Crazy Kung-Fu

I saw this movie at the Toronto filmfest and I have to say I loved it, I really didn't know what to expect as I didn't know the director and had only really seen some pretty bad kung fu many years before. There are many pop culture references in there like reservoir dogs and the matrix.. all done very tongue in cheek.

The fight sequences are very well done and keep the movie moving at a frenetic pace, the jokes tend to be visual in nature and as such side step the normal translation problems.

All in all I thought this was a great movie and suspect this will be a huge hit !

In my opinion this is the best Chinese comedy kung fu movie yet to be made. I'm not very familiar with the previous work of the director Stephen Chow except for Shaolin Soccer but this flick has everything to entertain any movie fan.

Both the humor and the drama made me weep like a small girl, even thou I'm a guy almost at my 30's. The impressive camera techniques and the story sure made this a phenomenal viewing experience.

Sorry Jet Li & Jackie Chan - None of the Hollywood movies has ever touched me like this movie did. I recommend this movie to be watched with friends in order to share the feeling of joy and laughter. We'll be waiting for a sequel - don't let us down!

Kung Fu Hustle was one of the most visually imaginative and unique movies I have seen in quite some time. Upon first viewing the trailer, I thought we would have another Kung Pow: Enter The Fist on our hands but, boy, was I wrong. Unlike Kung Pow, the jokes did not grow tired on me and the special effects were definitely top notch. The scene with the two assassins playing that stringed instrument (don't know the name of it) in such a way that it kills was incredible.

Although there was not much to the story, it was not non-existent, either. There was a simple story happening which made sense for what we were watching. Even the jokes with the subtitles came across as funny, and from my experience, humor does not translate as easily as this movie would have you believe. It borrowed or spoofed a bit from Spider-Man and The Matrix as well, which was a bit unexpected for this film, initially. At least for me.

To be honest, I could enjoy this movie without sound or subtitles, too. It was that appealing to the eye. It would be a good background movie for a party or poker game which could catch your eye at any moment and still hold your attention. It could also be great if you feel like a good comedy. I was entertained throughout and even though I was dead tired when I saw it in the theater, it held my interest all the way to the end. 9/10

Being a complete sourpuss when it comes to most comedic film offerings from the last three decades (though I attribute a lot of that to inanity rather than taking full credit for being a wet blanket), I find that when there is a film that makes me laugh so hard that I am concerned about the possibility of a stroke, I have no choice but to rave about it. So having said that, consider this a rave review of Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu Hustle".

While the film itself was entertaining, the prospect of summarizing the scattered plot is not. Set in 1940's Shanghai, "Kung Fu Hustle" basically centers on a tenement ruled over by a mean, chain-smoking landlady (Qiu Yuen) and her whipped husband (Wah Yuen). When someone deigns to complain about the fact that they don't have enough water to take a quick shower, she pounds them senseless, with everyone standing by completely helpless. Flip to another part of town, where the notorious "Axe Gang", a deadly bunch of dancing, axe wielding guys are wreaking havoc on a city that can't even be protected by the police. The two areas of town don't concern themselves with one another until a wannabe member of the Axe Gang, Sing (Stephen Chow) and his sidekick (Chi Chung Lam) poses as a member in the tenement to extort money, causing a series of events to occur in the tenement that wind up with most of the Axe Gang either killed or injured and Brother Sum (Kwok Kuen Chan), the leader of the gang, to do everything in his power to wreak revenge on both the tenement and its occupants, particularly those who act as its safeguards.

As I mentioned earlier, there were a lot of parts that I found so funny that I was either finding myself almost lightheaded from laughing so hard, or finding myself obnoxious because I would struggle to recoup in order to read the subtitles in time to not miss anything. While there are several movie "in jokes" (even one dedicated to Chow's prior film "Shaolin Soccer") it was the sight gags that really did it for me. The chase between Landlady and Sing and especially the knife scene with Sing and his sidekick were brilliant slapstick. A lot of the action was extremely over the top, and complimented by some pretty decent CGI work.

While anyone who has seen "Shaolin Soccer" knows that Chow does not employ a normal cast of "heroes", it was still interesting to see that for the most part, almost anyone who could have heroic qualities attributed to them did not fit the "normal" model. As a matter of fact, several of the major players in the film were middle aged or even elderly, a notion that is both funny and refreshing for anyone who looks for something a little different in their heroes. Surprisingly, there was also a very well conceived scene in the middle of the film involving two professional assassins who are trying to kill the main defenders of the tenement that I found to actually be a pretty kick-ass action sequence. Despite a couple of gags here and there, until the end when the Landlady got involved, the scene was playing off like something I would say "cooool" in an awed tone about in a Tarantino film or something. So while the film was overall one of the funniest I've seen in recent memory, there were a couple of great moments of highly stylized action.

"Kung Fu Hustle" wasn't a perfect film by any means, but the criticisms I have about it are completely nitpicky. For instance, the romance between Sing and the mute girl was just kind of thrown in, though some of it was necessary for background on his character. And a purely aesthetic complaint; I wanted more dancing by the Axe Gang. Chow shouldn't have teased us with the little bit that they danced and then abruptly take it away for the rest of the film. Hey, it's a review – I've got to air the good and the bad.

But since the good outweighs the bad exponentially, I highly recommend "Kung Fu Hustle" to just about anyone because of both its action and comedic elements. For making me laugh to the point of near-aneurysm, "Kung Fu Hustle" gets a solid 8/10.

Before we went to see this movie we had heard about many good reviews of it. After spending approximate 100mins in the movie theater we were extremely satisfied and entertained. This movie is even better than we have expected. There were full of laughters almost from the beginning to the end in the theater.

Stephen Chow displays his talent as both a director and an actor. It maintains the previous Chow's style and humor as in other movies, such as "Xi Ju Zhi Wang" and "Xing Yun Yi Tiao Long", while those CGIs were not expected. In Chow's movie, what the Chinese people like is that it says no to super heroes. It just tells the stories of ordinary people, particularly those people leading insignificant and unsuccessful lives.

Several characters in this movie were played by popular Kung-Fu stars, in the 1980's - 1990's in China. Stephen Chow shows respects to them, as the way he respects Bruce Lee.

Above all, Kung-Fu Hustle is a movie with great hilarity, stunning CGI effects, fantastic Kung-Fu, and the lives of ordinary people. I give it 9 out of 10. Highly recommended!

Now this movie is in theaters in Europe and North America. The recent comments have shown a good sign already.Best wishes to Stephen Chow! Hope western people like this movie as well.