Kung Fu Hustle (2004) Chinese Movie Information

Title in Chinese – 功夫
Title in Pinyin – Kung Fu

Genre – Kung Fu and comedy

Subject/theme – a triad imposter gains super kung fu powers and fights an evil assassin    

Language – Cantonese

Region – Hong Kong, China

Release date
Canada – 14 September 2004
China – 23 December 2004
Hong Kong – 23 December 2004
Taiwan – 24 December 2004
Japan – 1 January 2005

Movie Runtime – 95 minutes

Director – Stephen Chow

Cast & Role Played
Stephen Chow – Sing
Lam Chi-chung – Bone, Sing’s sidekick
Yuen Qiu – landlady
Yuen Wa – landlord
Eva Huang – Fong, Sing’s mute love interest
Bruce Leung – Beast, evil kung fu master
Danny Chan – Sum, leader of the Axe Gang
Xing Yu – Coolie, master of the Tam School Twelve Kicks Kung Fu
Chiu Chi-ling – Fairy, master of the Hung Ga Iron Fist Kung Fu
Dong Zhi Hua – Donut, master of the Eight Trigram Staff

Plot
Back in the 1930’s Shanghai is run by gangs and the roughest, toughest and most powerful gang is the Axe Gang run by Sum. The only areas not controlled by the gangs are poor areas like Pig Sty Alley. Sing is a hopeless wannabe gangster who goes to Pig Sty Alley with his sidekick Bone to bully the locals and make a bit of money. His plan back fires when he is beaten up by the locals and he is saved by the arrival of genuine gang members from the Axe Gang. The gang starts to terrorise the locals but are chased off by kung fu masters Coolie, Fairy and Donut.

Sum hires a pair of assassins to kill the three masters and ensure their control of Pig Sty Alley. The assassins defeat the three masters but are sent running by the married landlord and landlady who are kung fu super masters. Sing is drawn into the Axe Gang and through a series of accidents and latent ability, develops formidable kung fu skills that set the course of the movie.

Editor’s Review of Kung Fu Hustle – 8/10
After Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle is Stephen Chow’s all time best movie. It is a kung fu epic with an excellent balance of deadpan dry humour, violence and kung fu. The acting by the stars of the movie, Chow, Yuen Qiu and Yuen Wa is brilliant and the support cast such as Lam Chi-chung and Bruce Leung are as equally good. Overall Kung Fu hustle is one of the best comedy action movies to come out of Hong Kong with wicked satire and an extremely enjoyable 90 minutes of entertainment.

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