Susan Granger’s review of “Kung-Fu Hustle” (Sony Pictures Classics)
So much of our enjoyment of a movie depends on what we expect when we buy a ticket. If I tell you this is Stephen Chow’s latest chop-socky, what springs to mind? Comedy? Martial arts? Set in pre-Communist China, writer/director/actor Stephen Chow (“Shaolin Soccer”) relies on campy slapstick as much as CGI special effects in relating the story of a cocky con artist named Sing (that’s Chow) and his dopey buddy (Lam Tze Chung) as they vainly attempt to terrorize and extort the residents of a dusty tenement slum known as Pig Sty Alley by pretending to be members of the murderous Axe Gang. Their charade not only infuriates the bad-tempered Landlady (Yuen Qiu), perpetually clad in a housecoat and curlers, a cigarette dangling from her lips, but also attracts the attention of the real, axe-wielding, top-hatted Axe Gang, igniting stylized yet imaginative fights that are intricately choreographed by famed Yuen Po Ping, whose credits include “Kill Bill,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and the “Matrix” trilogy. Stephen Chow references a number of eccentric comedic styles, paying homage to a variety of cinematic sources, including Buster Keaton, Bruce Lee, The Three Stooges, “The Godfather,” “Gangs of New York” and “The Matrix.” While Poon Hang Sang’s inventive cinematography is audacious, the narrative needs emotional coherence and the cartoonish comedy is repetitive and lacks timing. In Chinese with English subtitles, the sight-gag spoof/farce seems best suited to adrenaline-propelled teens but the gruesome bloodshed and ruthless violence earns an R-rating. Which poses a conundrum. At whom is this movie aimed? On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Kung-Fu Hustle” is a manic, madcap 6, offering goofy, wacky, over-the-top kung-fu justice.
