Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

Stephen Chow has done it again with this film. I remember watching Shaolin Soccer and thinking that this was a fantastic movie that was going to be the start of a new genre, the comedic kung fu flick. Okay, so that wasn't really the first one, there are lots of examples of humorous martial arts films, like early Jacky Chan, or the American films like "They Call Me Bruce". But, this was different, this film brought the super hero style of kung fu into the comedic realm.
Kung Fu Hustle is as much a commentary on American pop culture as it is on Chinese. The axe gang, with their hand axes and stove pipe hats, and then when the need arises their tommy guns, is an interesting comment on America. The combination of Abraham Lincoln with the gangster motif is wickedly sublime. Add into the mix the 50's cars and dancing and you have a wickedly western take on an eastern gang.
There were more than a few occasions in which I was reminded of the Matrix. Not only were there slowed down action scenes, but there is a scene when the axe gang first comes en masse that is reminiscent of many Agent Johnsons, and when our hero is fighting them just before the finale fight, it is like it again - this time with baddies flying into the air from impossibly powerful blows.
The notion of the hidden masters, who have found refuge in living a mundane life is taken to a humorous extreme, when not one, not two, but five end up living in the same slum. The fact that they are hidden even from each other is just another layer of amusement. Then of course there are the super villains, each more absurdly powerful and eccentric than the last. I was a little bit surprised when the first three masters, the saviors of the slum are killed by the street musician killers.
The other motif borrowed from the genre is the meeting of the young hero with a virtuous maiden whom they will later meet and need to prove themselves to. Though, typically you don't see the young hero getting peed on by the bullies.
This was a nice, humorous diversion, and I can only hope that Chow is at work on another (though I'm sure that since this came out he has been at several).