In Shanghai, China in the 1940s, a wannabe gangster aspires to join the notorious "Axe Gang" while residents of a housing complex exhibit extraordinary powers in defending their turf.
A bar girl hires a struggling actor to give her acting lessons so that she can feign a greater interest in her customers. The longer they work together, the more they find they have in common.
The most renowned and feared chef in the world loses his title of God of Cookery because of his pompous attitude. Humbled, he sets out to reclaim his title.
Tang Sanzang, an aspiring Buddhist hero tries to protect a village from three demons. He develops complex feelings for Miss Duan, the demon hunter who repeatedly helps him, and finally quests to meet the legendary Monkey King.
A scholar in search of true love. Disguising himself as a houseboy, he indentures himself to a rich family in order to pursue the ravishing servant girl who has stolen his heart.
A wild and hilariously anachronistic tale of an imperial guard of the Forbidden City who has no martial arts abilities but a talent for making futuristic machines and must save the kidnapped emperor.
Fantasy adventure about the arrival of Buddhism in China. When the Goddess of Happiness tosses the Longevity Monk and his disciples out of heaven (because the Monkey King tried to attain ... See full summary »
The spoilt son of a millionaire finds the love of his life, but she will only accept him if he proves himself as a kung-fu master. He enters and wins the "Kung-Fu Scholar" tournament, ... See full summary »
Set in Canton, China in the 1940s, the story revolves in a town ruled by the Axe Gang, Sing who desperately wants to become a member. He stumbles into a slum ruled by eccentric landlords who turns out to be the greatest kung-fu masters in disguise. Sing's actions eventually cause the Axe Gang and the slumlords to engage in an explosive kung-fu battle. Only one side will win and only one hero will emerge as the greatest kung-fu master of all.Written by
Anthony Pereyra {hypersonic91@yahoo.com}
In an August 2010 interview with GQ magazine, Bill Murray praised Kung Fu Hustle, saying it is "the supreme achievement of the modern age in terms of comedy" and that "there should have been a day of mourning for American comedy the day that movie came out". See more »
Goofs
When Tailor, Donut and Coolie are fighting the ax gang. During the fight "Tailor" has a chest that looks normal for his age but when they are finished fighting, in one scene his chest looks like a 30 year old. See more »
Quotes
The Beast:
All I want is to kill you, or be killed by you.
See more »
Alternate Versions
The film was slightly cut/altered in mainland China to satisfy the local censors (these changes were carried over to the U.S. release):
After the scene where the landlady knocks the landlord out the window onto the ground, the original version shows a bit of blood flowing out from under the landlord's face after the plant smashes his head. The mainland version removes the blood.
Sing's failed attempt in intimidating a Pig Sty village farmer, who punches him square in the stomach. The original version shows Sing spitting out blood, which ends up appearing on the farmer's face after Sing asks her what she does. The mainland version digitally removes both the blood being spit out (but blood is still seen around his mouth, implying it was "coming up") as well as the blood splats on the farmer's face.
During the night scene right before the attack from the musicians there is a long take showing what most of the residents of Pig Sty are doing, including someone crouching on the ground having a "bowel movement". The original version shows a piece of paper with excrement on it implying what he was doing, while the mainland version removes the paper and its "contents", leaving the viewer confused as to why he's simply crouching down with his pants partially down.
When "The Beast" punches Sing in the chest in the casino, two extra shots appear in the original cut, with the first being a slow motion shot of blood spraying upward The Beast's face, and the second being another slow motion shot, this time of Sing's head flying back with blood spraying from his mouth.
Soon after this, Sing's face is punched into the ground by The Beast, and a slow motion shot of The Beast's bloody hand being raised from the ground is shown in the original cut. The mainland cut simply jumps from the shot of Sing's head being punched through the ground to the low angle shot of The Beast pulling his fist up.
Don't Forget Tonight
Composed & Lyrics by Chen Ge Xin
Performed by Gong Qiu Xia
Courtesy of EMI Music Hong Kong / EMI Music Publishing Hong Kong See more »
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.
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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.