Movie Reviews of 2005 #10 - Kung Fu Hustle {aka Gong fu}

If you like the American action films that have come out recently. - You may be disappointed
If you have never seen a foreign film with subtitles. - You will be lost.
If you take life too seriously to enjoy a film for what it is worth. - Your fu[{ed in the head!

BUT: If you want to see an action packed, fun as hell movie with a buttload of cool gags & CGI EFX.

This is a movie you have GOT to see!

Many people on IMDB have commented on Gong Fu already, and it is one of few movies that have produced a large love/hate series of threads in the comments section. I however think this is the best action movie I have seen in over a year.

It took me a while to get used to the subtitles, but not long. If you are walking into the show without knowing that this is not an "American/Hollywood" produced movie, or that it has been out overseas for almost six months. {it surpassed Shaolin Soccer in Feb. to become the highest-grossing Hong Kong-made movie in Hong Kong}, or if you just plain walked into the wrong theatre, it will not take long for you to get into the movie & start enjoying what is going on in front of you.

The Plot:

Some have said there is no plot. I say BULLSHIT!
It is a simple line of a screwup of a kid is taught to defend the good of things, but ends up disappointed by his teachings supposedly failing him.
He grows up to be a punk & more of a screwup & wants to join the "Axe Gang" who are the worst of the worst, {read good going to "the dark side"}.
This goofball & his buddy go into an area that the gangs do not mess with because there is nothing to steal, so why bother. The only problem is they were posing as upper ranks of the Axe Gang, and got the snot kicked out of them, The Axe found out & showed up & kicked the bejesus out of tweedledee & tweedledum again. They then as a group of 50+ of the toughest people in the province, collectively get their asses handed to them by the "harmless" villagers.

And that is just the 1st act! I will not go on to spoil the rest of the movie for you.

Another thing I loved about this movie was that is was violent, but it was "clean violence". There is very little explosions of blood & unneeded gore. A lot of people die, and many people are seriously injured, yes. But very little is shown of the actual act of death or injury, leaving the viewers to create the images themselves. And sometimes that can be a helva lot worse than anything they could have done onscreen.

As for CGI. . . Imagine the people that did Matrix, Harry Potter, & Star Wars getting together at a kegger one night and someone said, "hey lets grab our laptops, have a LAN party, & see what kind of silliness we can throw together before the 2nd keg runs out! The CGI in this movie is FUN! Some think it was overdone & looks cheap. But if you are watching the movie to critique the FX you miss the whole point of the movie to begin with. My take is that the FX fit with the movie & if you are watching the movie & not its bits & pieces, you will not notice it unless it is meant to be noticed.

RATING: WOW! x3, 1/4 soda drank, & didn't even feel like taossing a wiz. {get it, taoss and not toss}

Blessed Be all, Dr. Strangelove