| 1 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Kung_Fu_Hustle.jpg]] |
| 2 | |
| 3 | 1940s UsefulNotes/{{Shanghai}} is in the grip of various gangs struggling for power, with the Axe Gang being foremost. Main character Sing is an ineffectual small-time crook trying to join the Axe Gang. In doing so, he and buddy Bone attempt to command respect from the Pig Sty Alley. Their bumbling attracts the real gang, who are repelled by the unexpectedly skilled fighters: Coolie, Tailor and You-Tiao (fried dough sticks) baker. What results is an EscalatingWar between the Axe Gang and the ([[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass surprisingly strong]]) residents of the impoverished Pig Sty Alley. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | Directed, led and written by famous Hong Kong comedian Creator/StephenChow, ''Kung Fu Hustle'' is a comedic parody of and homage to Chinese {{Wuxia}} films and American musicals from the '50s, best summarised, in the words of Creator/RogerEbert, as "like Creator/JackieChan and Creator/BusterKeaton [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meet]] Creator/QuentinTarantino and WesternAnimation/BugsBunny". But really, it has to be seen to be believed. |
| 6 | |
| 7 | Compare ''Film/ShaolinSoccer'' and ''Film/GodOfCookery'', from the same creator. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | A sequel was set to release in 2012, but it didn't happen; Stephen Chow has stated that he's been [[DevelopmentHell putting it on hold]] for other projects. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | ---- |
| 12 | !!This movie contains examples of: |
| 13 | * AbsurdlySharpBlade: The axes used by the Axe Gang are sharp enough to cut clean through a man's leg when ''thrown''. The harpists' invoked blades as well. |
| 14 | * {{Acrofatic}}: The Landlady, The Tailor, and The Beast are all middle aged and plus sized, but they're all formidable kung fu masters. |
| 15 | * AffectionateParody: |
| 16 | ** Of Wuxia in general. |
| 17 | ** The "burly brawl" parody was directed by Woo-ping Yuen, the fight choreographer for ''[[Film/TheMatrix The Matrix Reloaded]]''. |
| 18 | ** Escape from Pig Sty Alley, Sing was chased by the Land Lady... Road Runner style! |
| 19 | ** When [[spoiler:Donut is dying]] he manages to say, [[ComicBook/SpiderMan "In great power lies great responsibility."]] His [[spoiler:final]] words (spoken in English) are [[Film/TheUntouchables1987 "What are you prepared to do?"]] |
| 20 | * AgeCut: The ending, sorta. [[spoiler:The camera pans around Sing and Fong when they meet, and the next time each of them are shown on screen, they appear as their younger versions, representing their reconciliation.]] |
| 21 | * AgonyOfTheFeet: The foot-stomping Sing delivers to some members of the Axe Gang, and later to the Beast, in the final battle. It's so strong, their feet get ''flattened'' and you can even see the cracks underneath their feet. Ouch! |
| 22 | * AlmightyJanitor: Basically TheMovie 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 five undercover masters are a tailor, a baker, a coolie (unskilled laborer) and the landlady and landlord. The farmer lady that is challenged by Sing can punch him hard enough to make him cough up blood, and even the barber boy stares down gangsters, real and otherwise. Then there's the blind musicians who are actually {{Musical Assassin}}s and the Beast seems to be some sort of insane asylum patient. Sing becomes one at the end, as a he is a former two-bit crook [[spoiler:who now runs a candy store]], but is nevertheless the most powerful martial artist in the movie. |
| 23 | * AlternativeForeignThemeSong: The Japanese version of ''Film/KungFuHustle'' uses [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll8o_Ylpz3k "Shiwase Nara Te wo Tatakou"]] by Nobodyknows as the theme song. The trailers in the US made use of the song "Ballroom Blitz." |
| 24 | * AmbiguouslyBi: In his EstablishingCharacterMoment, the Landlord drunkenly flirts with both the CampGay Tailor (even giving him a FlirtatiousSmackOnTheAss) and one of his lady customers. |
| 25 | * AmusingInjuries: Sing repeatedly suffers serious injuries throughout the film (that he usually deserves) only to be fine in the next scene. At first it seems like CartoonPhysics, but he's the only character who takes that amount of punishment without dying. It's [[{{Foreshadowing}} a hint]] that he's really [[spoiler: a nascent kung-fu master with a massive HealingFactor]]. |
| 26 | * AnAesop: Anyone can become a hero- though, more specifically, anyone can become a hero through kindness. Sing spends most of the film an ineffectual bystander watching how the residents of Pig Sty alley continually stand up for each other, and in turn slowly drag their hidden heroes out of retirement. [[spoiler: Sing eventually defeats the Beast not through martial arts prowess, but through kindness, which ends up giving a happy ending to everyone.]] |
| 27 | * AngerBornOfWorry: It's heavily implied that the real reason the Landlady flipped out on the Three Masters and threw them out wasn't about their back rent, but because she was worried that their fight against the Axe Gang was going to get them killed. [[spoiler: As they finally lay dying she drops her callous act, and she and her husband are revealed to be more distraught and angry than anyone.]] |
| 28 | * AnimalMotifs: |
| 29 | ** Sing associated with butterflies. Throughout the film, Sing is shown to be a lost, incredibly inept young man with signs of potential, much like the caterpillar. When he emerges from his full-body cast, it is juxtaposed with a newly formed monarch butterfly emerging from a cocoon, symbolizing his HeelFaceTurn from an IneffectualSympatheticVillain into an ActionHero. |
| 30 | ** The Beast is associated with Toads. Just outside the Beast's cell-door, there are various toads in the hallway, and in his rematch with Sing, he uses a Toad-style fighting technique. Like toads, the Beast is an unassuming, seemingly unimpressive man, surprising everyone when it shows that he is most definitely a predator with venom under his sleeves (in his case, a pair of poison-darts he keeps in his pockets). Traditionally, frogs and toads in China are seen as beasts who represent a lack of understanding and vision, [[spoiler:which makes it all the more ironic that he is defeated by Sing after he has a vision of the Buddha in the clouds, the Buddha a figure that combats such things]]. |
| 31 | * ArcWords: "The good cannot coexist with the bad," which is said before the Landlord, Landlady, and the Beast begin fighting are this for Sing, whose conflict comes from his innate nature as a good person with a desire to be bad because he thinks good guys can't win. |
