axe not for whom the hatchet toils

I recently saw Gong fu (aka Kung Fu Hustle) by Stephen Chow. Quite fun, although it still has a way to go to match the sheer inanity of Sediu yinghung tsun tsi dung sing sai tsau (aka Eagle Shooting Heroes), my favourite funny wuxia. It is firmly in the silly (or tongue-in-cheek) school of wuxia (but like all such good funny wuxia retains a core of poignant seriousness that can easily bring a tear to the eye). Good action sequences, although purists might object to the very heavy use was made of CGI in the production of this picture. However unlike Ying xiong (aka Hero), the CGI effects form an integral part of the maneuvers rather than just simply allowing the director to use sweeping panoramic wirework. Overall, it is a fairly standard piece of the maverick hero discovering his true inner nature, defeating the villain, and finally getting his lollypop ... I mean girl. However I was particularly enamoured enough by the jazz dance piece performed by Brother Sum (Kwok Kuen Chan) and the Axe Gang (with their hatchets, of course), near the start of the movie. Very cool and laid back, and well suited to the tone of the movie. I'll probably get the DVD just for that.