Kung Fu for the 21st Century: Kung Fu Hustle

Just saw this last night. This is Stephen Chow's latest, and while he made a splash in the States with Shaolin Soccer, this surpasses it both visually and in story. I'll even go so far as to day that it is his best movie, a masterpiece of action that can stand tall with other classics of the genre, like Drunken Master 1 & 2, Fist of Legend, Enter the Dragon. Chow combines his visual sense of humor, love of Bruce Lee and old style kung fu movies, wich modern technology that owes to movies like Crouching Tiger and the Matrix, and manages to poke jabs at both, and surpass them as a movie. He seems to have fully embraced CGI, and uses it not so much for gosh wow look what I can do stuff, but to enhance the story. Visually this is like Crouching Tiger, except instead of sublime beauty we get Pig Sty Alley, a forgotten corner of Hong Kong (I assume) where the people are so poor even the gangsters don't go there, because they can exort any money. It's run by a couple -- actually, the wife, in rollers and nightgown, keeping the locals in line through verbal put downs and such. We see people doing their daily routine, which is basically surviving. One day an incident happens where the local mob -- the Axe Gang -- is drawn to the Alley, and we discover that some of the locals aren't what they seem to be. Stephen Chow is the main character, but really the landlord couple are the center of the movie, with their own hidden past. Back to the CGI -- it's downright Warner Brothers cartoonish, with the landlady chasing after Chow by foot -- except that both are going 1000 mph, legs spinning like circles. The fight scenes are awesome -- when the Axe Gang resort to recruiting the Butcher, the baddest of all the martial artists, his kicks and punches literally rip buildings apart. And when they connect, damn if someone's head goes through the floor. And underground! Buddah's Palm technique has never been shown like this! And watch out for the Lion's Roar -- more like the sonic attack that the 70's prog band Hawkwind always warned us about. The characters are well realized, the plot never strays too far from the main thrust of the story -- the defense of the Alley from the gangsters -- and the action is as good as it ever gets! I saw this as on import dvd, and it will be playing in the US in theaters soon. I say run -- don't walk to see this fun movie!