| 32 | * ArrogantKungFuGuy: 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.]] |
| 33 | * AudibleSharpness: From actual blades, but more badassedly: and the harpists' sonic attacks summon blades, and at one point ''a zombie army wielding said blades.''. Which is, of course, because they're made out of sound. The Axe Gang's song also climaxes with an example, justified by RuleOfCool. |
| 34 | * AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: The ferocious landlady and her lecherous husband, who have been squabbling for the entire first part of the movie (she even hits him in the head with a flower pot), [[spoiler:band together to defend the neighborhood from the Axe Gang, fight the Beast, and nurse the movie's hero back to health. They're also named after famous lovers]]. |
| 35 | * BackBlocking: Done oddly; when Sing and the mute girl meet each other in the denouement, the camera spins around the two; when the girl passes through the camera and obstructing Sing's view in the process, suddenly Sing turns into his younger self. |
| 36 | * BackForTheFinale: Bone's fate after leaving Sing is resolved by him [[spoiler:showing up working in a candy shop with Sing]]. And if you're wondering what's happened with the other characters, they all show up in the ending in the background; the barber (ass still hanging out) is trying to court a girl, the four-eyed clerk and Rabbit-Tooth Jane have gotten together, and the Landlord and Landlady can be seen crossing the street happily arm-in-arm. [[spoiler:The beggar that sold Sing his kung fu manual also shows back up trying to peddle even more manuals to another kid]]. |
| 37 | * BackToBackBadasses: During the first mass brawl. Provides the trope image. |
| 38 | * BadassBystander |
| 39 | ** Low-life crook Sing discovers too late that ''everyone'' in Pig Sty Ally could kick his ass all day. Then the shy, effeminate tailor turns out to be the most badass martial artist of the lot. |
| 40 | ** Sing also gets his ass kicked by a random clerk he keeps making fun of for no reason on a train. |
| 41 | * BadassInANiceSuit: |
| 42 | ** The Axe Gang uniformly dress in nice suits. |
| 43 | ** 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. |
| 44 | ** The Beast also trades in the dingy tank top, boxers & flip-flops he wore at the asylum for a tailored three-piece suit and stylish leather shoes (except he doesn't wear a shirt under the jacket). |
| 45 | * BaitAndSwitch: After Sing emerges from his bandages and steps through a door, we cut to a door being opened from outside, but instead of Sing walking out, it's the Beast, picking his nose. |
| 46 | * BandageMummy: Sing is reduced to this after his thorough thrashing by The Beast. |
| 47 | * BathOfPoverty: The slum that most of the movie takes place in has a communal fountain that some residents have to use to clean themselves... when the water's even turned on, as the landlady is prone to turning it off on a whim. |
| 48 | * BattleCouple: The Landlord and The Landlady. |
| 49 | * BeneathNotice: The entire reason why the premier martial arts masters of the time are all living in a slum doing menial jobs. |
| 50 | * BetterThanNew: TheHero gets fully healed (and becomes much more powerful than before) because [[spoiler: being beaten nearly to death by the BigBad turned out to awaken his [[LifeEnergy Chi]]]]. |
| 51 | * BerserkButton: As stated above, the Beast pretty much ''loses his shit'' after [[spoiler:Sing takes a broken post to his head.]] It's not from the blow, [[MadeOfIron not by a long shot,]] it's the ''[[FelonyMisdemeanor sheer disrespect]]'' of it all. [[TooDumbToLive And Sum wasn't very helpful there.]] |
| 52 | * BigBad: Brother Sum, [[spoiler:though he's eventually replaced by the Beast as the main antagonist after the latter kills the former]]. |
| 53 | * BigDamnHeroes: |
| 54 | ** In the first attack on Pig Sty Alley, there are three Big Damn Heroes moments, one from each of the Three Heroes. The first is easily the most impressive, involving a lighter being caught by a coolie in a scene that would make the ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' crew green with envy, and the hero facing off against something on the order of a hundred gangsters. The others are less impressive, but only by comparison, involving a gay tailor sending a man through a wall and beating the crap out of the gangsters swarming the first man, and a congee-making baker taking on three men armed with Thompson machine guns with a pair of blunt sticks meant to roll out dough before kicking up a dust cloud that lasts long enough for him to defeat the entire rest of the gang before it settles. Ain't they just Three Big Damn Heroes? |
| 55 | ** The landlords showing up at the casino, suddenly decked out in their finest and ready to do battle with the Beast. |
| 56 | * BigLittleMan: The cowardly hero is facing down a hostile crowd, and looking for an easily beatable opponent to prove his nonexistent skills against. He calls out a runty-looking fellow who, it turns out, was sitting down, and actually taller than everyone else in the film. He then calls out a literal child from the crowd to fight instead... who turns out to be implausibly huge and muscular when he steps to the front of the others. |
| 57 | * BlatantLies: At the beginning, with Sum and the Crocodile Boss' wife: |
| 58 | --> '''Sum:''' Don't worry. I don't kill women. You can go! |
| 59 | --> '''Wife:''' Thank you, Big Brother. |
| 60 | --> (She turns to leave, Sum takes a shotgun and blows her away.) |
| 61 | * BloodKnight: The Beast cared about neither his appearance nor status, and stayed in an asylum out of boredom, citing that he could no longer find a worthy opponent. When he found one in both the Landlord and the Landlady, who by then had decided to fight back against the Axe gang, he told the couple he wasn't really on any side - All he really wanted is to kill them or be killed in the attempt. |
| 62 | * BlownAcrossTheRoom: When Sum wipes out the Crocodile Gang, he shoots the Crocodile Boss's wife in the back with a shotgun, flinging her halfway across the street. |
| 63 | * BookEnds: The first and last kung fu fight took place in Pig Sty Alley. |
| 64 | * BreakTheHaughty: [[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.]] |
| 65 | * BulletCatch: The Beast demonstrates that he is a NotSoHarmlessVillain OldMaster by putting a gun to his own head, firing, and catching the bullet with two fingers. Any remaining dissent was silenced. |
| 66 | * BullyHunter: Sing's StartOfDarkness involves him getting beat up by a gang of bullies because he tried to defend a mute girl from them. |
