Filmviewers in China laughed at Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) because the mid-air fight scenes were ridiculously fake, involving wires. Kung Fu Hustle (titled in Chinese Gong Fu), directed by Stephen Chow, may be seen as a satirical riposte, with fight scenes so unrealistic that the laughter is genuine; satires of other films abound in Kung Fu Hustle, though they are mostly inside jokes. Yet Kung Fu Hustle does have a clever story. Sing (played by the director) and his corpulent sidekick (played by Lam Tze Chung), two street guys in Shanghai of the 1930s,want to join the Axe Gang, which is so strong that the local police has no power over them. A requirement of Axe Gang membership for the duo is to kill someone--anyone. Accordingly, they go to Pig Sty Alley, where poor people live, barely able to pay their rent. The duo presumably believe that deaths in Pig Sty Alley will not prompt revenge reprisals. However, they encounter superior fighting ability among the many characters eking out an existence in the slum; indeed, some are closet kung-fu masters, including a character lampooned as a "fairy." When the Axe Gang comes to subdue the slumdwellers for having the temerity not to know their place as expendable members of society, Sing wonders whether he should instead be the good guy. The confrontations enable filmviewers to feast their eyes on muscular defenders of the Alley, with all their idiosyncrasies, including a very tough, kung-fu-proficient landlady with a cigarette always dangling from her mouth (played by Yuen Qui). The common people, of course, are victorious on their home turf, but the Axe Gang is still undefeated elsewhere in town. Perhaps for that reason, but largely thanks to the success of the film in Asia, director Chow promises filmviewers a sequel. MH
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