifted from a Warner Bros. cartoon.
Chow stars as Sing, a gangster wannabe whose ambition is to join the Axe Gang.
Unfortunately, he is rather inept as a bad guy simply because he really is good of
heart. And by the film's finale, he shows his true colors.
It is not so much the story as Chow's filmmaking that is the star of the feature. The
delightful visual tricks race through the movie as fast and furious as the Indy 500.
The humor rests with the casual air in which these marvels are accepted by those in
the movie.
Characters chase each other as if they were the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote.
People get stabbed, yet act like the wounds are merely an inconveniences. It's
almost like a live-action Popeye cartoon.
The film's major drawback is Chow's character. He fails to generate any allegiance
until close to the finale, by which time you are nearly at the end of your patience
with his obnoxious behavior.
However, a fine group of actors compensate, especially Yuen Qiu as the
cigarette-smoking, landlady whose hair is always in curlers, but who can give a yell
that can flatten buildings.
Much of the film's credit goes to fight choreographer Yuen Wo Ping, who adds some
sly comic touches to the many bouts in the films 99 minutes.
Kung Fu Hustle is a treat, a most entertaining experience that will dazzle you with its
physicality and give your funny bone a good, hard kick.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be
reached by e-mail at bbloom@journalandcourier.com or at bob@bloomink.com.
Bloom's reviews also can be found at the Journal and Courier Web site:
www.jconline.com
Other reviews by Bloom can be found at the Rottentomatoes Web site:
www.rottentomatoes.com or at the Internet Movie Database Web site:
www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
========== X-RAMR-ID: 39663 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1381327 X-RT-TitleID: 1143248 X-RT-SourceID: 872 X-RT-AuthorID: 1363 X-RT-RatingText: 3.5/4
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