| 67 | * ButIReadABookAboutIt: Sing learned his "Buddhist Palm" technique from a book sold to him by a homeless man for $10 - the bullies even point out that [[ConMan it's advertised as costing $0.20]]. [[spoiler: Once Sing's chi is unblocked, he is able to use the technique effectively against the Beast]]. |
| 68 | * ButterflyOfTransformation: The film intercuts between a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis and Sing emerging from his cocoon of bandages, showing that he TookALevelInBadass. |
| 69 | * CameBackStrong: Sing is practically beaten to death, but he emerges from his cocoon of bandages as a super-powered kung fu master. |
| 70 | * CampGay: The tailor. |
| 71 | * CardCarryingVillain: Brother Sum embraces his role as a villain and states that as the bad guys, the Axe Gang should be kicking everyone's asses and not the other way around. |
| 72 | * CasanovaWannabe: The Landlord. |
| 73 | * ChallengeSeeker: The Beast, by virtue of being a BloodKnight. |
| 74 | * ChallengingTheChief: Sorta. When The Beast [[spoiler:breaks Brother Sum's neck]], he apparently becomes the leader of the Axe Gang. |
| 75 | * TheChewToy: Sing. He gets beaten up by a string of [[BadassBystander Badass Bystanders]] and, in one scene, accidentally takes ''three knives'' in the shoulders. His status as this gets subverted towards the finale, however [[spoiler: as it turns out he only survived his injuries through being a top-tier kung-fu genius, and his final beating unlocks his latent chi]]. |
| 76 | * TheChosenOne: |
| 77 | ** 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. |
| 78 | ** 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. |
| 79 | * ClothingDamage: |
| 80 | ** Accompanies any CurbStompBattle, 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 MagicPants.]] |
| 81 | ** There are also two memorable shots of The Beast twisting the [[spoiler:landlord and landlady's]] arms so hard it makes the sleeves of their shirts unravel and fly apart. |
| 82 | * ColorCodedCharacters: Not only is the Axe Gang dressed in black, not only do the various kung fu masters wear white clothes (most of the time), Sing's wardrobe changes colors to match his inner character through the film. |
| 83 | ** This is also an inversion of the Eastern convention of GoodColorsEvilColors, as it eventually becomes for Sing. |
| 84 | * CombatPragmatist: While the Beast is [[LightningBruiser an unstoppable juggernaut of power that can shrug off injuries that would kill or incapacitate most men]], that doesn't mean he's an idiot. Whenever he is cornered with an attack he can't deflect or withstand more than once, [[ISurrenderSuckers he will fake a surrender as a means of disarming his opponent]], allowing him to collect himself, get close and stick them with his dart-blowers. |
| 85 | * ConservationOfNinjutsu: Dozens of Axe Gangsters vs. a trio of martial arts masters, and later vs. one single man. Guess who wins in each of these scenarios. |
| 86 | * ContrivedCoincidence: There's a lot of this, usually chalked up to [[BecauseDestinySaysSo fate]]. The ice cream girl Sing decides to rob just so happens to be the girl he tried to save when he was a boy, for example, and Pig Sty Alley happens to be the home of a absurd number of kung fu fighers for completely unrelated reasons. The entire plot is even set off by a Axe Gang lieutenant ''happening'' to be passing by when Sing blind-throws a little bomb that turns out to land on his head. |
| 87 | * CrankyLandlady: The Landlady is this trope weaponized. Her EstablishingCharacterMoment involves her callously shutting off her tenants' water for not playing rent, yelling at and threatening to evict almost everyone in the public square for the same, and then forcing everyone to be quiet. Once she's revealed to be a kung-fu master, her crankiness and ability to yell at people is weaponized through her Lion's Roar ability, a [[MightyRoar shout attack]] so loud, it can blast people through the air. She defeats the kung-fu musicians by yelling at them to be quiet after emerging from her room in a nightgown. |
| 88 | * CreatorCameo: 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 Creator/StephenChow when he said it wasn't. |
| 89 | * CrimeSpreeMontage: The opening shows black-and-white still photographs of the aftermath of the Axe Gang's attacks as they rise to power, interspersed with their dance number. |
| 90 | * CripplingTheCompetition: The Harpist manage to cut the palms of Donut, whose speciality is with staffs. |
| 91 | * CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Almost the entire cast. Even the background characters get their moments. That farmer lady can pack one hell of a punch. |
| 92 | * CrucifiedHeroShot: [[spoiler:Near-death Sing is bandaged this way: and quite appropriately comes BackFromTheDead later.]] |
| 93 | * CulturalTranslation: |
| 94 | ** 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. |
| 95 | ** "Donut" also counts since Dong Zhihua's character makes fried dough sticks, very similar in concept to the donut, hence his more appropriate sub name. |
| 96 | * CultureChopSuey: The overall aesthetic, which blends traditional Chinese and more modern, Western-derived styles. |
| 97 | * CurbStompBattle |
| 98 | ** The [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Landlord and Landlady]] vs the two blind musicians. |
| 99 | ** Everyone the Beast fights except [[spoiler:Sing at the end]]. |
| 100 | * CutApart: When the Beast and the Axe Gang head to Pigsty Alley to confront Sing and the landlords. |
| 101 | * CuteMute: The mute ice cream vendor. |
| 102 | * DarkestHour: Things are dire for the Shanghai population in the last act. The Axe Gang sent assassins that killed off the Pigsty Alley masters, and while Landlord and Landlady finally broke out of retirement and took care of them, the gang returns with the Beast, a homicidal, even more dangerous martial artist who critically injures both of them. The couple retreats to their home and the Axe Gang follows them to finish the job. All hope seems lost...until Sing greets them, having unlocked his true potential. |
| 103 | * DeadlyDodging: The Landlord defeats the pair of kung fu villains who double as [[MusicalAssassin Musical Assassins]] by throwing his arms over their necks in the way friends often do. Then he moves his hips and head, causing their punches to strike the other one. Even when a punch connects, it bounces or slides off and hits the other man in the face. |
| 104 | * DeathFromAbove: Subverted, in that Sing halted his attack as soon as the Beast faked his surrender. Prior to that, he was knocked into the sky by the Beast's Frog technique, which in turn helps Sing realize the full potential of his Buddhist Palm technique before falling back down to Earth. Like a meteor. ''[[ManOnFire In flames.]]'' |
