message in the movies By Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

         
Kung Fu Hustle   Rated R
Directed by Stephen Chow. Starring Stephen Chow, Yuen Qiu

Photo © Copyright Sony Pictures Classics
I knew that this film was supposed to be a silly kung fu movie (and I am a sucker for this genre and enjoyed Chow’s 2002 film Shoalin Soccer), but this film is disappointing – a real hustle.  When the story begins, we are introduced to the Axe Gang, a group of vicious dancing gangsters who rule all of the villages in Hong Kong with an iron fist, with the exception of Pig Sty Alley, a slum so miserable that there is nothing worth taking.  Two wannabe (and somewhat inept) gangsters come to Pig Sty Alley and try to pass themselves off as Axe Gang heavies.  But they don’t anticipate two big problems: the superhuman resistance of the local denizens and revenge from the real Axe Gang. Well, that sounds like it might be fun.  Unfortunately, all of that happens during the first 20 minutes of the movie – and everything falls apart after that.  The film degenerates into an additional hour of one outrageous cartoon-style fight after another, using computer effects, suspended wire choreography, and superhuman powers.  I can not fathom why this film was so widely praised by most critics.  I found it to be ultimately uninvolving; it has all of the entertainment value of watching two other people play a video game and the dramatic tension of an episode of Scooby-Doo. 

Pitchfork Rating: One halo. (To its credit, the film knows that it’s stupid; unfortunately, it’s so stupid it doesn’t realize how incredibly stupid it is.)  Two pitchforks.  (Senseless violence, a genuine lack of compassion for most of the characters, occasional vulgarity and derogatory stereotypes.)

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