While the subject matter of this film could have been handled in a harsh, cruel, Godfather style, it's actually a very-inventive slapstick comedy with just enough violent scenes to give it an R-rating. It was obviously not made in the US, since if it had been done here they would have cut all the blood and turned it into some sort of Son of the Mask abomination of a kid's movie, or more likely never given it any financing at all.

To the scores.

Kung Fu Hustle, 2004
Script/Story: 5
Acting/Casting: 7
Action: 7
Humor: 7
Eye Candy: 5
Fun Factor: 8
Replayability: 6
Overall: 6.5

This one is actually doing very well with critics; shockingly well. Of the 151 reviews listed on Rotten Tomatoes, 135/89% are positive, and on Metacritic it's got a 77% average, with lots of 100% scores and just one sub-50% score. I didn't like it as well as most of the critics, and as usual, my expectations played into my approval rating. If I'd gone in knowing next to nothing about the film, I would have found it wildly-inventive, very clever, very funny, and far better than I expected. Unfortunately I'd read that opinion in numerous reviews, and therefore went in expecting it to be very good, and when it was in some places, but lagged in others, I felt disappointed. Malaya liked it better than me, perhaps since she knew less about it in advance?

Script/Story: 5
It's got far more story than your average kung fu picture, but every bit of plot and dialogue is still clearly constructed to lead from one action sequence to the next. The fatal flaw of the whole picture though, was that I never really cared about any of the characters or how things were going to turn out. It was like a playoff game between two teams I had no rooting interest between; interesting to watch, but emotionally uninvolving.

Acting/Casting: 7
Acceptable, which I suppose is all you really want from this sort of film. Actually, since every character is playing a broad caricature, I suppose the acting is actually pretty much perfect. There's the fat, useless, narcoleptic sidekick, the saintly pretty girl, the loud mouth angry land lady, and so on.

Action: 8
So much of the fight scene action is comical in its intent and special effects that it's hard to judge. There's virtually zero action in Kung Fu Hustle that's not hyper-realistic and enhanced by awesome/amusing CGI. I'd have liked a few more scenes with people actually doing something on their own, rather than with the aid of wires or special effects, but then I'm old school like that. 

Humor: 7
It's a comedy, and while it's not a laugh riot, I laughed out loud numerous times.

Eye Candy: 5
The film is well directed and shot, but it's not especially pretty. It's not really meant to be; this isn't one of the "splendor of nature" wuxia films like House of Flying Daggers or Crouching Tiger. Most of the action takes place in a dirty slum or on dirty streets, and they looked appropriately dirty and 1940s. Appropriate and realistic do not eye candy make, though.

Fun Factor: 8
If you're into the martial arts comedy action, this might be the best film you ever see in your life. I enjoyed lots of it, and can imagine this one being a lot of fun to watch with friends when you all talk back to the screen while you watch it, Rocky Horror Picture style. It's not so much a movie for serious martial arts fans to watch over and over again, but it's fun, if a bit mindless at times.

Replayability: 6
See the fun factor score. If you like it, the gags would only get better with repeated watching. If you don't like it, you won't likely enjoy it any more the 2nd time you see it.

Overall: 6.5
I'm sort of torn on this one. If I had felt at all involved in the plot or the struggle and had any doubt about how it would turn out, I could have given it a much higher score. If I'd given this film an 8 in Script/Story, I'd probably have given it an 8.5 overall. Since I gave it a 5 in Script/Story I'm adding 1.5 points for other merits, but the plot never interested me, so I can't really award it a 7, which I try to reserve only for films that are enjoyable and good. Not just one or the other.

Pre-Movie Discussion

April 8, 2005

In happier news, there is a film opening this weekend that Malaya and me are interested in. Not the big studio mediocrities Sahara or Fever Pitch; no we wanna Kung Fu Hustle. It's a film by Steven Chow, who is basically a younger and funnier Jackie Chan; plus he can still do his own stunts. People who are into Hong Kong films hold him up like a comedy action god, and most of them say his previous film, Shaolin Soccer, was a total blast. I heard it was good, but I also heard that Miramax's editing ruined it in the American version, and I know they delayed the release about two years and killed its box office opportunities. So I've never rented the Miramax version, while never making any effort to hunt down a non-US version instead.

I am interested in Kung Fu Hustle though, especially since Chow found a new distributor for this one. I'm not sure if it'll be any good or not; the trailers have a lot of funny stuff, but I can't tell if it'll be hilarious or ridiculous. It is being well-reviewed though; 92% positive (33/36) on Rotten Tomatoes is a very good sign.

Unfortunately, it's only opening in NY/LA, though hopefully it'll go wider in two weeks and we can catch it then.

Return to the Reviews Index.

All site content copyright "Flux" (Eric Bruce), 2002-2007.