| 105 | * DeathGlare: After defeating the pair of musical assassins and performing the first part of a StealthHiBye, the Landlady gets her point across to the Axe Gang leader with one of these. |
| 106 | * DecoyProtagonist: The Three Masters (Coolie, Tailor and Donut) save Pigsty Village and are essentially the lead heroic characters of the first third of the film...until the Harpists show up [[spoiler: and kill all three of them in short order]]. |
| 107 | * DefiantToTheEnd: 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 [[DefiantStoneThrow picks a splinter up off of the floor]], and [[CherryTapping bops The Beast on the head with it]]. He gets three more smacks to the face that sink his head further into the ground for this. |
| 108 | * DestinationDefenestration: During the big brawl as several Axe Gang members tries fighting the coolie, one of their random mooks tries targeting the Tailor, thinking the guy is easy pickings. Cue the Tailor throwing said mook through his workshop windows before stepping out to join the fray. |
| 109 | * DirtyCop: In the opening, a cop was counting money implying they take bribes from the Axe Gang and even helped them take out the Crocodile Gang by refusing to let them inside. |
| 110 | * TheDirtyThirties: The movie takes place in 1930s China. |
| 111 | * DiedStandingUp: [[spoiler:Brother Sum.]] |
| 112 | * DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler: Brother Sum. Gang leader, jerkass, annoys The Beast and gets his neck broken for it.]] |
| 113 | * TheDogBitesBack: Sing's attempts [[KickTheDog to prove he's a ruthless criminal]] ''always'' backfire, usually by having whomever he's picking on fight back and kick his ass. |
| 114 | * DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: The Landlady and her husband. It makes more sense when [[spoiler:it's revealed that his kung fu specialty is absorbing damage.]] |
| 115 | * DragonsUpTheYinYang: The Landlord traces out a ''taijitu'' in the courtyard of Pig Sty Alley when fighting the [[MusicalAssassin Musical Assassins]] in the cobblestones, ''with their toes''. |
| 116 | * DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:The end of the three masters begins with Coolie being offed in this fashion.]] |
| 117 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: Sing and his friend [[spoiler:give up on trying to be criminals, finally got themselves out of poverty, and open up a candy shop. Sing also reunites with the mute ice cream vendor from his childhood.]] |
| 118 | * EasilyForgiven: |
| 119 | ** The ending of the film, in which [[spoiler:Sing has proven to be more than a match for The Beast. Rather than killing him in cold blood, he ''forgives'' him and takes him as his first student, giving the mass murderer the same chance he got to start a new life as a good person.]] |
| 120 | ** Also, the mute girl refuses to give up on Sing despite his numerous KickTheDog moments. She gladly [[spoiler:takes his hand and runs excitedly into the candy shop he has opened with Bone in the epilogue]]. |
| 121 | * EmpathicEnvironment: The first time the Axe Gang rolls into Pig Sty Alley, storm clouds gather overhead. Strangely enough, they only gather over the gang proper. |
| 122 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: |
| 123 | ** Brother Sum's very introduction has him axing the Crocodile gang leader to death and shooting his wife after pretending to spare her. |
| 124 | ** Later, after the Beast is freed from the mental asylum by Sing, he's casually sitting in a tank top and ''slippers'', yet due to his reputation everyone in the room is scared ''shitless'' of him. He then asks to get thrashed over the head before one of the Axe Gang members pulls a gun on him; the Beast quickly disarms him, [[DeadpanSnarker quips if they make them for men]], and then promptly fires it at the side of his head...and does a BulletCatch ''with two fingers'', finally cementing his power. It only gets worse from there after he does an ax-kick and makes a casino wall explode. |
| 125 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: Subverted by Brother Sum in the beginning. After murdering a rival gang leader, Sum tells the man's wife that "[[WouldntHitAGirl I don't kill women]]." Then immediately after she turns her back on him, [[ILied he cold-bloodedly shoots her dead anyways]], thus establishing what a merciless, ruthless thug he really is. |
| 126 | * EverybodyWasKungFuFighting |
| 127 | ** And we mean ''everyone''. Played to hilarious, ''awesome'' excess! |
| 128 | ** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzfIOk-p5hw Whoever wants to die, step forward!]]" ''(everyone does)'' |
| 129 | * EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Coolie is only ever referred to as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolie Coolie]]. |
| 130 | * EvilIsNotAToy: Brother Sum finds this out the hard way when he releases the Beast from his asylum to kill the Landlords, [[spoiler:only for the Beast to kill him and usurp control over the Axe Gang.]] |
| 131 | * EvilIsPetty: Almost all of Sing's villainous acts fall under this and PokeThePoodle. |
| 132 | * EvilerThanThou: The Beast [[spoiler:casually kills Brother Sum when the latter mouths off to him. The Axe Gang immediately acknowledges his authority.]] |
| 133 | * ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Can you guess what is the axe gang's signature weapon. |
| 134 | * ExtremityExtremist: The Coolie's fighting style consists entirely of kicks. |
| 135 | * FanDisservice: One Pig Sty resident's butt is hanging out ''the entire movie.'' Doubles as RunningGag, and he's seen talking up a girl in the background of the final scene. |
| 136 | * FauxAffablyEvil: |
| 137 | ** Brother Sum, who has no qualms with murdering anyone who gets in his way, even after calmly and politely pretending that he'll spare their life. |
| 138 | ** The Beast is very laid-back and friendly at first, but eventually shows that he's not above dirty tricks when he's backed into a corner and pretty much drops the facade by the time [[spoiler:he takes over as leader of the Axe Gang]]. |
| 139 | * FingerPokeOfDoom |
| 140 | ** Averted. Sing threatens the Beast and is about to punch him, only to poke him, run behind a statue, and ask if he's okay. Mind you, this is wimpy, jackass Sing. |
| 141 | ** Later handled properly in the climax. First, one of Sing's {{Signature Move}}s in the climax is that he steps on his opponent's foot so hard and so quickly that it tears the sides of their shoes in the impact, a move the Beast remarks as "kid's stuff". Then Sing defeats the Beast using a FacePalmOfDoom. |
