KUNG FU HUSTLE

Kung Fu Hustle is a 2004 Hong Kong action comedy movie directed and produced by, and starring Stephen Chow. Yuen Wah, Yuen Qiu, Danny Chan Kwok Kwan and Bruce Leung co-starred in leading roles.

In the 1940s numerous gangs in Shanghai vie for power, the most feared of which is The Axe gang, led by the notorious Brother Sum. In the dearth of law enforcement, people live peacefully only in poor areas which do not charm mobsters. An example is Pig Sty Alley, a tenement home to people of various trades, administered by a lecherous landlord and his overbearing wife. One day, two troublemakers, Sing and Bone, come to the alley impersonating Axe gang members in order to command respect. This fails miserably and Sing's antics draw the real gang to the site. In the massive scuffle, the mobsters are conquered by three tenants who are in fact great martial arts masters: Coolie, Tailor and Donut.

After the war, Sing and Bone are in custody of Brother Sum for bringing problem and publicly embarrassing the Axe mob. The two barely escape death when Sing impresses Sum with his lock picking talent. Sum tells them that if they slay just one one, they will be accepted to join the mob. The next day the twosome goes to Pig Sty Alley to assassinate the Landlady, but foolishly fail due to incompetence. The two part ways and barely escape from the furious Landlady. Sing is awfully injured and works off his injuries in traffic control pulpit, he pounds the steel sides and floor with great force, deforming the solid metal with deep handprints. After he has fully recovered, he rejoins Bone but has no memory of his puzzling cure.

Sing and Bone lament their failure and Sing describes his childhood. He spent his measly life savings to buy a Buddhist Palm instruction booklet from a beggar He practiced his skills, but when he tried to protect a dumb girl from bullies attempting to steal her lollipop, he is beaten and urinated on. Sing concludes that good guys never succeed and decides to become a bad person. Then the duo steal ice cream from a street hawker, laughing maniacally as they escape from her on a tram.
Angered by his mob's defeat, Brother Sum hires the Harpists, a pair of skilled assassins who clash using a magical Guqin. They strike Pig Sty Alley at night as Coolie, Tailor and Donut are preparing to leave, having been driven out for upsetting the mob. The three are swiftly plagued, prompting the landlord and Landlady, discovered to be Kungfu masters, to intervene. Although the assassins and the Axe gang are driven off, the three evictees bear deadly wounds. The Coolie is decapitated, the Tailor dies from severe stab wounds, and Donut dies from a sustained injury. The proprietor and Landlady empty Pig Sty Alley out of concern for their tenants' safety.

The following day, after being humiliated and pummeled by a clerk he had previously antagonized, Sing mugs the female ice cream vendor from the earlier sight. She is discovered to be the mute girl from his childhood whom he had vainly tried to defend. He recognizes the old lollipop she offers him as a gesture of her thanks, but becomes upset, refusing her and scolding Bone. Later, while despairing in the gutter, he is picked up by the Axe mob and joins their ranks. Brother Sum, having earlier witnessed Sing's ability to swiftly pick locks, directs him to slip into a mental refuge to rescue a notorious executioner, the Beast, the Ultimate King of killers.

Brother Sum is firstly doubtful that Sing has freed the right man because of the Beast's flippant approach and casual look, but is eventually influenced when he stops a bullet between his fingertips. Immediately afterward, the Beast approaches the landowner and Landlady, who have come to Sum's casino. Landlady tells that the good cannot coexist with the bad, changing Sing for the better. The Beast, landowner and Landlady then engage in intense clash and, using a massive funeral bell as a megaphone to magnify the Landlady's Lion's Roar, the couple nearly defeats the more powerful Beast. His desperate move, however, successfully pins them in mutual joint locks. Sing, stimulated by his newfound virtuous personality, approaches the Beast and smashes his head with a table leg. The Beast furiously retaliates, pulverizing Sing. Fortunately, Sing is spirited away to safety by the landowner and Landlady when the Beast's back is turned. The Beast casually murders Brother Sum.

Back in the Alley, Sing, wrapped head-to-toe in bandages and treated with Chinese medicine, undergoes transmutation. He swiftly recovers from his wounds, and his latent ability as a Kung Fu gift is realized. He engages the Axe gang and the Beast, fending off the gangsters with ease. However, the Beast's Toad Technique sends Sing flailing high into the sky, where Sing realizes how to exert the Buddhist Palm and dives back downwards with his palm extended and body ablaze. He creates a giant hand-shaped crater in the ground and easily subdues the Beast's last move. The Beast concedes beat, and Sing tranquilly offers to make the Beast his student; weeping in appreciation, he kneels at Sing's feet and calls him "master".

Later, Sing and Bone open a candy store that specializes in lollipops. When the mute ice cream vendor walks by, Sing goes out to meet her. The two see each other as their childhood selves and managed happily into the shop. Outside, the same beggar who sold Sing the Buddhist Palm manual offers a selection of martial arts manuals to a boy eating a lollipop.

The feature film was released on December 23, 2004 in China and on January 25, 2005 in United States. It received extremely positive reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 90% fresh certificate. Its box office tally made it the highest-grossing feature film in Hong Kong history, surpassing the previous record holder, Chow's Shaolin Soccer.