Pig Sty Alley is a small rural settlement on the outskirts of 1930’s Shanghai. Insignificant, it is left to its own devices by the crime organisation known as the Axe Gang. That is until hopeless wannabe gangster Sing (Chow) shows up and draws attention to the place. However, the Axe Gang has its work cut out for it when gang boss Sum (Danny Chan) finds out that every inhabitant of Pig Sty Alley is a master martial artist, and to cross the Landlady (Yuen Qiu) is foolish to say the least.

Ever since 1995’s SIXTY MILLION DOLLAR MAN, it has occurred to me that Chow has been increasingly preoccupied with special effects, and KUNG FU HUSTLE was his most overtly effects-driven movie at this point. The whole premise is pretty much a one-joke affair (the town full of supernaturally-endowed fighters) but, even though Chow stretches the material somewhat, the film is entertaining enough for the most part.

The film opens with quite a nasty bit of violence with the Axe Gang wreaking havoc in one part of town and killing without mercy. This tendency to use violence in comedy is typical of Chow, but this is the first time I can recall Chow starting a movie this way. Thankfully, the tone lightens considerably later on, but as usual there’s also some dark touches to the humour all the way through.

Sing is a hapless wannabe gangster trying to prove (mainly to himself) that he’s a ruthless criminal, but his crimes always backfire on him in spectacular ways. In an inspired flashback to his childhood, he is duped by a beggar into buying a kung fu manual promising unbeatable power. He trains, and believes that his Qi is so strong that he can disturb the leaves on the trees (the viewer realises, of course, that it’s just the wind) but this leads to a fierce drubbing that sets up the love interest character played by Huang Sheng-Yi. This sub-plot manages to feel touching, superfluous and darkly tragic by turns and doesn’t really gel with the rest of the story.

Chow has imbued KUNG FU HUSTLE with an assortment of odd, wacky and just plain bizarre characters on both sides of the law. The chain-smoking Landlady (who, I was surprised to learn, was one of the kung fu schoolgirls in Roger Moore’s second Bond outing THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN) and her long-suffering hen-pecked husband (Yuen Wah) take centre stage, but there are all kinds of outlandish figures on the periphery too. “The Beast” (Leung Siu-Lung) is suitably seedy and typical of Chow’s more unsavoury and surreal characters.

The film does turn into a special effects showcase at times, and the section where two guqin players attack the town goes on far too long in my opinion. The humour seems concentrated in certain areas, a bit like the occasionally hilarious KING OF COMEDY rather than Chow’s previous mega hit SHAOLIN SOCCER. The bit where Sing and his rotund sidekick start throwing knives around had me in stitches, as did the part where he calls out members of the town to fight only to find they’re not as puny as he thought. The rousing score, played by a Chinese orchestra, is also worthy of note. It sounds like a lot of the film’s budget went on the music, and it’s rare to hear such aural sumptuousness in a Hong Kong film.

I have to admit that KUNG FU HUSTLE, despite its technological proficiency and fitful hilarity, is not among my favourite Stephen Chow movies. It relies a little too much on special effects setpieces to be a truly great comedy in my opinion. Mind you, I can’t argue with the millions of people around the world who found it the best thing since sliced bread, and a more than worthy successor to SHAOLIN SOCCER. Me, I still prefer his more comedy-orientated films like FORBIDDEN CITY COP and LOVE ON DELIVERY.