| 142 | * FingerWag: Landlady, Creator/BruceLee-style, to the Axe Gang leader. That whole scene is a ShoutOut to ''Film/WayOfTheDragon''. It quickly morphs into a FistOfRage. |
| 143 | * FiveSecondForeshadowing: |
| 144 | ** After the Landlady blows out her windows with her scream, [[spoiler:the Harpists react in shock at the presence of other kung fu masters in Pig Sty Alley, literally seconds before the Landlord comes out to kick their asses]]. |
| 145 | ** For those who hadn't figured it out in her first scene, those who remember that the girl Sing tried to rescue as a boy was mute will immediately realize who [[spoiler:Fong is as soon as she spoke in sign language]]. |
| 146 | * FlareGun: Used by the Axe Gang to signal when their members need help. It even releases fireworks [[BatSignal in the shape of an axe]]! |
| 147 | * FlowerPotDrop: Parodied. The Landlord doesn't get up after a pot is dropped on him from a top level apartment, and still played for laughs. When bad stuff starts happening, he gathers the scattered dust around his head to hide. |
| 148 | * {{Flynning}}: The tailor uses the iron rings on his arms to block attacks by the Axe Gang members that didn't look like they were close enough to hit him if he just kept his arms down. |
| 149 | * FoeTossingCharge |
| 150 | ** Played with when Sing is approaching the Beast through a group of mooks. The camera pans to the Beast's face, looking somewhat amused, then back as Sing reaches him to reveal the aftermath of a foe tossing charge in a confined space. One mook's head is still wedged in the ceiling. |
| 151 | ** The Beast's Toad Style, which throws himself with a lot of force directly at an opponent. |
| 152 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 153 | ** Possibly just for the gag, but the scene where Sing runs away from the Landlady and is able to run about the same speed as her is possible foreshadowing to the fact that he has TheGift since the only other characters seen running that fast in the movie are master warriors. |
| 154 | ** When the Landlady draws lots to decide whether to evict the Three Masters, the lot drawn is [[spoiler:"exceptionally bad luck". Sure enough, the three die that night to the {{Musical Assassin}}s.]] |
| 155 | ** The Landlord's casual tanking of a unholy amount of punishment foreshadows him being able to casually absorb and redirect attacks by the Musicians. |
| 156 | ** The cartoonish amount of abuse Sing takes throughout the movie, without dying, is a hint that he’s a little more than just MadeOfIron. |
| 157 | ** When Sing approaches to free The Beast from his cage, there is a multitude of frogs jumping in the corridor of his cell. This foreshadows the Beast's use of the Toad style. |
| 158 | ** During the fight at the casino, the Landlady comments (regarding the Beast) that "Good cannot co-exist with evil. Sooner or later one must face their fate". As she says this, the camera closes in on [[MinionWithAnFInEvil Sing]]. |
| 159 | * FreudianExcuse: Sing was badly beaten when he tried to fight a gang of bullies as a child. This led to him becoming a criminal as an adult to try and get back at the world. |
| 160 | * FriendshipTrinket: The CuteMute ice cream vendor and the lollipop that the bullies were trying to steal before Sing intervened. |
| 161 | * GagDub: in the Spanish version, which takes several liberties with the original dialogues, and makes the characters speak in a variety of Spanish dialects. |
| 162 | * GaleForceSound: The Harpists are two villains who fight their opponents by playing a guzheng (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 and concrete to smithereens and, when amplified with a bell, destroys ''everything'' in an ear-shattering soundwave and even [[spoiler:manages to temporarily defeat the Beast.]] |
| 163 | * GangOfHats: The Axe Gang all wield axes, wear black suits (with some of them actually wearing top hats) and perform choreographed dancing in unison. Brother Sum is played by a professional choreographer. |
| 164 | * TheGift |
| 165 | ** Namely, Sing having ''everything'' punched in [[spoiler:gets his chi flow cleared, making him a badass.]] |
| 166 | ** [[{{Foreshadowing}} Foreshadowed]] when Sing was roughing out the snakebite in the traffic light. |
| 167 | * GlassShatteringSound: The Landlady can scream loud enough to break a wine glass. Also all the bones in your body. |
| 168 | * GoldfishPoopGang: Sing and Bone are this until Sing calls in the Axe Gang, to the point that a single BadassBystander beats ''them'' up on the trolley car after they'd harassed him. |
| 169 | * GoodSmokingEvilSmoking |
| 170 | ** The Landlady's ever-present cigarette, which always burns out when she prepares her sonic scream. |
| 171 | ** 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. |
| 172 | * GratuitousEnglish: The baker's last words: "What are you... prepared to do?!" Unfortunately the Landlords don't understand English. |
| 173 | * GracefulLoser: Once he realizes he's truly lost, the Beast bows to [[spoiler:Sing]] and calls him master. |
| 174 | * [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe Half The Cat It Used To Be]]: The harpists' first onscreen kill is a cat which they slice into half using their instrument, though it's only shown in silohoutte. |
| 175 | * HealingFactor: An [[{{Foreshadowing}} early clue]] that [[spoiler:there is more to Sing that even he realizes, in that he recovers completely from all the injuries he received during one encounter (including 3 knife wounds and snakebite) overnight, though it appears it wasn't a pleasant experience.]] |
| 176 | * HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Who knew how far a little kindness to all sides would go? Sing manages to get it done. |
| 177 | * HeCleansUpNicely: [[spoiler:Sing in the finale. The normally slovenly Landlord and Landlady also dress up to the nines when they enter the casino: [[BadassInANiceSuit with the real intention of battling the Axe Gang]].]] |
| 178 | * HenpeckedHusband: The Landlord. [[TheCasanova He deserves it.]] |
| 179 | * HereWeGoAgain: A heroic version; a little boy outside Sing's candy store is approached by the same crazy old man who gave Sing the Buddhist Palm manual. He declares him the next natural-born martial artist... and shows him a ''fistful'' of new manuals that make the kid's eyes light up. |
| 180 | * [[HeroKiller Hero Killers]]: The harpists. |
| 181 | * HopeSpot: In the fight between the Three Masters and the Musicians, the Tailor finds himself in the wide open without his arm rings. At the last moment, Donut appears to deflect the musical projectiles being "launched" and goes on a well-prepared counter-attack. [[spoiler:It's all for nothing -- the Musicians destroy his weapons before he can get to them, and kill both him and the Tailor.]] |
