Kung Fu Hustle is an over-the-top action flick with a ton of anime-style beatings and wire work, but it’s massively entertaining and still features some great martial art work, so I definitely need to recommend it.
It’s an action comedy, but it’s filled with memorable characters and fight scenes. All of the characters are kick ass and exaggerated, and there are a lot of famous actors in it who were known for earlier work in asian martial arts cinema.
Yuen Qiu plays the insanely loud landlady – a Hong Kong fighter who trained under the same master as Jackie Chan.
Yuen Wah, her on-screen husband, began his career as Bruce Lee’s stunt double in Fist of Fury and has since been in over 100 action films.
Chiu Chi-ling, who plays the cowardly but awesome tailor who fights with rings on his arms, has worked with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan and been in over 70 films.
This movie is loaded with older martial artists who are here kicking ass, and I love that director Stephen Chow chose to cast all of these longtime mainstays in these roles, giving them a chance to shine even though they were starting to get up in years.