Have we had a thread about Kung-Fu Hustle yet?

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And the middle-aged guys?

I loved this - even wrote it up on the livejournal.

― Negativa, True Believer (Sheryl Crow in a Britney costume) (Barima), Sunday, 31 July 2005 16:02 (eighteen years ago) link

I liked that bit where the landlord and lady were watching Chow kick ass, and the one goes "who'd have thought being beaten by the Beast would have purified his chi?", and the other one just sort of shrugs.

― Michael Philip Philip Philip Avoidant (Ferg), Sunday, 31 July 2005 16:08 (eighteen years ago) link

I love this movie so much. The musicians were unbelievably frightening.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 1 August 2005 01:37 (eighteen years ago) link

I really liked the explicitly Buddhist moralism of the ending, which actually resulted in a walkout at the screening I attended. I thought there was lots of other good stuff in it, too. Way better than Shaolin Soccer, IMHO.

― Chris F. (servoret), Monday, 1 August 2005 04:04 (eighteen years ago) link

Definitely top five of the year material. I want this guy to make two films a year until i die, please.

The visual flourishes were so dead on; personal fave was the cat shadow leaping then dividing in two perfect halves.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Monday, 1 August 2005 04:06 (eighteen years ago) link

buddhist moralism of the ending!?

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 1 August 2005 04:18 (eighteen years ago) link

Heh, that "bisected cat shadow" bit got an "awp" from the audience I was watching it with.

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Monday, 1 August 2005 04:19 (eighteen years ago) link

two weeks pass...

Er, yeah, Sterling! You know, when Chow's character decides to exercise compassion instead of providing catharsis by beating the main villain to a pulp at the point where the hero normally would in movies of that type? Wasn't his secret kung-fu handbook explicitly Buddhist in nature? The secret of the lotus somesuch? Doesn't he wind up turning into a perfected Buddha right before he executes his finishing move, or am I totally making all this stuff up? I know that basically the same thing happens at the end of God of Cookery, so I'm pretty sure that there's a pattern emerging here.

― Chris F. (servoret), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 04:34 (eighteen years ago) link

Secret of the Buddhist Palm.

We saw this on saturday as a belated birthday present for me. It was fucking great. I had forgotten how much i enjoy kung fu flicks, and how much these movies tend have a really humanist message: no matter what happens, normal people can overcome their problems with kung fu.

except in this movie, it's divine-powered kung fu, so many that message doesn't work so well.

oh well. I had fun picking out the returning actors from Shaolin Soccer.

― kingfish completely hatstand (Kingfish), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 04:43 (eighteen years ago) link

haha ok yeah i was thinking of the later ending with the corny candyshow and the dude giving the kid the whole option of pamphlets. which was much funnier, but far less...moral

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 05:10 (eighteen years ago) link

The Beast was conducting traffic in that last scene (apparently completely reformed!)

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 05:18 (eighteen years ago) link

i liked the last shot. a curtain call for everyone!

― kingfish completely hatstand (Kingfish), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 05:22 (eighteen years ago) link

my favorite curtain call shot is the black and white photo at the end of Joint Security Area.

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 05:23 (eighteen years ago) link

and then, there's the extended dance sequence to the latest Zatoichi flick

― kingfish completely hatstand (Kingfish), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 05:31 (eighteen years ago) link

oh yeah, i just saw shaolin soccer and thought it completely fantastic. blew kung-fu hustle out of the water in terms of tigher pacing, greater silliness, constant inventiveness, the works.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 05:32 (eighteen years ago) link

the "i am ironhead" song was so great.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 05:32 (eighteen years ago) link

really liked this

the axe-gang shimmy dance near the start !

the chase sequence where their legs are a blur like in roadrunner cartoons, and they lean over like motorbikes when taking curves is great - but is given *extra* greatness by the fact that the legs appear to be moving in a ridiculously 'running on the spot' way, like some cockney knees-up

(the 'fairy' jokes and innuendo was the only thing that provoked occasional bit of cringe - reminded me of Carry On Up The Clishayyyy)

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 08:59 (eighteen years ago) link

loved it, but totally prefer shaolin soccer which is just a million times more daft. stephen chow is one of the gentlest men i have ever met.