| 182 | * IgnorantAboutFire: After the Landlord and Landlady scared them to go away from their house complex, Brother Sum and his advisor is still shuddering from the experience. The advisor tries to light a cigarette for Brother Sum, then he accidentally burns his hair. Then said advisor tried to put it off, but he poured an alcoholic drink instead, making the fire bigger. |
| 183 | * IgnoredEpiphany: Less "ignored" and more "interrupted", but Sing seems to have a HeelRealization moment after [[spoiler: realizing that the ice-cream vendor he'd stolen from was the girl he'd saved as a child, which was his StartOfDarkness]]. At least until after a pair of Axe Gang members approach him because Brother Sum needs his lockpicking skills. |
| 184 | * IJustWantToBeBadass: Sing's main motivation for most of the movie. |
| 185 | * IJustWantToBeNormal: All five Hidden Masters we find living in Pig Sty Alley were just doing their best to live quiet normal lives. Justified in universe as it's made quite clear that having such masters around [[InHarmsWay just draws unwanted attention and trouble]]. |
| 186 | * ImpactSilhouette: The Buddha Palm technique. Foreshadowed when [[spoiler:Sing, wracked with the pain of knives and snakebites, hammers the sides of the traffic tower and leaves a barrage of perfect handprints.]] |
| 187 | * ImplacableMan: The Beast. Takes being punched through walls and flattened into the ground and still keeps going. |
| 188 | * ImprovisedLockpick: During his infiltration into the asylum that contains the Beast, Sing uses a steel wire to open the lock to the Beast's cell. |
| 189 | * ImprovisedWeaponUser: The Lion's Roar is a weapon unto itself, but alone is a NoSell against 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. |
| 190 | ** Although using the rings as bracers is an actual style of fighting in the martial art. More probably Tailor used his weapons as shelf rings. |
| 191 | * InexplicablyAwesome: While the film establishes that many of the great warriors featured in the film possess TheGift, giving them enhanced durability, stamina and ambiguously magical martial arts skills, it is explicitly said that only [[spoiler:the Landlord and the Landlady]] have the gift and they cannot train the rest of Pig Sty Alley because of it. This doesn't explain how everyone there is able to defend themselves against the Axe Gang (to varying degrees of success) to the extent that they do, even if Sing is GiftedlyBad at [[MinionWithAnFInEvil being intimidating]]. |
| 192 | * InTheBack: Sum is not above shooting unarmed and surrendered enemies in the back. |
| 193 | * ISurrenderSuckers: 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. The first time, it works. [[spoiler:The second, it doesn't.]] |
| 194 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Sing and the Landlady, who act like assholes but, underneath, are really nice. |
| 195 | * KickTheDog: |
| 196 | ** Sum shoots the Crocodile Boss's wife in the back after pretending to let her go free. He essentially kicks the dog every minute he's on screen, but this clinches it. |
| 197 | ** Sing stomping the kids' soccer ball is a PokeThePoodle moment, since it's so petty and small, but also establishes the fact that he's a real asshole. |
| 198 | ** Sing robbing the mute ice cream girl, then [[ShooTheDog telling Bone to go away]], as Sing is in the middle of a HeelRealization. |
| 199 | *** Prior to this, he and Bone steal some ice cream from the same vendor, with Sing laughing hysterically at her futile pursuit of the pair. He only realizes ''why'' she's chasing him during the aforementioned scene. |
| 200 | * LargeHam: 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 Creator/BruceLee in the completely wordless scene in Sum's car. |
| 201 | * LetsGetDangerous: Everyone! |
| 202 | * LightheartedRematch: Coolie, Tailor and Donut, crossing into ItHasBeenAnHonor. |
| 203 | * LipLosses: In one scene, Sing accidentally gets a cageful of snakes dumped over him. Bone suggests he whistle to calm them, only for Sing to get bitten squarely on the lips the moment he tries. For good measure, his lips end up swelling to the size of watermelons. |
| 204 | * MadeOfIron: |
| 205 | ** Sing gets a comical number of injuries throughout the film. It turns out that it was ''necessary''. |
| 206 | ** The landlords manage to steal Sing away and heal him despite the snot having been kicked out of them. |
| 207 | ** The Beast of course, able to take blows to the head without even wincing. |
| 208 | * MagicalHomelessPerson: Sing's backstory involves him buying a twenty-cent Kung Fu pamphlet for ten dollars from a homeless man. While at first it seems like the young, impressionable Sing got grifted, the fact that [[SupernaturalMartialArts the kung fu moves are proven to be legitimate in the climax of the film after Sing's chi-pathways were unblocked]] implies that the homeless man recognized that he had TheGift and [[TheChooserOfTheOne ensured that he had the means to embrace his destiny]]. [[spoiler:There is also the fact that at the end of the film, he does the same thing to another kid, having not aged a day after all of these years.]] |
| 209 | * MagicMusic: The Harpists fight using a guzheng, a Chinese plucked zither. They can manipulate the vibrations into shapes such as razor sharp swords and skeletal warriors capable of cutting through stone. |
| 210 | * MagicPants: |
| 211 | ** When Brother Sum cuts down Crocodile Boss' wife with a shotgun, large piece of her dress is blown into pieces, but pants on the exact same height are left untouched. They aren't even blooded, despite the shot causing the poor woman to be blown half-way across the street. |
| 212 | ** The Landlady's [[MightyRoar "Lion's Roar"]] destroys the skeletal sword-wielding ghosts, the two musician killers' instrument and clothes, but not their underwear. |
| 213 | ** In the final duel, when the Beast sends Sing high enough in the sky that it results in a RocketlessReentry, Sing's shirt burns, but not his pants, nor his shoes. |
| 214 | * MajorInjuryUnderreaction: The Landlord of Pig's Sty is not only thrown out of a third story window, but gets a potted plant dropped on his head, actually drawing blood. He simply tells onlookers to go away when they inch closer to check up on him. |
| 215 | ** The Lion's Roar is strong enough on its own. Then she rips the top off of a giant funeral bell [[SerialEscalation and uses it as a megaphone.]] |
| 216 | * MaleGaze: The Crocodile gang boss' wife. Baby got back. |
