I’m really, really looking forward to seeing Kung Fu Hustle. View the trailer, then come on back. I’ll wait.
Back? Good. Now, given what you just saw, how would you describe movie critics who described the movie thusly:
- “With its mélange of influences, Kung Fu Hustle is everything, and with its lack of emotional coherence, it’s nothing.”
- “While it needs emotional coherence and better timing, it offers manic, madcap, wacky, over-the-top kung-fu justice.”
- “A chop-socky on f/x steroids that’s devoid of genuine inspiration or involving character development.”
(emphasis mine)
My money is on “garden-variety idiots”.
Something tells me these reviewers 1) aren’t fans of kung fu flicks in the first place and 2) just didn’t get it.
Kung Fu Hustle is a meta-genre parody – its entire point is to lampoon the “chop socky” genre while simultaneously existing as a kung fu set piece. In effect, it’s a self-parody in addition to a genre lampoon. Complaining about “lack of character development” or “emotional coherence” is like going to a Shakespeare production and asking “I hated it. Where were all the explosions and killer robots?”.
Feh.