― Pete W (peterw), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 09:55 (eighteen years ago) link

Was Shaolin Soccer the first Stephen Chow movie for any of the people here who totally love it in comparison to Hustle? (I thought I'd read opinions of this sort here than just Pete's-- hmm, maybe here.) I used to feel the same way about God of Cookery, i.e., the subsequent films of Chow's that I saw were OK but not a patch on the mindblowing experience I had watching that first film. To me, Shaolin Soccer was an amusing take on the Bad News Bears sports film, but not much else. It's too straight in its approach, in comparison to Cookery and Hustle, and too much of a children's film. I think that Hustle is a more accomplished film and I found my watching of it to be a more engrossing experience, despite the hiccups that it has in its storytelling.

― Chris F. (servoret), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 12:20 (eighteen years ago) link

Er, that should be "more opinions" in the above, sorry.

― Chris F. (servoret), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 12:21 (eighteen years ago) link

donut!

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 20:28 (eighteen years ago) link

is there anyone who doesn't like this movie?

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 20:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Hitler, Satan, and probably Dr. Morbius.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 20:35 (eighteen years ago) link

That said, I don't think it was quite as good as Shaolin Soccer, but it was still excellent.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 20:38 (eighteen years ago) link

"Hitler, Satan, and probably Dr. Morbius."

I'd watch that review show.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 20:45 (eighteen years ago) link

Hot off the wire... Hitler and Satan at opine impasse with the feared Morbius.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 02:36 (eighteen years ago) link

So was Shaolin Soccer the first Chow film you saw, Nick?

― Chris F. (servoret), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 02:53 (eighteen years ago) link

So, if this really is inferior to Shaolin Soccer, then maybe it's a good thing I hadn't seen SS before this. Not that I've seen SS since, but my interest has risen.

― BARMS, Wednesday, 17 August 2005 18:59 (eighteen years ago) link

Chris - Yes, and thus your Theory of Chow Primacy may be correct.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 19:28 (eighteen years ago) link

So, I just saw this Korean film called Arahan, and its plot is remarkably similar to Kung-Fu Hustle's. It's also a martial arts comedy, a little more conventional in approach, but also more solidly constructed than Hustle, with better Taoist/Buddhist metaphysical bollocks and martial arts entertainment value (catharsis is thoroughly delivered but the audience is sternly enjoined from enjoying it too much). Its stars are blander performers than Stephen Chow and associates and its romance subplot very predictable, but as entertainment for an evening, I'd recommend it. Has anyone else here seen this flick?

― Chris F. (servoret), Friday, 26 August 2005 04:01 (eighteen years ago) link

three months pass...

SO GOOD. I watched it yesterday morning, and had to watch it again last night before sending the disc back to Netflix today.

― I do feel guilty for getting any perverse amusement out of it (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 15 December 2005 14:32 (eighteen years ago) link

two months pass...

Re-watched last weekend. Best comedy I've seen from last year by a mile. And the Landlady actress was in The Man with the Golden Gun! She's also hadn't done a film in almost 20 years, but has subsequently made Kung Fu Mahjongg.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:18 (eighteen years ago) link

three years pass...

Put this in my top 20 of the decade. Fogot the Beast going all bullfrog in the last fight.

Chow supposedly in pre-prod with sequel.

― Rage, Resentment, Spleen (Dr Morbius), Monday, 4 January 2010 17:50 (fourteen years ago) link

three years pass...

Im in a room with twenty ppl im about the oldest im the only one to have seen (or even heard of wtf) this do i rent a screen for these poor unenlightened y/n

― mind totally brown (darraghmac), Thursday, 5 December 2013 11:49 (ten years ago) link

forgot i started this thread. haven't watched the film in years. might need to correct that.

― a beef supreme (dog latin), Thursday, 5 December 2013 11:55 (ten years ago) link

xpyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

― CANONICAL artists, etc., etc. (contenderizer), Thursday, 5 December 2013 12:43 (ten years ago) link

one year passes...

Greatest

Movie

― MONKEY had been BUMMED by the GHOST of the late prancing paedophile (darraghmac), Friday, 27 November 2015 19:38 (eight years ago) link

four years pass...

sequel in production, tho whether that's now on hold who knows

is there anyone still hasnt seen this

― ole uncle tiktok (darraghmac), Sunday, 5 April 2020 15:33 (four years ago) link

this video is from an interesting channel that focuses on mainstream chinese movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfqGq24Pcis
how to tell a joke (and how stephen chow does it)

― wasdnuos (abanana), Sunday, 5 April 2020 17:19 (four years ago) link

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