Kung Fu Hustle

I never really knew what to think of this movie when I saw previews for it and when it was in the theater. A couple friends of mine said it was really good, but I sorta forgot about it. Well I put in on my netflix list and low and behold, I gave it a 5/5 rating. The only way I can describe this movie is to say it combines some of the surrealness of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers with some of the martial arts of The Matrix, Hero and previous movies, along with a touch of the hilarity I've come to know as the one and only, Jack Black along with a dash of Looney Tunes. Confusing? I hope so. I'm trying to entice you to go out and actually watch this. This movie starts off innocent enough with an all well too familiar story of a gang oppressing the poor and helpless. However, it's the way that the silent heroes unmask themselves and save the day that makes this movie unique and oh so cool. What starts out as a small grudge between one gang and a small community soon turns into something much bigger as long retired masters step up to the plate and a long-ago locked away criminal is brought out as a trump card. Yes, this certain aspect is a lot like Boondock Saints. Even though this movie is full of revenge, violence, grudges, and the poor and weak being trampled upon, there is still redemption. True Kung Fu is not about big muscles and kicking the crap out of people. In fact it has so much more to do with balance, continuity, peace and not having to fight. This goes so much against our high school gotta-impress-the-ladies and prove our alpha-maleness mentality. The special effects in here were awesome. A lot of wire-acrobatics were employed along with blue screens and cgi. All of it seemed very appropriate to me. None of it came off as cheesy and over the top. There was even a very obvious reference to Bruce Lee's greatness when the heads of the Axe Gang are being warned to step off. I loved it! One other thing I'd like to highlight is the use of Chinese music in this film. So many foreign films these days use Western music when it just doesn't seem to fit. Kung Fu Hustle uses only Chinese music played on the traditional instruments. It just fits so well with everything. If you haven't been able to guess already, I highly recommend this film. So get out and watch it if you haven't seen it already.