Kung Fu Hustle - Movie Review
0 Comments Published by Prasad Venkat on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 3:08 AM.
Here's my suggestion to you: leave your logic at the theatre door, laugh out loud, and pick it up on your way back to home. 'Kung Fu Hustle' is the result of inspired silliness - and every one involved in the production seems to be proud of how silly they are! If you're concerned about the laws of physics (and biology too) and a linear storyline, go elsewhere. Stephen Chow's latest movie has all the required elements of a kung fu action comedy: a story - which is in place only to bring the characters together; action - read: fly, kick, dance, play; comedy - of the suspended logic type; romance - as deep as Vijayakanth's love; sprituality - which is a taste booster.
The setting is somewhere in China, early twentieth century and the Axe gang is every wannabe-ganster's dream place. Sing (Stephen Chow) dreams of joining the Axe gang and enjoying the cars, girls and booze. When the Axe gang gets thrashed at the hands of a landlord of a colony, and his wife, the landlady, the leader hires Sing, who is adept at breaking locks to release 'The Beast', the world's greatest fighter from an asylum to tackle the couple. The fight between the Beast and the couple goes awry and Sing gets badly hurt. The couple nurse Sing back to good health, he fights the Beast and all ends well.
The opening line says 'A film by Stephen Chow', and how true it is. He is the lead actor, screenwriter, producer and director and for the sake of crediting others, I guess he didn't choose to have his name printed in other categories. Yeun Wah as the landlord and Yuen Qiu as the landlady are great fun along with Stephen Chow. The fight/dance sequences with the musicians and the Beast are stand-out examples of entertaining choreography. The movie has obvious references to 'The Untouchables', 'Lord of the Rings' and a couple of brilliant scenes that spoof 'Matrix: Revolutions'.
There is so much over-the-top violence that even when you see blood, you only laugh at the cartoonish violence. When you're not laughing, you're simply waiting for the next big gig. In essence, the movie is purely a visual affair and the brain can remain safely disengaged for two hours. There is one good thing with such movies - they never bore you. The film has 'lunacy' written all over it, that you'll laugh once at what's shown on the screen and laugh the second time at yourself for falling for such a silly joke.
The setting is somewhere in China, early twentieth century and the Axe gang is every wannabe-ganster's dream place. Sing (Stephen Chow) dreams of joining the Axe gang and enjoying the cars, girls and booze. When the Axe gang gets thrashed at the hands of a landlord of a colony, and his wife, the landlady, the leader hires Sing, who is adept at breaking locks to release 'The Beast', the world's greatest fighter from an asylum to tackle the couple. The fight between the Beast and the couple goes awry and Sing gets badly hurt. The couple nurse Sing back to good health, he fights the Beast and all ends well.
The opening line says 'A film by Stephen Chow', and how true it is. He is the lead actor, screenwriter, producer and director and for the sake of crediting others, I guess he didn't choose to have his name printed in other categories. Yeun Wah as the landlord and Yuen Qiu as the landlady are great fun along with Stephen Chow. The fight/dance sequences with the musicians and the Beast are stand-out examples of entertaining choreography. The movie has obvious references to 'The Untouchables', 'Lord of the Rings' and a couple of brilliant scenes that spoof 'Matrix: Revolutions'.
There is so much over-the-top violence that even when you see blood, you only laugh at the cartoonish violence. When you're not laughing, you're simply waiting for the next big gig. In essence, the movie is purely a visual affair and the brain can remain safely disengaged for two hours. There is one good thing with such movies - they never bore you. The film has 'lunacy' written all over it, that you'll laugh once at what's shown on the screen and laugh the second time at yourself for falling for such a silly joke.
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