Kung Fu Hustle -Stephen Chow (2004)

"This movie…it’s like Jackie Chan and Buster Keaton meet Quentin Tarantino and Bugs Bunny."

I don't like martial arts movies, I consider China a country that doesn't have much to say in cinematography, and I don't like directors who play the main roles in their own movies, according to their own scripts... (with a few exceptions... Citizen Kane among them...)

The movie is deeply rooted in Chinese history, traditions, and culture. The names of certain martial arts techniques, characters, and situations constantly refer to this baggage of information, of which the unknowledgeable viewer is deprived. Kung Fu Hustle made an extraordinary box office, being one of the most watched non-American productions in the US in 2005.

In one breath, here are five reasons why I shouldn't have even approached the theater where Kung Fu Hustle was playing, and it would have been a big mistake and a significant loss: ...yet another lesson in support of the idea that preconceived opinions, or hastily formulated ones, are both damaging and unfair; therefore, the goal of any attentive and responsible person should include instructions and habits that block this reflex. Because, by the hasty and superficial way in which we arbitrarily allocate our interest, we always lose important values, and it is a shame.

No, this film is not a masterpiece, it's not a huge success, and it's not anything other than what it announces from the title. It's about good guys and bad guys, legends and kung fu, with a kind of love that's a bit more discreet and an unusual load that mixes comedy and fantasy in equal parts. It's full of metaphors, parables, allusions, and symbols; it has an image and a cinema to envy, possessing a homogeneous plot, charged, and convincingly told.

Kung Fu Hustle is a picturesque, beautiful, and easy-to-watch film.

As someone who hasn't seriously followed this genre of film, the novelty, received with a satisfaction full of hopes, is the openness and availability that Chow affirms and divulges towards serious cinema; the casual way in which he transmits or comments on extensive messages, from an equal to equal, from the great literature, classical themes, or reference achievements of art. Apart from Akira Kurosawa, there haven't been many Asian directors with such concerns.

The ironic note that dominates the 99 minutes of the screening is of an impressive and surprisingly subtle nature itself, operating in most cases at a different level than that of dialogue, gestures, or attitudes, somewhere in the underlying image, where Chow generously delivers an entire arsenal of post-processing technical effects. It is the same type of unrefined Chinese humor but displayed...somewhat more European...

Once again, the remarkable evolution of the characters, sufficiently outlined and alive (which doesn't usually happen to masked brawlers with contortionist bodies), in a constant becoming that naturally slides to extreme positions, diametrically opposed. Moreover, they are well-defined and dynamic, exhibiting a natural evolution that is rare in martial arts films. The gangsters, who are typically depicted as flat, one-dimensional characters, become multi-faceted and relatable as the plot progresses.

Although Kung Fu Hustle is not a comedy, there is a lot of laughter in this twisted and full of horrors film, and the feeling with which you leave the theater is the same as with any other production with pretensions. Not about confrontations, banditry, supremacy, or abnormal powers and legend; about cinema: see a funny movie, full of unexpected and justified aspirations...

Overall, Kung Fu Hustle is a beautiful, picturesque film that is easy to watch and full of unexpected depth. If you're looking for a movie that is both funny and thought-provoking, I highly recommend giving Kung Fu Hustle a chance.