Kung Fu Hustle

For more than 30 years, Jackie Chan has been the gravity-defying clown prince of the martial arts genre, entertaining audiences with his spectacular blend of bone-crunching stunt work and comedy.

Now into his early 50s, Chan is becoming too old to be continually battered and bruised for our entertainment.

Cinema - particularly Hong Kong cinema - needs a new pretender to the crown to continue Chan's legacy. Step forward Stephen Chow.

The actor-writer-director delighted us with his madcap sports comedy Shaolin Soccer. His follow-up, Kung Fu Hustle, punches, kicks, pirouettes and somersaults to even dizzier heights, boasting more outrageous stunts, eye-popping special effects and uproarious comic interludes.

The film opens in Shanghai during the Forties, a city in the thrall of the dreaded Axe Gang, led by psychopathic Brother Sum (Kwan) and his cleaver-wielding henchmen.

Corruption is rife and citizens live in fear of the Axe Gang - even the local police bow down to Brother Sum.

Lowlife criminal Sing (Chow) and his overweight sidekick (Chung) collaborate on a scheme to exploit the climate of fear for their own financial gain. The duo poses as members of the Axe Gang to extort money from the residents of the aptly-named Pig Sty Alley.

Unfortunately for the bumbling con men, the locals don't have much in the way of money and they are aren't helpless at all.

The standoff between Sing, his sidekick and the residents turns ugly when the real Axe Gang arrives in force.

A bloodbath seems inevitable, until three residents - the noodle shop owner, the tailor and a labourer - are exposed as legendary martial arts experts and single-handedly neutralise the threat from the Axe Gang.

Thus begins a titanic battle between good and evil for Pig Sty Alley, culminating in a final showdown.

Kung Fu Hustle is an outrageous and outlandish feast for the senses, distinguished by dizzying fight sequences choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix fame.

The film barely pauses for breath between the high velocity chases, death-defying fights and visual gags.

Belly laughs blend queasily with bloodshed, like the sidekick's disastrous attempts to throw three knives - all of which end up impaled in Sing.

Brilliant stuntwork and some nifty special effects ensure Kung Fu Hustle packs plenty of punch.