Hustled

In this, the year 2005, I have many highly anticipated movies that I am excited about. I've gone into detail on these select films (i.e. STAR WARS, BATMAN, etc), but I was just able to (illegally of course) see my most anticipated Hong Kong film of 2005...KUNG FU HUSTLE, written, directed and supposedly starring the genius known as Stephen Chow. Chow is famous nowadays for writing, directing and starring in the now legendary SHAOLIN SOCCER and he is also responsible for one of the few moments in my life where I completly went fanboy and acted like a starstruck idiot upon meeting him. That only happened before when I met Morrissey. Luckily, he was nice, but I think I scared the shit out of him (this is a story for another time).

Anyhow, HUSTLE, which is his most ambitious film to date, is Chow's homage to the Kung Fu genre, while making fun of recent films like THE MATRIX, SPIDERMAN, and even his own SHAOLIN SOCCER. His love of the kung fu genre is obvious and while he shows he can handle a larger budget and direct some incredible and hilarious action sequences in HUSTLE, he sadly, for the first time in years, loses touch with what made him great...the ability to relate to him as an everyman. The story and characters are so underdeveloped I was beginning to wonder if he even had a script here or just pieced a bunch of scenes together as he went. Now, with SHAOLIN SOCCER and his previous and even funnier film KING OF COMEDY (a big favourite here), we know he can tell a story. But here, it seems as though Chow is so excited to be working with a group of Kung Fu stars from yesteryear (including the wonderful Yuen Wah) that he forgets to put himself in the fucking movie! He's barely in it and it's his movie!

What's weird is that all the elements of a great Chow movie are there. There are some VERY funny bits, and even a super dance sequence, but by just about ignoring his character with the exception of a few flashbacks, the film is never grounded. It should have been built around him and it never quite clicks.

Look, a so so Chow movie is better than most other people's careers. But they wanted this to be his big breakthrough movie here and it has very little of the mainstream appeal SHAOLIN SOCCER has, which sucks. His homage to the genre is pure and his comedic flair is evident that he has really come into his own as a director. I'll still check it out on the big screen and give it a second chance. I laughed a lot and loved the action but without the emotional core the film needed, I feel kinda, well, hustled.

F