Review of Kung Fu Hustle (2004) by Grid F — 09 Oct 2018

Satirical to Classic or Western Action Films.

Hardly knows where it is going.

Shift of characters, hard to connect.

Still funny, confusing.

Superpower, cgi, cartoon.

I, despite being a lover of films with strong messages and deep/ disturbing themes, still enjoyed having to watch Kung Fu Hustle. I know this because even if this happened to be the fourth time I have watched it, I still found myself laughing and enjoying its many comedic elements and shallow jokes. Though the movie in itself is quite simple, such that it did not choose to delve into deeper themes and symbolisms, but made use of "slapstick comedy" as well as the idiocy of the characters as a means to tell a story that captivates the audience's attention. Through a constant flow of comic relief, not much thinking and analysis is needed by the audience to understand and appreciate the movie, thus even the most shallow movie-goers could be won over by the charm and the appeal of this film. At the same time, if one were to observe how the director chose to present the film, he or she did not go for the approach of being realistic, but mainly used their strength of going all out to make the film fiction. This is highly evident in how CGI was used to overexaggerate blows, facial expressions/ features, deaths, fightscenes and transitions. They even gave characters superpowers to make normal traditional chinese kungfu action scenes more appealing to western audience. With all these together, it does not only create the definition of comedy in both aspects of VFX, SFX and their characters, but the overall lighthearted atmosphere it gives off (even in dramatic scenes) is extremely entertaining, altogether earning around 6-7 stars in my opinion.

But it is also this innocent vibe which hides a greater satire to what the entire movie actually chooses to mock. Upon observing the film, one could notice that the film hardly knew where it was going. Even to myself, I felt the abrupt shift of characters and scenes far too confusing to be fully invested into the storyline. In one segment, we see the Axe Gang terrorizing the locals, in another, the conflict between the residents of Pig Sty, and later on, randomly, the main character shows up with a backstory and thus commences a standard hero's journey plotline. The flow of the movie could have been more organized, but from this observation, I learned to see how this film chose to use satire and its jumbled up plotline to mimic and criticize the the nature of Western Media/ Films. Having to start with the Main Character, he deviates from the standard story of a Asian Hero's film from other movies by stripping his or her motivation of doing justice based on the commonly darker themes (ex. revenge, honor, etc.) found in many Eastern literature or films. Instead, we see the common Western ideals of being strongest in the hierarchy of power, shown by the competition amongst Kung Fu masters to be the best in the martial arts, The Beast (Leung Siu-lung) bowing to Sing, Sing wanting to feel powerful or self-confident by joining the axe gang (due to a traumatic experience of being overpowered by bullies), etc. This Western idea of power is repeated all throughout a film, and there is a rivalry between the characters to be on top. At the same time, there are also many factors that were added in the film to further appeal to the taste of Western audiences. These include such usages of CGI, which was not common in Chinese films produced in the years around when Kung Fu Hustle was made, there were the use of superpowers and superhuman abilities that brought taste to the overly used hand-to-hand combat which the Chinese have been so used in incorporating in their action films (and may look quite bland in the eyes of the West). Lastly, the director tried to fit as much stories and events possible in the span of the 1 hour and 40 minute film. Because it took at movie quite a long time before the main character was introduced, it was evident of how rushed the character development of Sing was. All at once we get the memory of how Sing tried to defend Fong, before one knows it, he gets beaten to a pulp, gains a mentor (Landlady and Landlord), becomes the supreme master of Kung Fu, and returns back to a normal life pursuing a humble goal of love. Altogether, this shows a clear resemblance to the hero's journey, a patterned plotline that is commonly used in movies such as those created by Marvel, DC, and western action movies; all of which are generally accepted by the public.

I believe that this way of presenting the movie, in a comedic, crammed and shallow fashion was all intentional in having to criticize Western films today. The director made use of many tropes, cliché events and comedic elements that are taken from Western genres to further enhance the appeal of this Asian/ Chinese film even to foreigners. It gave taste to ordinary chinese films, but also was satirical in order to exaggerate the Western qualities it shared. This was even done to the other works of Stephen Chow such as Shaolin Soccer or Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons. This strategy, at the end was successful, as it not only opened the minds for people to give more attention to the films created by the East, but also helped him garner around 7-8 stars to many of his works.