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Kung fu is like porn

Saturday, August 18, 2007

I can't say I've ever been a big fan of the martial arts genre, particularly the Hong Kong films. Much like Godzilla, they have production values and an attitude all their own that can be a little off-putting to those not in on the joke. I've seen some Hong Kong films — yes, even Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon — so I don't want anyone to think I'm dismissing them out of hand. Not at all.

As a matter of fact, I've rather enjoyed Hollywood films by the likes of John Woo, Jet Li and Chow Yun Fat, so I'd like to say I have a healthy respect for martial arts films. And it goes without saying that films like The Matrix take the best of Hong Kong and wrap it in the best of Hollywood. Sheer delight.

Still, martial arts films aren't something I'm intimately familiar with. And maybe that's why I enjoyed Kung Fu Hustle so much.

First, let me say, I haven't seen all of this. It was on cable tonight and I caught it about twenty minutes in. It was obviously a dubbed "foreign film" with rapid speech, like the Hong Kong films I remember as a kid. And now I can't remember why I even bothered to leave it on. While I knew there'd be some action somewhere along the line, the point at which I tuned in was strictly dialog (plus, the TV was too low to actually hear that dialog). But for whatever reason, I left it on. And even more surprising, this thing turned out to be a comedy! Didn't see that one coming.

In fact, I was probably an hour into it before I realized it was supposed to be funny. Here I was thinking this was another cheesy low-budget kung fu movie with nothing going for it until a fight breaks out and the flying kicks and fake blood come in. At one point (when I still thought it was supposed to be a "serious" film) I mused to myself, "Heh, at least the fights'll be like The Matrix." Ironically, there's a Matrix spoof in there.

The point of this is that this turned out to be a terrific film. Once I realized the bad action and sight gags were intentional, I had a blast. I'm looking forward to watching this one again, and I heartily recommend it to anyone. Kung Pow this is not.

Oh, and why is kung fu like porn? There's one-on-one, then two-on-one, then a group scene. And in the end, it's a guilty pleasure.