***1/2 (out of ****)
Starring, directed, & produced by Stephen Chow
Also starring Wah Yuen, Qiu Yuen, Kwok Kuen Chen, and Siu Lung Leung
Written by Chow, Tsang Kan Cheong, Xin Huo, and Chan Man Keung
2005
95 min R
What at first glance seems like nothing but lunatic action is really about how a seemingly defeated culture—one that has sold all its traditions for the “exotic” amusement of the rest of the world—has a chance of being reborn, not as what it once was, but as something new and mighty.
Now that’s a mouthful. Maybe I should try to cut that down into several smaller sentences. Never mind.
Even though it doesn’t look that way, “Kung-Fu Hustle” is a bittersweet ode to the commercialization of classical Chinese culture. Or how centuries’ old traditions of philosophy, combat, and iconography became the fodder for cartoons, video games, and fast fashion. “Kung-Fu Hustle” begins and ends as a daydream of using traditional fighting styles to combat the Westernization (formerly known as “modernization”) of Hong Kong in the ‘20s and ‘30s. At the end, the past has not stopped what will happen to Hong Kong. The days of the warriors are over, a character intones early on. But the Chinese have not forgotten where they came from. We look to the past but, as every present has looked back, the past is gone. All we have is a sentimentalized version of it, seen through filter upon filter of memory, propaganda, and pop culture irony, as rainbow-colored as the cheap martial arts books being hustled at the movie’s end, or a lollipop.
The ending is sad at first glance. The villagers did not stave off the West. Like awaking from a dream to jobs at cash registers, directing traffic, and sweeping floors, each of them realizes that he is not The One or any other master. The past is just a souvenir for tourists. But the chrysalis that is China—or so sayeth “Kung-Fu Hustle”—will hatch soon, if it hasn’t already. Earlier this month, “Newsweek” declared that the 21st century belonged to the Chinese. That’s why Zhang Ziyi is on the cover, although if you couldn’t tear your eyes off her to read what was behind her, I completely understand.
On a more superficial level, “Kung-Fu Hustle” might only qualify as “story,” entirely without plot. It is structured as a “one-up contest” among warrior champions. One after another, new unstoppable masters appear without preamble or warning and utterly vanquish their predecessors. Then, like some kind of kung-fu “American Idol,” the REAL boss shows up—but he, too, is swatted aside. The gang leader of the peasant world is seen bossing cops around with impunity, only to be brushed aside by the Capone-esque Axe Gang, whose stovetop hats make Lincoln look like small potatoes. Industrialism and the West—they have guns and neckties, for crying out loud, symbolism doesn’t get much more obvious than that!
Then the Axe Gang is routed when it tries to assert its dominance over Pig Sty Alley. When three champions emerge from skid-row, my first impression was that they had been pushed too far and were suddenly transformed into masters. But no, they were masters all along. Then when the three champs are vanquished by the musician-assassins hired by the Axe Gang, it is time for two even better champs to emerge from Pig Sty Alley. When they obliterate and humiliate the musicians, it’s time to bring in a master so powerful that he’s gone crazy. All this culminates in a one-on-one match between entities known as The One and The Beast.
Director/producer/writer/star Stephen Chow has structured the battles so that what happens at the beginning looks downright believable compared to what happens at the end. The absurdity mounts and mounts until we think there’s nowhere left to go. Then it keeps going. Axes fly. One guy beats up two dozen attackers. Musical instruments shoot invisible daggers that severe heads and bisect cats. Curtain rings are worn as murderous wristbands. Children are peed on. Screams strip paint and knock over walls. Floors and ceilings are shattered indiscriminately. Furniture doesn’t last long. Blood flies and everything has a patently cartoonish look to it. The seriousness with which Marvel movies approach superpowers is EXACTLY what “Kung-Fu Hustle” throws to the wind.
“Kung-Fu Hustle” also contains several thinly-veiled musical numbers. No one sings and there’s only one scene of dancing, but mornings in Pig Sty Alley are distinctly set to a beat. Breakfast is rolled, hair is washed, teeth are brushed, bags are carried, a couple quarrels—everything feels musical. It’s not unlike the house-building and field-tilling in “Zatoichi,” made across the water in 2004. Knowledge of Chinese film is not necessary to appreciating “Kung-Fu Hustle,” and since allusions are made to “Spider-Man 2,” “The Untouchables,” and “The Road Runner” within minutes of each other, it might actually get in the way.
Not a single character is developed dimensionally, which, considering the movie’s runtime, is kind of amazing. There’s The Beast, and the leader of the Axe Gang, and the leader’s stooge, and Bucktooth Jane the floozy, and the landlady with the cigarette perpetually at the corner of her mouth, and so on and so forth. We know faces and we recognize everyone in that final, candy-colored street. The closest thing to a real character is the poseur played by director Chow, who at first imitates the Axe Gang, then begs to join it, then might be moving towards a change of heart. We know he’s destined for big things because we know movies like this. He suffers the worst injuries this side of “Sin City” and his recuperative strategies are worthy of either a true kung-fu master or an animated duck. It’s that kind of movie.
Finished Friday, May 13th, 2005
Copyright © 2005 Friday & Saturday Night
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