While Dave was down, I had a chance to check out Kung Fu Hussle, the new Steven Chow film. When I saw the trailer, I thought it would either be fantastically brilliant, or really, really bad.
Turns out, it was neither.
To me, there is some comedic brilliance in both Shaolin Soccer and, especially, God of Cookery. For me, this film didn't reach that brilliant mark. KFH does maintain the same Steven Chow excellence in creating what can be best described as Kung Fu Slapstick (or at least visual humour), and boy, giving this man access to CG was a dangerous thing to do. The visuals of the fight scenes in the film are very good, and the fighting itself is kinetic and just the right amount of over the top. Matrix million person fight scene(s): eat your heart out, for this is how to do it. The homages to other films as well as tradition is also as good as always.
What kept this film from touching brilliance in my book, leaving the film solidly in the good category, was the overall package and story. The premise of the 'universe' and its stylings is interesting, but the excecution was rather straightforward, and even I might say the unfolding was a bit awkward at times. Not that it is unusual for action films, but given his previous work this 'lack' seemed to stand out a bit more.
Good fights, good gags and a killer end-move that I so want to learn, but shy of brilliance. Do see it if you have a chance.