Kung Fu Hustle: Gift Set

Introduction

I really have to get around to addressing this character flaw of mine, my inability to resist a bargain. There I was in my local supermarket, when I spied this Giftbox of Kung Fu Hustle, slashed down from £30 to £5. I pounced like a lithe puma (more like a squealing schoolgirl), and stroked and hugged my new acquisition with a sense of utter satisfaction. That's until I got home and did a price search on the interweb, and found it e-tailing for £4. On top of that, I now have a hefty cardboard monstrosity and nowhere to put it (Suggestions, anatomical or otherwise will be duly ignored). The thing is, my one DVD experience with the comedies of Stephen Chow was less than edifying, with King of Beggars not really ringing my bell. I've also seen Kung Fu Hustle on television a few years back, and it obviously didn't make me rush out and order the DVD straight away. But, when I do something stupid, I do it in triplicate. I hadn't even peeled the cellophane off the Giftbox before I had placed an order for Shaolin Soccer. My inner collector is now conspiring with my inner bargain hunter against me. It's not good to start watching a movie while feeling regret.


Canton in the thirties, and the rule of law falls a distant second to the rule of the gangster. Organised crime pervades every aspect of society, and the Axe Gang are at the top of the tree. Actually, it doesn't pervade the lowest of the low when it comes to society, but that's because the hard up and the poor don't have any money to speak of. So for the people living in Pig Sty Alley, life is pretty idyllic, where the only challenges for the young girls are avoiding the advances of the lecherous landlord, and for everyone else, suffering the ire of the acerbic and loud landlady. That's all about to change when petty thug Sing and his sidekick Bone walk into the tenement. As a child, Sing was duped into wasting his money on a kung fu manual, believing that he could save the world. Dreams cruelly shattered, he decided instead to walk the path of villainy, and became a mugger instead, hoping to work his way up the scale of evil. At this point in time, he's hoping to terrorise the poor out of what little they have by playing on the reputation of the Axe Gang. He's bitten off more than he can chew, as Pig Sty Alley has some unlikely residents enjoying a peaceful retirement, three kung fu masters. Meanwhile Sing has drawn the attention of the Axe Gang to this unlikely neck of the woods, and pretty soon matters escalate between the Axe Gang, who can't afford to lose face, and the residents of the slum, and all the while Sing is caught in the middle. The situation will only be resolved by the rarest of people, a natural born kung fu master. Now where could one of those be?

The Disc

Kung Fu Hustle gets a very nice 2.40:1 anamorphic transfer, the image is clear and sharp, and on such a recent film, print damage isn't even an issue. The action is represented well, and the CGI is blended in seamlessly. Audio-wise you have a choice of DD 5.1 Cantonese, English and Spanish, alongside a DD 2.0 Surround English Audio Descriptive track. Cantonese is the way to go as always, and there are plenty of subtitles to support it. The surround is very effective, the action sequences work out well, and the sound design is deftly accomplished.

Extras

I'll have to tear open a hole in the space-time continuum to find a place to stash this hefty cardboard edifice of a case. Within it, you'll find the DVD in an Amaray of course, along side a card creation that holds a sweatband, a pack of playing cards, and a keyring. You'll also find an inflatable axe, useful for chopping down inflatable trees.

On the disc, the first challenge is an unskippable, 'you wouldn't poke a hernia' anti piracy advert.

There is a commentary for you to read, with Stephen Chow, Lam Tze Chung, Tin Kai Man, and Chan Kwok Kwan practically indistinguishable, but obviously having a lot of fun talking about the film.


The TV special that goes behind the making of the film lasts 42 minutes, and the cast and crew speak at length about the film and their roles.

Ric Meyer interviews Stephen Chow for 28 minutes, although it looks as if the camera is fonder of Meyer than it is of Chow. It's an entertaining interview though.

There are five minutes of outtakes and bloopers, a couple of deleted scenes, an International Poster Exploration Gallery, and trailers for Hitch, D.E.B.S. and Layer Cake.

Conclusion

It's comedy, it's fast paced, and it has some awesome action sequences. I should love this film, but instead I find it overrated and unsatisfying, although I'm hard pressed to put my finger on just what about it irks me so. Nevertheless, as the film came to its climax last night, I was asleep and snoring, and at exactly the point where an action movie should be keeping you at the edge of your seat and glued to the screen.


The criticism I levelled at King Of Beggars certainly doesn't apply here, as Kung Fu Hustle has a nice coherent story, and it all flows quite naturally. There's no identity crisis, as the arc of the story is clear, and the tone is apparent from the first moment. It's directed well, the action scenes are superb, and the cast is good for the most part, especially those actors from the Golden Age of Hong Kong action cinema, who appear in the film as the kung fu masters, the landlady and the landlord, and The Beast. I'm beginning to think that my problem is with Stephen Chow the actor, as I just don't find him engaging on screen. He's deadpan to the point of emotionless, but doesn't have that knowing twinkle of a Leslie Nielsen that is so essential to spoofs. His character lacks… well, for want of a better word… character.


Perhaps I'm tiring of spoofs. The classic days of Airplane have long since passed, and most modern spoofs have a tried and tested method of parodying as many current movies as possible, and losing any semblance of plot or narrative in the process. Kung Fu Hustle never approaches the level of referencing of a Scary Movie, or that Sparta spoof with whatsisname from Grange Hill, but there are moments in this film where the reference does outweigh the plot, and it looks as if it was put in to be cute, rather than for any real reason. Or maybe I just don't want to be reminded of the utter disappearance up its own backside of the Matrix Trilogy, no matter how cleverly it's referenced. Seeing the Burly Brawl revisited just leaves a sour taste in my mouth.


Kung Fu Hustle is funny, to begin with. I think the landlady and the landlord are inspired characters, I love the roadrunner chase, and the three hidden kung fu masters are comedy gold. But the longer the film runs, the less I laugh, and once the focus really shifts to Stephen Chow, I'm pretty much mirthless. At no point should a 95-minute film feel like a 2 and half hour one, but there you are. That's my opinion, and one that is apparently a rare one, especially as next year sees Kung Fu Hustle 2 come to cinemas.