Kung Fu Hustle: Difference between revisions

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** When {{spoiler|Donut is dying}} he manages to say, [[Spider-Man|"In great power lies great responsibility."]]

* [[Age Cut]]: The ending. Sorta.

* [[Almighty Janitor]]: Basically [[The Movie]] of this trope, as all of the martial artists in the story have lowly occupations and/or appear quite wimpy until they display their powers. The three undercover masters, the blind musicians, the landlords, the Beast, and Sing are all examples.

* [[Anything That Moves]]: The Landlord hits on a young girl and a [[Gonk]] within a minute of his debut.

* [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy]]: The Beast, who claims nothing can beat him... despite wanting someone to beat him for a while. However, {{spoiler|once he's definitively beaten, he immediately and genuinely concedes.}}

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** The Landlord and The Beast.

** Also contains a [[Real Life]] example: The Beast's actor Bruce Leung was about 55 when this movie was filmed. He did his own stunts. CGI had to assist where The Beast lifted his leg high for the earthquake stomp in the casino due to physical limitations, but otherwise it was all him. And by "limitations" we mean "he CAN perform an axe kick over his own head, but he can't HOLD his leg up there like in the shot."

* [[Badass in a Nice Suit]]:

** The Axe Gang uniformly dress in nice suits.

** The Landlady and Landlord, for majority of the movie, wears pajamas and a nightgown. Until they go to fight the Axe Gang, where they have a change of clothes and look a lot more fashionable.

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* [[Break the Haughty]]: {{spoiler|When Sing finally defeats the Beast, he offers to teach him his technique. The Beast responds by sobbing, and then he bows and calls Sing his master.}}

* [[Bullet Catch]]: The Beast demonstrates that he is a [[Not So Harmless]] [[Old Master]] by putting a gun to his own head, firing, and catching the bullet with two fingers. Any remaining dissent was silenced.

* [[Butterfly of Death and Rebirth]]: The film intercuts between a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis and Sing emerging from his cocoon of bandages, showing that he [[Took a Level In Badass]].

* [[Butterfly of Death and Rebirth]]: The film intercuts between a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis and Sing emerging from his cocoon of bandages, showing that he [[Took a Level in Badass]].

* [[Came Back Strong]]: Sing is practically beaten to death, but he emerges from his cocoon of bandages as a super-powered kung fu master.

* [[Camp Gay]]: The tailor.

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* [[Challenging the Chief]]: Sorta. When The Beast {{spoiler|breaks Brother Sum's neck}}, he apparently becomes the leader of the Axe Gang.

* [[The Chew Toy]]: Sing. He gets beaten up by a string of [[Badass Bystander|Badass Bystanders]] and, in one scene, accidentally takes ''three knives'' in the shoulders. His status gets deconstructed towards the finale, however.

* [[The Chosen One]]:

** Played straight in that Sing's brutal beating clears his chi flow, allowing him to properly use the style he learned as a boy and become a master of kung-fu.

** The barber kid tried to prove he was it shortly after {{spoiler|Tailor, Donut, and Coolie die.}} Pity he was floored with one punch from the Land Lady.

* [[Clothing Damage]]: Accompanies any [[Curb Stomp Battle]], from {{spoiler|the blind harpists' clothes being shredded by the landlady's sonic scream}} to {{spoiler|Sing's clothes burning up on ''reentry''... except for the [[Magic Pants]].}}

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* [[Creator Cameo]]: Yuen Cheung-Yan plays the hobo who sells the Buddhist Palm manual to a young Sing. It's mentioned in the Director's commentary, however, that the media and most reporters of the movie thought it was Yuen Wo-Ping (his brother, who cameoed in Chow's previous movie), and wouldn't believe [[Stephen Chow]] when he said it wasn't.

* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]: Almost the entire cast, in fact. Hell, the background characters get their moments. That farmer lady can pack on hell of a punch.

* [[Crucified Hero Shot]]: {{spoiler|Near-death Sing is bandaged this way - and quite appropriately comes [[Back ~~From~~ the Dead]] later.}}

* [[Crucified Hero Shot]]: {{spoiler|Near-death Sing is bandaged this way - and quite appropriately comes [[Back from the Dead]] later.}}

* [[Cultural Translation]]:

** The American sub replaced an offhand reference to two beautiful, star-crossed lovers in Chinese literature with Paris and Helen of Troy. The sub script is [[Woolseyism|Woolseyed]] in other areas as well, while the dub is more straightforward, including keeping the reference to Yang Guo and Xiaolongnu (from yet another famous [[Wuxia]] novel). The French dub preferred the less subtle Romeo and Juliet.