| 217 | * MartialArtsForMundanePurposes: In spades. Because the theme of the movie is ordinary-looking people turning out to be kung-fu masters, we typically see the "mundane" use before their true abilities are revealed to the viewer. [[spoiler: The strong, silent Coolie who carries heavy loads for people uses his super-strong legs for kicking. The doughnut-maker who uses long poles to knead the dough is a master with spears and bow-staffs. The tailor uses heavy rings to both hang up his wares and wears them on his arms in combat. The Landlord who's constantly being beaten up by his wife can secretly deflect and withstand heavy blows. The Landlady who's always yelling and roaring at everyone has an outright sonic scream.]] |
| 218 | * MartialPacifist |
| 219 | ** 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 [[ArrogantKungFuGuy arrogant]] villain, The Beast. It is, however, apparent he's teaching The Beast. |
| 220 | ** 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. |
| 221 | * MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: 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, giving another kid the same pamphlet in almost exactly the same way. |
| 222 | * MexicanStandoff: Parodied when the Beast and the Landlord and Landlady attempt a series of complicated limb-locks on each other, the end result resembling [[MoodWhiplash a game of Twister gone horribly wrong.]] |
| 223 | * MickeyMousing: The [[MusicalAssassin zither players[=/=]assassins]] play a guzheng to fire blades. The side effect is that the music matches the fight, as the music plays faster the more intense the fight gets. |
| 224 | * MightyRoar: The "Lion's Roar" technique the landlady uses. {{Foreshadowed}} that she was a badass when she used it to make her angry tenants shut up. |
| 225 | * MinionWithAnFInEvil: Throughout the film, Sing does everything to try and be a gangster, his attempts to intimidate [[EpicFail failing epically]] due to the bumbling of his sidekick Bone, being hilariously outclassed by whoever he is trying to pick a fight with (which is everyone) or just sheer bad luck. [[spoiler:This is a sign that he is not destined to be a bad guy, his HeelFaceTurn happening almost by impulse when he ends up hitting Brother Sum and the Beast in the head with a table-leg, the following beating by the Beast unblocking his chi pathways and metamorphosing him into the ActionHero he was destined to be.]] |
| 226 | * MoodWhiplash |
| 227 | ** Sing's HeelFaceTurn is marked by a whole series of these. [[spoiler:It begins with the (apparently) moral conflict within him as Sum orders him to attack the helpless Landlord and Landlady... only for Sing to turn around and attack Sum. Not out of right or wrong, but ''stress''. Then Sing mans up enough to attack the Beast: only to have his own head beaten into the ground. Cue the [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu futile but significant show of defiance]] as Sing... weakly picks up a bit of rubble to bonk the Beast, to no effect at all..]] |
| 228 | ** Earlier, there was a scene where the Landlady and Landlord were dancing happily in their apartment after previously shown [[IncrediblyLamePun dancing]] to the TheMasochismTango. Only for the Landlady to [[BerserkButton see lipstick]] on the [[ChivalrousPervert Landlord.]] Cue another beating. |
| 229 | ** Also when [[spoiler: Sing was dying]], he draws a lollipop, showing he was thinking of the CuteMute 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. |
| 230 | * MookChivalry: Inverted and subverted, especially in the first and the last mass brawl. The mooks don't shy from pulling {{Zerg Rush}}es and generally try to take all possible advantages they might have... but they are just mooks in an AffectionateParody of {{wuxia}}. |
| 231 | * MookHorrorShow: Every scene where the Axe Gang confronts Pig Sty Alley directly basically ends with half of the gangsters getting their asses handed to them and the other half running away. |
| 232 | * MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: The Landlady henpecks her husband despite him being a powerful Taichi master, and for good reason. Most other martial arts require the combatants to get in close range, but her Lion's Roar can obliterate opponents at range. |
| 233 | * MusicalAssassin: The Harpists. They pluck and strum their guzheng to summon blades and even undead warriors to cleanly slice apart their foes before they even knew they were there. |
| 234 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: 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. |
| 235 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The Beast. His Chinese name (火云邪神) counts as well, as it means "Fiery Clouds Evil God". |
| 236 | * NeutralNoLonger: The Landlady and Landlord - neither of them are willing to get involved in the Axe Gang's initial appearances at Pig Sty Alley, and it's not until Donut, Coolie, and the Tailor are all defeated that they get involved. |
| 237 | * NeverBringAKnifeToAFistFight: Bringing in guns will just get your ass kicked by Donut. |
| 238 | * NeverMessWithGranny: The Landlady, who just so happens to be made of awesome, as she's a master of Lama Pai [[MakeMeWannaShout Lion's Roar technique]]. She's strong enough to crack the top of a funeral bell and hold it to ''use it as a megaphone''. Her actress, Yuen Qiu, really does have martial art skills, shown in her small role in ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun''. |
| 239 | * NiceGuysFinishLast: |
| 240 | ** Sing's philosophy after his attempted heroics as a kid [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished got the tar kicked out of him by the bullies he picked a fight with]]. |
| 241 | ** Brother Sum holds this philosophy as well; the reason he's so fixated on revenge with the Pig's Sty slum is because he thinks, [[ItsThePrincipleOfTheThing since he's the bad guy, he should be "doing the ass kicking."]] [[spoiler: While Sing realizes his mistake and tries to fix it, Sum never wises up, and gets killed as a result.]] |
| 242 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain |
| 243 | ** And the irony of it: [[spoiler:Sing gets pounded by the Beast during his HeelFaceTurn 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. |
| 244 | ** And then [[spoiler:Sing gets [[ATwinkleInTheSky launched into the sky]] by the Beast's Frog technique, only to have him fall back down to Earth]] and [[DeathFromAbove deliver a finishing move while falling.]] Looks like the Beast is a nice guy after all. |
| 245 | * NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction: The Beast is introduced locked up in a mental institution, but he could easily break out any time he wishes. He voluntarily stays there because there doesn't seem to be anyone left who can offer a challenge and put up a good fight against him. |
