And what came after it simply couldn't match the scene at the village. This is when the film peaks and there's close to 20+ minutes left in the film after this. The one I'm talking about should definitely be obvious and it's when Peng's character, having bribed himself to the top, brings a ton of soldiers to the villagers' footsteps. I do think however, that as far as a singular action sequence goes, this film has the best of the two films. I'd even say that it's a notch below, slightly. It'd be something if the action improved as well as the story did, but it's probably at about the same level of the first film. I suppose the idea is you avoid repeating yourself, but repeating yourself by using the same silly and over-the-top tone as your predecessor is better than playing into every martial arts cliche that is out there. I realize that's a point I already made, but it's definitely worth repeating. It just doesn't feel as fresh or as different. But, like I said, the more serious tone is definitely a bit of a drawback to the film.
With that said, I did think the narrative itself, if it can be called that, is actually an improvement from the first film. There's not much that really sets it apart from the pack like the first film did. I don't know, really, it just plays out like a bunch of these films that I've seen.
While this film does still have some of that silliness, it's definitely toned down in favor of a more serious narrative about Eddie Peng's character trying to destroy the village that humiliated him in the first film. In the middle of all this fits in Lu Chan, who has come to Chen village in order to learn their style of kung fu so he won't die.I have no idea whether or not to give this film 3 stars based solely on the fact that it was, surprisingly, a little more serious than the first film, which embraced the sillier side of martial arts films. The film does mix in a surprising steampunk element in the film what with Eddie Peng's character trying to install a railway station through his former village and the villagers, obviously set in their ways, resisting and fighting back against the western technology. I think they do mix it up from the usual martial arts films, while also paying tribute and including many martial arts legends, trainers and practitioners. With that said, I did think that this was actually quite a fun martial arts films. I'm not even suggesting that Kung Fu Hustle is the best kun fu film I've ever seen, because it is not, it's just that that film has an unmatched sense of style and silliness that is hard to duplicate. Honestly, once you've seen Kung Fu Hustle, it's kinda hard to be surprised, shocked or enthralled by a film attempting to be silly, goofy and sometimes even video-game inspired.
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