** "Baker" also counts since Dong Zhihua's character makes fried dough sticks, very similar in concept to the donut, hence his more appropriate sub name.

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* [[Defiant to the End]]: After Sing strikes The Beast with a post, The Beast flips out and smashes his face in. The Beast then asks Sing why he hit him, and, rather than answer the question, Sing picks a splinter up off of the floor, and [[Cherry Tapping|bops The Beast on the head with it]].

* [[Disabled Love Interest]]: Sing's love interest, a deaf ice cream vendor.

* [[Dragons Up the Yin-Yang]]:

** The Landlord traces out a ''taijitu'' in the courtyard of Pig Sty Alley when fighting the [[Musical Assassin|Musical Assassins]].

** In the cobblestones, ''with their toes''.

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* [[Gag Dub]]: In the Spanish version, which takes several liberties with the original dialogues, and makes the characters speak in a variety of Spanish dialects.

* [[Gale Force Sound]]: The Harpists are two villains who fight their opponents by playing a guqin (Chinese zither), which can send anything from bone-crunching fists to blades to {{spoiler|a fucking skeleton army}}. Then there's the Landlady's Lion's Roar, which reduced walls to kindling and, when amplified, {{spoiler|manages to temporarily defeat the Beast.}}

* [[Gang of Hats]]: The Axe Gang all wield axes and perform choreographed dancing in unison. Brother Sum is played by a professional choreographer.

* [[The Gift]]:

** Namely, Sing having ''everything'' punched in {{spoiler|gets his chi flow cleared, making him a badass.}}

** [[Foreshadowing|Foreshadowed]] when Sing was roughing out the snakebite in the traffic light.

* [[Good Smoking, Evil Smoking]]:

** The Landlady's ever-present cigarette, which always burns out when she prepares her sonic scream.

** Sum obviously smokes, but after his first meeting with the Landlady, the next cigarette he lights sets himself on fire. He's also an opium addict, which is why his teeth are all black and messed up.

* [[He Cleans Up Nicely]]: {{spoiler|Sing in the finale. The normally slovenly Landlord and Landlady also dress up to the nines when they enter the casino - [[Badass in a Nice Suit|with the real intention of battling the Axe Gang]].}}

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* [[Implacable Man]]: The Beast. Takes being punched through walls and flattened into the ground and still keeps going.

* [[Improvised Weapon User]]: The Lion's Roar is a weapon unto itself, but alone isn't enough to defeat the Beast. When focused using a funeral bell as a megaphone, the results are impressive. More realistically, Tailor using his shelf rings as bracers and Donut using kneaders as staffs.

* [[I Surrender, Suckers]]: The Beast attempted to pull a fast one (twice) with a dart gun disguised as a flower ornament when faced with someone who can give him a real fight; the first time against the Landlord and Landlady, the second against Sing.

* [[Kick the Dog]]:

** Sum shoots the Crocodile Boss's wife after pretending to let her go free.

** Sing stomping the kids' soccer ball is a [[Poke the Poodle]] moment, since it's so petty and small, but also establishes the fact that he's a real asshole.

** Sing robbing the deaf ice cream girl, then laughing hysterically at her as she cries.

* [[Large Ham]]: All of Stephen Chow's "guests" have been given full license to ham it out, and Tailor, Landlady and even the Beast all have their moments. Special mention must be made of Yuen Qiu channeling [[Bruce Lee]] in the completely wordless scene in Sum's car.

* [[Let's Get Dangerous]]: Everyone!

* [[Lighthearted Rematch]]: Coolie, Tailor and Donut, crossing into [[It Has Been an Honor]].

* [[Made of Iron]]:

** Sing gets a comical number of injuries throughout the film. It turns out that it was ''necessary''.

** The landlords manage to steal Sing away and heal him despite the snot having been kicked out of them.

** The Beast of course, able to take blows to the head without even wincing.

* [[Magic Music]]: The Harpists fight using a guqin, or Chinese Harp. They can manipulate the vibrations into shapes such as razor sharp swords and skeletal warriors capable of cutting through stone.

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** Sing at the end becomes an example of this trope, as he opens a candy shop as opposed to, say, teaching kung fu. He, too, faces an [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy|arrogant]] villain, The Beast. It is, however, apparent he's teaching The Beast.

