Kung-Fu Hustle
(Sony Pictures Classics)

I hadn’t seen any of Stephen Chow’s previous films (save for the trailer for Shaolin Soccer), but after watching Kung Fu Hustle, I’m definitely adding them to my must-see list. A band of sharply-dressed gangsters (“The Axe Gang”) terrorize an unnamed Chinese city but leave the poorest sections alone. When a two-bit hustler and his buddy attempt to shake down Pig Sty Alley’s local barber by impersonating members of the gang, he incurs the wrath of the real mobsters and as a result, several kung fu masters emerge from the neighborhood to defend their turf. A simplistic plot, but one that serves a vehicle for some eye-popping special effects and a brief history of kung fu styles that are all represented in some form here. Add to that some outrageous, cartoony CGI work and you have a film that will stun you with its choreography and imaginative digital design. Chow also plays the itinerant hustler who transforms himself from “walking disaster to kung fu master” in the film’s climatic battle sequence, but the real scene stealer would have to be Qiu Yuen, the Landlady who turns up to have a few tricks up her sleeve as well. - David Bassin