Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Kung Fu Hustle

Kung Fu Hustle is an action comedy film directed by, produced by and starring Stephen Chow. It was released in 2004 and was met with many positive reviews from critics. It was one of the highest grossing foreign language films in 2005 and it won many awards as well. The film did so well that Kung Fu Hustle 2 is due to release in 2012.

Compared to the other films that we have watched so far, Kung Fu hustle was the funniest film that we have watched in my opinion. This film displayed a different kind of martial arts style that we have not seen yet. The fighting scenes in Kung Fu Hustle are different in style from what we have seen in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero. Rather than being artistic and rather elegant, Kung Fu Hustle is more comedic and cartoon-like. The movements and fight scenes are all highly exaggerated such as the scene where the landlady is chasing after Sing. The exaggerated fight scenes give the film a heightened comedic feel which was an appealing aspect for me. Even the villains in the film, the Axe Gang, are not intimidating but quite amusing. I especially enjoyed the scene where all the gangsters are dancing in the beginning of the film holding their axes because it such a ridiculous sight.

The film takes place in Shanghai during 1930’s when gangs are fighting each other for power and the Axe Gang is the most feared gang at the time. Judging from the beginning scene where the gang member yells for the cops to “clean up the mess” after the fight, it is apparent that law enforcement is pretty powerless. That is probably why the only area where people are able to live peacefully are in the poor areas like Pig Alley, a tenement home that houses various interesting characters and is run by a mean landlady and landlord. What we don’t know is that many of the tenants including the landlady and landlord are very skilled fighters until Sing decides to impersonate an Axe Gang member and things get chaotic at Pig Alley.

I enjoyed the way that Stephen Chow parodies both Chinese films and American films. It was a nice blend of Chinese and American culture that plays homage to Chinese classics while referencing modern day films as well. Also, it introduces parts of the Chinese culture to the American audiences in a humorous way that is easy to understand. All in all, Kung Fu Hustle was very enjoyable film to watch and after watching it, I now understand why it did so well with audiences everywhere.

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