Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Kung Fu Hustle (2004) – S. Chow

In opting for Kung Fu Hustle, I was hoping to be transported back to those days of the early 1990s when I first discovered Hong Kong cinema (Jacky Chan, at first, but then Chow Yun Fat and Jet Li).  But I guess you can’t go home again.  Technology has removed the wires that some stars (but not Jacky) formerly used to deliver flying kicks, replacing them with CGI miracles.  I never was a big fan of CGI.  However, I have to say that director and star Stephen Chow seems to have realised that the only way to use it is boldly, brashly, and in the most cartoonish way possible; in other words, what we have here is a Chuck Jones short populated by actual humans.  And that makes all the difference.  The plot is as zany as you would guess from that description.  Chow and his partner Tze Chung Lam pretend that they are part of the Axe Gang in order to try to squeeze money out of a poor community – however, they are quickly challenged by the real Axe Gang who, to their chagrin, discover that there are three aging kung fu masters retired in the town.  Or maybe there are four kung fu masters.  Or perhaps five.  Things do get out of hand (especially when the Axe Gang bring in some notorious ringers to combat them).  There are some well choreographed and over-the-top fight scenes (directed by Woo-Ping Yuen and Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, both immensely famous in their own rights) and some silly or slapstick comedy.  Things do get bloody as well (so this isn’t for kids). Yet for all those things that Kung Fu Hustle gets right, I still felt a hankering for the old school.