Pocket Universe

While Kung Fu Hustle is specifically not a sequel to Shaolin Soccer, it does feature many of the same actors, so it will feel familiar to fans of the previous film. But when Chow’s character Sing first appears, he crushes a soccer ball under his foot, telling nearby kids, “No more soccer!” Kung Fu Hustle follows the exploits of the Axe Gang, the deadliest and most dangerous gang in Hong Kong. When Chow shows up to a poor housing development posing as a member of the Axe Gang, he forces a confrontation between the gang and the various residents of the development. In an unexpected turn of events, they find themselves defended by some unlikely (and formerly retired) martial arts experts, whose abilities border on superheroic. The Axe Gang is bound by honor to retaliate, and the remainder of the movie details the escalating attacks between the two groups, with Sing caught in the middle as he tries to prove himself to be a worthy member of the gang.

While the plot is a little more straightforward than Shaolin Soccer, the effects and battles are much more exaggerated. The DVD case says, “Kill Bill meets Looney Tunes,” and that’s a pretty accurate description. Throw in a little of The Matrix and you’ve got it. One fight scene in particular is an obvious homage to the Burly Brawl from The Matrix Reloaded, where one man fights off hundreds of attackers. (Yuen Wo-Ping choreographed the fight scenes for both Kung Fu Hustle and the Matrix films.) Instead of using the effects to mimic reality, they are used to create completely outrageous situations that would otherwise only be seen in a cartoon. For example, another chase scene where two characters mimic the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, complete with blurred feet. The effect is a movie where you feel like anything can happen, and the director rewards that by keeping the story twisting and turning, with surprises and new visual delights all the way until the end.

I won’t ruin the movie by sharing the best jokes with you (although there is one reference to The Untouchables that I thought was hilarious). I would strongly recommend seeing Shaolin Soccer first, and then Kung Fu Hustle. Kung Fu Hustle is probably a little more accessible to mainstream viewers, simply because it has more action scenes and a more direct storyline, but it lacks a lot of the emotional depth that Shaolin Soccer has. However, it also has more-exaggerated action scenes, so watching Shaolin Soccer first may give you a better idea of what to expect. Either way, both movies complement each other nicely. I think both movies would be enjoyed by anyone interested in something different from the mainstream American movie.