** The other masters were attempting to live peaceful lives as well. Then Sing accidentally drew the Axe Gang's attention to them, ruining any chance of peace.

* [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane]]: The hobo and his martial arts manuals. The manual doesn't seem to work on Sing as a kid, but once he gets his chi unlocked, it's quite effective. The hobo also seems to magically appear at the end of the film without any sign of aging.

* [[Mexican Standoff]]: Parodied when the Beast and the Landlord and Landlady attempt a series of complicated limb-locks on each other, the end result resembling [[Mood Whiplash|a game of Twister gone horribly wrong.]]

* [[Mickey Mousing]]: The [[Musical Assassin|zither players/assassins]] play a guqin to fire blades. The side effect is that the music matches the fight, as the music plays faster the more intense the fight gets.

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** Also when {{spoiler|Sing was dying}}, he draws a lollipop, showing he was thinking of the [[Cute Mute]] ice cream lady. Then the Landlord freaks out, telling him to write in Chinese because he didn't understand what he was trying to say.

* [[Musical Assassin]]: The Harpists.

* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: A variation occurs when Sing tries to steal from the ice cream lady. He realizes that she was {{spoiler|the little girl he tried to save when he was a kid}} and just how far he had fallen from his previous ideals.

* [[Never Bring a Knife to A Fist Fight]]: Bringing in guns will just get your ass kicked by Donut.

* [[Never Mess with Granny]]: The Landlady, who just so happens to be made of awesome.

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** And the irony of it: {{spoiler|Sing gets pounded by the Beast during his [[Heel Face Turn]] and mortally wounded, only to have his chi flow cleared, restoring him to life and unleashing his actual potential. Cue a butterfly emerging from its cocoon and Sing appearing again all healthy and sound, ready to punch out whoever gets into trouble with him any day.}} And it became subverted when the Beast somehow wanted to see a worthy opponent before his eyes.

** And then {{spoiler|Sing gets [[A Twinkle in the Sky|launched into the sky]] by the Beast's Frog technique, only to have him fall back down to Earth}} and [[Death From Above|deliver a finishing move while falling.]] Looks like the Beast is a nice guy after all.

* [[No ~~Sell~~]]: At the start of the fight with the Landlord and Landlady, the Beast ends up taking a jump kick to the face, and then a punch and a kick to either side of his head, ''without even budging.''

* [[Won't Work On Me]]: At the start of the fight with the Landlord and Landlady, the Beast ends up taking a jump kick to the face, and then a punch and a kick to either side of his head, ''without even budging.''

* [[Not So Harmless]]:

** The Beast. Bald, overweight, and at first dressed in a tank top, shorts, and cheap flip-flops, even [[The Syndicate]] that freed him didn't believe he was really the Beast until he held a gun six inches away from his head, pulled the trigger, and [[Bullet Catch|caught the bullet]]. He [[You Kill It, You Bought It|quickly ascended]] to being the [[Big Bad]] shortly after.

** All of the Kung Fu Masters get their own moment of [[Not So Harmless]]. The Landlord is basically [[The Comic Relief]] prior to owning the Musical Assassins without breaking a sweat. The Coolie breaks a guy's SPINE so fast no one knows what happened. The Tailor, of all people, is an effeminate joke before (and AFTER) revealing himself to be the manliest brawler of all Pig Sty Alley.

* [[Off with His Head]]: How {{spoiler|Coolie}} meets his end.

* [[Oh Crap]]

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** The Beast, waiting for someone worthy to come along.

** Also, the Landlady and her husband, {{spoiler|who gave up martial arts after their son was killed in a fight.}}

* [[Rock Beats Laser]]: After being awakened, Sing uses a technique where he [[Agony of the Feet|stomps on the feet of]] opposing mooks in rapid succession, resulting in comically [[Squashed Flat|paper-flat feet in cratered tile]]. The Beast sees it and mocks it ("The Toe Crusher. That was old when I was in kindergarten...") but yet falls for it himself later.

* [[Rule of Cool]]: Oh, so, so many... 90% of the movie is either taken up by this, or [[Rule of Funny]]. The whole fight scene all the way through with the blind musicians takes both of these [[Up to Eleven]].

* [[Rule of Three]]: The number of times {{spoiler|Sing}} gives a right-leg roundhouse kick to {{spoiler|The Beast}}. The first time he's right back up to let you know he's no slouch. The second time, he nearly needs to put a hand on the ground to steady himself. The third time takes him to his knees.

