Kung Fu Hustle

The start of the 21st century was the doorway in which Chinese films began to reach transnational success, starting from Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,” to Zhang Yimou’s series of films including “Hero.” “Kung Fu Hustle,” a film, in which Stephen Chow directed and starred in, was another example of these highly successful transnational Chinese films, with the addition of its surprising comical base.

The setting of the film takes place in the 1940’s where a local group of hoodlums known as “the axe gang” is seen murdering members of another gang. Meanwhile, the stars of the film, Sing (Stephen Chow) and Bone, are shown in a poor town known as Pig Sty Alley, impersonating the members of the Axe gang. It is revealed in the film that Sing one day attempted to save an innocent mute girl from bullies by applying his newly practiced form of martial arts, known as the Buddhist Palm. He obtained this form through a manual that was sold to him for his life savings from a bum, who claimed that Sing’s flow of chi will potentially make him indestructible. When he ultimately fails and gets urinated on to add salt to wound, he concludes that being good-hearted is worthless and bad guys always win, therefore, he wanted to be a gang member.
Sing and Bone stir mischief as they fuel a dispute between the axe gang and the people of Pig Sty Valley. Fortunately, three masters of martial arts resided there and defeated the axe gang, so Sing and Bone were captured. They do not look the part of gang members but they are ultimately given a chance to prove themselves after Brother Sum, the leader of the axe gang is impressed with Sing’s efficiency in picking locks.
Brother Sum and the axe gang go through a series of events as the higher the second best master and the greatest known master, respectively, in order to defeat the landlady and landlord of Pig Sty village, who also happen to be masters. When Sing gets in the mix to save the masters from Beast, the greatest master of them all, he literally gets pounded into the ground. As Sing heals quickly, his flow of chi finally gets unleashed and it becomes apparent that he is the greatest master of them all. The film ends where Sing becomes the owner of a lollipop store and he sees the mute girl that he saved when he was young. Finally, they are shown in their younger image as they hold hands and run into the store.

This film marks a remarkable difference between older Chinese films due to its transnational success. This film had many aspects of a successful Hollywood film while still incorporating Chinese traditional values. It was a martial arts film, language was in Chinese, and Chinese music was played throughout the film. The aspects which make it clear that it is a Hollywood film is the comedy, the use of guns and gangs, and the utilization of romance at the end of the film. When I first viewed this film, I knew immediately that this was not a typical Chinese Kung Fu movie because of the scene where the gang members are dancing in choreography in the beginning of the film. Instead, it surprisingly became one of my favorite comedies that I have ever seen.

With Chinese films, it is common to see such a binary concept applied to them, where the film is judged in one spectrum or the other between a Chinese film and a Hollywood film, leaving no room for grey areas. In my opinion, I think this film is a perfect combination between Chinese values and Hollywood aspects and should be considered such and not categorized as either or.