.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

If going to the movies is all about having fun, you can't do much better that Stephen Chow's fist-furious comedy, Kung Fu Hustle. A follow up to his highly successful Shaloin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle is part comedy, part musical, part kung fu action film and part parody of American big budget films like Gangs of New York and The Matrix.

Set in China in the early 1940's, the movie primarily focuses on down on his luck Sing (Chow) who aspires to become a member of the much feared 'Axe-Gang' that goes around terrorizing citizens and police officials using their weapon of choice, you guessed it..axes.

Pretending to already be members of the notorious Axe-Gang, Sing and his sidekick (Chi Chung Lam) saunter into Pig Sty Alley aspiring to rip fear and respect from the commoners residing in the one apartment community. But Pig Sty Alley, as it would seem, is the Justice League of America of China. Unbeknownst to even its citizens, certain members of the society have powers of martial arts masters. But when the real Axe-Gang members wander into town and begin to institute their own brand of dominance, a tailor, a baker and manual laborer rise to the occasion and the resulting kung fu battle leaves the ground littered with wounded black clad baddies.

This turn of events does not sit well however with the Axe Gang leader and he solicits the help of two musician hit men (in a scenario reminiscent of Robert Rodriguez's Desperado) to snuff out the three new threats to the gang's credibility. Their success only leads to the revelation that there are two other members of the complex that have powers that must be reckoned and another more feared enemy known only as the Beast is called upon to bring the community to its knees. It is during the Beast's strong-arming of the locals that Sing slowly comes to recognize his own inner strengths and his true calling on the opposite side of the conflict.

Kung Fu Hustle has already become the highest grossing film to come out of Hong Kong with over $150 million already in the coffers before the flick even hits the lucrative American theatres. Nominated for 16 Hong Kong film awards Kung Fu Hustle has a little something for everyone in what can maybe best be described as Big Trouble in Little China meets The Matrix with a touch of Zucker/Abrahams humor. And what a ride it is.

Director, writer, actor Chow does a fantastic job of juggling genres and introducing us to some of the most outlandish characters to grace our big screens in many a year. A woman who's power is called the Lion's Roar, the musicians who can throw knives and even skeletal warriors from their instrument and an old man mimicking powers of a toad are just three examples of Chow's eclectic group of Mystery Men.

But maybe more crowning of an achievement is the intermix of comedy - slapstick at that - with the action that dominates and drives the film. If the saying, "Drama is easy, comedy is hard" be true, then Kung Fu Hustle's blend of Naked Gun type gags coupled with eye popping special effects and a subdued love story must have been an undertaking that had the films financiers saying an extra prayer every evening. What other film could incorporate a dance number with a group of axe welding thugs and then later have a scene where one of the expected heroes of the film loses his head while innocently walking through the streets at night.

Inspiration for Kung Fu Hustle could have come from a Looney Toons episode of the Road Runner and Willie E. Coyote. A scene where Sing and the landlord race at Ferrari type speeds down a desert road results in a hilarious head on collision with a road side advertisement and was one 'Beep Beep' away from being anime.

And hereto is where the production crew should get their chops. Kung Fu Hustle had the budget of The Matrix's advertising team's caterer but provides some of the best fight scenes and special effects that I have seen so far this year. Take for instance the scene where the landlord uses her vocal power through a makeshift blow horn to completely decimate the Axe-Gang run casino or the twisting of limbs when the Beast takes on his adversaries, these scenes crackle with originality and the production values that rival even anything produced by the major Hollywood studios.

I have very little bad to say about Kung Fu Hustle. Even the musical score by Raymond Wong was memorable and well chosen. Everything seemed to fit and despite a small gap of story development where both the action and the comedy take a back seat for about 10 minutes, the movie is top rate and deserves the West's attention.