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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, April 22, 2005

'Kung Fu Hustle' packs a punch

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

KUNG FU HUSTLE (PG-13) Three Stars (Good)

A deliriously entertaining martial arts saga from Hong Kong cult filmmaker Stephen Chow, combining elements from the "Matrix" films, "The Three Stooges," Road Runner cartoons and Jackie Chan movies into a high-powered, silly but fun saga. With subtitles. Sony Classics, 95 minutes.

Toss into a blender "Kill Bill," the Road Runner cartoons, the "Matrix" films, and the complete "The Three Stooges" and Jackie Chan collections, and push puree. Pour the result onto a movie screen and call it "Kung Fu Hustle."

All those elements and more are to be found in this deliriously entertaining martial arts saga from Hong Kong cult filmmaker Stephen Chow.

No wonder this wacky hodgepodge (in Cantonese and Mandarin with English subtitles) has been a sensation on the film festival circuit — it's the perfect palate cleanser after a day of hoity-toity art-house movies. The film is the latest and probably most extreme to date in the tradition of the comic martial arts film, with chop-chop action blended with slapstick comedy.

It's the kind of film where guys get thrown off 10-story buildings, only to get up off the ground. The plot is an old stand-by: poor, everyday citizens fighting back against a ruthless gang of thugs. The heroes are the residents of a decrepit neighborhood known as Pig's Sty Alley. (You gotta love the name.) They're the impoverished tenants of a nearly collapsing apartment building, managed by a tough-as-nails landlady with a cigarette constantly dangling from her lips. (One of the film's many running gags is that cigarette's ability to stay in place, no matter how furious the action.) A notorious gang of axe-wielding thugs targets the alley one day, and three of the tenants surprise everyone when they're unmasked as formidable martial artists. Even tougher bad guys soon arrive and the battling intensifies, as do the many illogical plot developments.

However, "Kung Fu Hustle" is no movie to see for the plot. (Do you care about plot when you watch Road Runner or Moe, Larry and Curly?) Nor should you care when you're being hustled by this inspired silliness.

Rated PG-13, much cartoonish violence.