This is the usual staple of typical martial arts/kung fu movies of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. It is also the theme of our early recollections of action-packed Chinese films.
Kung Fu Hustle, which premieres tomorrow at 9 p.m. on AXN as the latter’s Movie Event of the Year, breaks that stereotype and gives it a run of a hundred flying kicks, karate chops and somersaults.
Produced, directed, written and starring Hong Kong’s Stephen Chow, Kung Fu Hustle is a mix of action and comedy that assures one thing: a roller-coaster ride of intense, jaw-dropping stunts, funny antics and hilarious sketches.
Viewers are treated to a fusion of two different genres of drama – and entertainment – which, as the word hustle connotes, pushes one hurriedly, but this time, to be stunned and laugh harder moment to moment.
Released last year on the big screen, the film is the tale of a small-time hustler named Sing, who wants to be part of Axe Gang, which controls everything in big cities due to its immense power and influence. Members are highly-respected and scared, for they can ruin every man’s turf. (This is clearly shown in the first few scenes of the movie.)
In the pursuit of his dream, Sing and his partner target the Pig Sty’s neighborhood by introducing his sidekick as an Axe member with a cross like axes, symbol of the infamous gang, embossed on his chest.
With the intention of extorting money, Sing starts a fight with the impoverished Pig Sty neighborhood, which the big time Axe Gang unlikely picks on or will reign supreme. As the annotation in the movies goes, "Only in the poorest neighborhood can people live."
The walking disaster that he is, Sing provokes the folks to defend themselves – and brings out the masters in them, thereby confronting the gangsters in the situation Sing has created.
As if trapped in a battle with no return, the gangmates fight the local folk and find out they are facing a strong enemy they could not easily defeat.
The real Kung Fu fighting starts.
In the tradition of Shaolin Soccer, also produced and starred by Stephen Chow, the film is not the typical Chinese martial arts movie straight from Hong Kong. Although it is an authentic Oriental film, Kung Fu Hustle carries a Hollywood flair. There are inspirations from Matrix, Looney Tunes, Kill Bill, Men in Black and Gangs of New York. The storytelling even has a touch of Godfather. There are more common Hollywood images to share with.
Perhaps, these are the reasons why Kung Fu Hustle is a hit outside. Aside from the characters and few settings that look and smell Chinese, the upbeat music and dance sequences are outright Western.
Filipinos who admire telenovelas from Korea and Taiwan will easily get hooked, given the East-meets-West look. Watching Kung Fu Hustle is like dancing, er, doing the hustle.
More than the comic and farcical nature of the film, it remains a serious movie. This is evident in some of the dramatic portions and one-liners. "In great power lies great responsibility," says one of the masters in his dying moment. A sort of changing of the guards happens. The landlady, a domineering wife with a big mouth and the landlord, a womanizer, play the part and eventually emerge masters themselves.
"I think there are hidden masters within us," says Stephen Chow of the movie theme. "It’s just that we are not aware of it. I believe we all have something inside us that can make us masters – not necessarily of martial arts. It has to be discovered." Once unearthed, unlimited possibilities unfold.
This does not stop Chow from discovering new talents or wannabes for Hong Kong film industry. It’s his way of keeping the industry alive. He expects more new faces appearing in his films. In fact, the big fat Chinese guy, his sidekick in Kung Fu Hustle, worked for Chow first as a scriptwriter and now is an upcoming director and a star in Hong Kong.
If there’s any reason why Stephen gives break to newcomers, it’s because of his urge to come up something new and innovative for the viewing public.
Whether to surpass his movie after another, Stephen’s goal is to make a film closest to the heart of the audiences. He views his work as a means of communicating what the audience enjoys the most. Anyway, watching movie should be relaxing and pleasurable to begin with.
Coming up a movie like this was all started from a dream of becoming a Kung Fu master. After watching Bruce Lee’s The Big Boss,
Stephen started practicing Kung Fu and aspired to be a master. With so many twists and turns in his life, he landed in a field totally different from the Chinese form of combat and became a director. Although his interest on this dream didn’t wane through the years, Stephen was able to fulfill it by playing a master in his film, the least thing he could do.
What makes his movie away from slapstick, it’s because Stephen "pays attention, observes the interesting things happening in real time" and tries to put them into his movies.
That makes Kung Fu Hustle unbelievably and effortlessly engaging as the dance hustle.