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my friendly neighbourhood video store manager recommended this film to me and so i rented it, since he's never steered me wrong before. the packaging claims the film has a "Tarantino-like" quality to it. but what decided it for me was that i recognized the choreographer; the same man who choreographed CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, Woo Ping Yuen. and to my surprise, i thoroughly enjoyed this movie. it DID have a Tarantino-like edge to it. it also had a touch of The Matrix, and a pinch of the romance in Braveheart, and the magical quality we saw in Crouching Tiger. this movie had me belly-laughing, it was so funny! a self-parody, it mixes fantasy, comedy, and great action sequences very well and has a magical quality as i said that i really appreciated. i found it unconventional, touching, and absolutely HILARIOUS. subtitled in English, these movies have come a long long way from the chop-sake films i used to take in in the seventies in Chinese theatres where the subtitling was unintentionally hilarious. Kung-Fu Hustle wasn't a one-note film. it covered a number of territories and covered them surprisingly well. if you've never seen a Chinese action film before, and are used to Jackie Chan films, you may not know what to make of this film. but i can almost guarantee that it will make you laugh out loud. great cast with uniquely drawn characters, great un-stereotyped hero, sweet heroine, flying martial arts, Shakespearean "aside" characters, fantasy, terrific comedy, and an abrupt ending. i found myself wishing for more. all in all, completely enjoyable.
score 9/10
pookey56 12 November 2005
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1215715/ |
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29-11-2019 18:06:01
