It took a lot for \Kung Fu Hustle"" to make it to Madison.
Last April, after delaying its release for more than a year and a half, Miramax finally released ""Shaolin Soccer"" to American theaters. On six screens. Executives just couldn't see how such a bizarre mix of technically advanced kung fu and high-concept low-brow humor could be marketed, even though it grossed more in Hong Kong than any other Hong Kong movie ever.
This February, ""Kung Fu Hustle,"" the subsequent project from ""Shaolin Soccer"" writer-director-star Steven Chow, performed even better than his previous effort in Hong Kong, and once again, Chow was set to arrive in America.
This time, with his second record-breaking Hong Kong film, Chow has gotten a wide release. And after barely making it to theaters with the relentless energy and distinctive blend of action and comedy of ""Shaolin Soccer,"" Chow has upped the ante in ""Kung Fu Hustle,"" defying categorization like no movie in recent memory and possibly providing the best release of 2005 so far.
Set in a time when stylish gangs have taken over the cities, ""Kung Fu Hustle"" centers around the battle that starts between the powerful Axe Gang and an impoverished rural slum when two dim-witted drifters pose as Axes and start trouble in the slum. When the deadly Axes subsequently try to strong-arm the slum residents, they are surprised to find that the worn-down community houses three kung fu masters, unbeknownst to each other. And so ensues a long feud, as the Axes try to recover their egos by defeating the kung fu masters.
""Kung Fu Hustle"" sees Chow take less of an acting role, this time playing a pivotal ensemble part. While his boyish good looks and polished slapstick are always welcome on screen, his extra time behind the camera pays far greater dividends in the movie's more accomplished and adventurous style.
Working with Woo-ping Yuen, the fight choreographer from the ""Matrix"" trilogy, the ""Kill Bill"" movies and ""Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,"" Chow crafts jaw-dropping fight sequences that make seamless use of wire-fu technique and digital effects. But unlike any of Yuen's other work, ""Kung Fu Hustle"" blends martial arts and comedy while still managing to maximize both. This is Chow's crowning achievement. He effortlessly meshes the elegance of the fighting techniques with the glitzy edge of the special effects, the self-deprecating charm and the manic absurdity of his Buster Keaton-tinged comedy.
And through it all, Chow unleashes a barrage of charming details. Unlike Tarantino, there is something more streamlined, organic and less obtrusively self-indulgent about how Chow appropriates his influences, and he does it all with an unshakable dash of humanity. His character's back-story as a loser, the musical assassins, the cigarette perpetually seated on the cusp of the slum landlady's lip. Chow never stops reaching into his bag of technical tricks and decorative characters, yet the movie never feels cluttered. Instead, it comes across as a tireless effort to entertain, and an overwhelmingly successful one at that.
It is understandable that Miramax didn't know what to do with Chow's last film. There is no equivalent to his work. ""Kung Fu Hustle"" is both the funniest martial arts film and the most technically virtuosic comedy to be seen in years. A clear sense of joy permeates every frame of the work, and it is one that will translate to audiences, as well. This is an instant classic of the oddest kind.