* [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]: The Beast. Subverted because he willingly checked himself into the insane asylum out of boredom from the lack of worthy opponents to challenge and kill. Of course when we first see him after his cell door is picked open, he's sitting on the john reading a newspaper which makes him Sealed Evil '''[[Incredibly Lame Pun|On]]''' the Can.

* [[Shadow Discretion Shot]]:

** When Coolie is walking down the alleyway, about to be killed by the murderous musicians, you can hear their music being played, and a cat walks on one of the roofs and offscreen. However, you can still see the cat's shadow [[Nightmare Fuel|become bisected to the music while Coolie notices nothing]]. Plus a splatter of blood on the wall. Ominous.

** Coolie's death is somewhat... less shadowy.

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* [[Shut UP, Hannibal]]: While The Beast and {{spoiler|Sing}} fight, The Beast stops to mock his opponent's technique while praising his own. The opponent in question interrupts his sentence by [[Agony of the Feet|FLATTENING his foot with a stomp]], and then kicking him in the side of the head. Worse, the Beast had seen that technique earlier, and mocked it as only fit for children - yet he still fell for it.

* [[Simple Staff]]: Donut's primary weapons are the rolling poles he uses to roll dough. In the battle with the [[Musical Assassins]], he upgrades to [[Blade on a Stick]].

* [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]]:

** This movie has a rather clearly evident Algorithm, starting with the Shanghai Police completely dominated by the Crocodile Gang, and then the Crocodile Gang getting massacred by the Axe Gang. The Axe Gang are countered by the Pig Sty Alley's three martial artists, who are then countered by the Axe Gang's hired [[Musical Assassin|Musical Assassins]], who are then countered by the Landlord and Landlady, who are in turn countered by the [[Made of Iron]] and [[Super Speed|superhumanly-fast]] Beast, who is in turn countered by the {{spoiler|[[Heel Face Turn]]-ed [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist|Unsympathetic Comedy]] [[Villain Protagonist]]}}. In a slightly jarring subversion, the Beast attempted to use a pile of basic Axe Gang members to soften up the hero before properly fighting him.

** Though, The Beast never told them to attack. Rather, he just enjoyed the show as those idiots lemming'ed themselves against Sing's awesome might.

* [[Start of Darkness]]:

** A flashback reveals how Sing got into a life of crime - he tried to protect a girl from a gang of thugs using a kung-fu manual he bought, only to get the shit kicked out of him, laughed at for learning a fake technique from a fifty-cent mock kung-fu manual, and pissed on, thus proving to him that [[Good Is Dumb]].

** {{spoiler|Except the "fake" kung-fu manual turned out to have been the genuine article all along when Sing lets loose with the Buddha's Palm - one of the techniques taught - on The Beast.}}

* [[Stealth Hi Bye]]:

** While he's {{spoiler|busy turning Brother Sum's head backwards}}, the Fated Couple make off with Sing before the Beast can react.

** They pull the Hi version earlier, appearing in the shotgun and back seats of Sum's car with each camera cut.

* [[Stepping Stones in the Sky]]: On a ''bird'', no less.

* [[Supernatural Martial Arts]]: This is a [[Troperiffic]] [[Affectionate Parody]] and [[Indecisive Deconstruction]] of all the over-the-top supernatural martial arts films to ever come out of Hong Kong.

* [[Super Speed]]:

** One of the Beast's abilities, which he demonstrates by shooting himself in the head, and then catching the bullet in mid-air.

** And in the fight scene that comes after, he's moving in super speed ''[[Up to Eleven|while the scene is running in]] [[Bullet Time]].''

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* [[Traumatic Superpower Awakening]]: After being beaten to within an inch of his life, Sing suddenly awakens to his true power as a Kung Fu master.

* [[A Twinkle in the Sky]]: Sing ends up as this when the Beast launches him upwards with the [[Foe-Tossing Charge|Toad Technique]]. {{spoiler|However, subverted immediately afterwards, as it ends up as a setup for Sing to deliver the [[Limit Break|Buddha's Palm]] onto the Beast.}}

* [[Undefeatable Little Village]]: Pig Sty Alley is this kind of village within a larger city dominated by criminal gangs.

* [[Up to Eleven]]: The Landlady's sonic scream, already able to obliterate the blind harpists, later gets augmented with a ''loudhailer''.

* [[Urine Trouble]]: Played for drama in Sing's backstory, in which a group of bullies beat up and pee on a young Sing after he tries and fails to use kung fu to defeat them.