| 246 | * NoNameGiven: Almost nobody in the movie is given an actual name. At best, you'll get a title to refer to them by instead (the Landlord and Landlady, Donut, Tailor and Coolie, etc.). |
| 247 | * NoSell: 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.'' |
| 248 | * NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: As befits his CasanovaWannabe personality, the Landlord's attacks begin with what looks like a hug. |
| 249 | * NotSoHarmlessVillain: The Beast. Bald, overweight, and at first dressed in a tank top, shorts, and cheap flip-flops, even TheSyndicate 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 [[BulletCatch caught the bullet]]. He [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt quickly ascended]] to being the BigBad shortly after. |
| 250 | * OffWithHisHead: How [[spoiler:Coolie]] meets his end. |
| 251 | * OhCrap |
| 252 | ** "Wow, that's a huge fist." |
| 253 | ** Also when The Beast sees the Landlady about to use her Lion's Roar [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7iSVSrgzkw&NR=1#t=7m45s with the help of a funeral bell]]. |
| 254 | ** The Beast's reaction moments later when, as he's struggling to get up to ''crawling,'' she's about to use it again ''[[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill at point-blank range!]]'' |
| 255 | * OldMaster: The Beast, a rampaging, unstoppable killing machine before he became a hermit by way of locking himself in an insane asylum. [[spoiler: The Landlord and Landlady are also revealed to be a pair of badass Old Masters living in retirement.]] |
| 256 | * OneManArmy: All kung fu masters, but especially [[spoiler:Sing at the end, when he takes out several dozen armed opponents in minutes.]] |
| 257 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: After disposing of the [[MusicalAssassin Musical Assassins]], the Landlady calmly and wordlessly threatens Brother Sum with violence if he and the Axe Gang ever return to Pig Sty Alley. Up until then, she is easily the [[NoIndoorVoice loudest]] and most [[HairTriggerTemper temperamental]] person in the movie. |
| 258 | * PinballGag: Done in the climax, complete with electro-mechanical sounds and chimes. |
| 259 | * PinballProtagonist: Sing is in the periphery in most of the plot after happening to cause the chain of events that leads the Axe Gang and Pigsty Alley to conflict. The Three Masters are essentially the heroic leads for the first act, the Landlord and Landlady for the second act and Sing only seizes the lead role in the last act. |
| 260 | * PokeThePoodle: Most of Sing and Bone's antics, ranging from trying to skip out on paying for a haircut, harassing random people on the street, and so on, for most of the movie. In harrassing the mute ice cream girl, however, he crosses into KickTheDog. |
| 261 | * {{Pun}}: |
| 262 | ** The Landlady's technique, the Lion's Roar, is a reference to the Chinese idiom "the lion east of the river" which is slang for [[HenpeckedHusband a domineering wife.]] |
| 263 | ** When the Landlord and Landlady confront the Axe Gang, they reveal that they've prepared a funeral bell for them as a gift. "Gifting someone a bell" (送鐘) and "paying one's last respects (during a funeral)" (送終) are homophones in Chinese, which is {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by Brother Sum's assistant in the Chinese dub. |
| 264 | * PunchParry: Done accidentally by the musicians as the result of the Landlord's DeadlyDodging. Appropriately, it does nothing but hurt them both. |
| 265 | * PunctuatedPounding |
| 266 | ** Sing picks on a clerk on the tram, who retaliates by rhythmically pounding his and Bone's heads against the bench while berating them. |
| 267 | ** In a similar vein, the Landlady assaulting Sing with a slipper while mocking him with his own words. |
| 268 | * RadialAsskicking: Sing vs. the Axe Gang near the end of the movie. |
| 269 | * RapidFireFisticuffs: The Beast is so fast he can achieve this effect ''in slow motion''. |
| 270 | * RazorWind |
| 271 | ** The Harpists summon swords with each strum of the qin. |
| 272 | ** It's more or less an interpretation of what their attack will do upon impact. Sometimes they summon winds that can [[MegatonPunch punch your guts out]]. |
| 273 | ** Based on how they play the instrument. Played horizontally, it creates RazorWind. Vertically it creates blunt wind (in the form of fists or a shield). It's a really memorable scene. |
| 274 | * {{Reconstruction}}: For all the AffectionateParody goodness the film is full of, the final act of ''Kung Fu Hustle'' plays the {{Wuxia}} tropes completely straight and makes what people loved about Wuxia awesome again. Sing, having realized he wants to be a good guy all long, rebels against the Beast (the film's closest thing to TheDarkSide of Wuxia) in a hopeless battle and gets beaten to near death. This act ends up unlocking his chi pathways and turns him into a Kung Fu master, juxtaposed with an imagery of butterfly coming out from a cocoon. From there, Sing plays every trope of TheChosenOne: LightningBruiser, GoodWearsWhite, and a OneManArmy who delivers CurbStompBattle. The climactic battle is where Wuxia is best demonstrated, as Sing's final blow is a SimpleYetAwesome technique taught in boring manuals -- a common trope reserved for the ultimate upgrade in Wuxia. |
| 275 | * RedemptionEqualsDeath: Subverted and played upon, with [[spoiler:Sing. But it quickly turns out to be NiceJobFixingItVillain]]. |
| 276 | * RedemptionPromotion: Sing was [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain a horrible criminal]] but achieves enlightenment after deciding to help The Landlord and Landlady (And getting beaten within an inch of his life for it) |
| 277 | * RetiredBadass |
| 278 | ** The Beast, waiting for someone worthy to come along. |
| 279 | ** Also, the Landlady and her husband, [[spoiler:who gave up martial arts after their son was killed in a fight.]] |
| 280 | * RiversOfBlood: When Sing is infiltrating the asylum The Beast is being held in, he runs through the corridors until he runs onto one cell at a dirty-looking corridor. The cell door slowly opens and then a large stream of blood floods out of the cell room. [[spoiler:It turns out to be merely Sing's ImagineSpot; he was merely staring at the door, imagining it happening.]] |
| 281 | * RockBeatsLaser: |
| 282 | ** After being awakened, Sing uses a technique where he [[AgonyOfTheFeet stomps on the feet of]] opposing mooks in rapid succession, resulting in comically [[SquashedFlat 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. |
| 283 | ** Donut destroys a few Tommy guns and Mauser C96 pistols with his staff. |
| 284 | * RocketlessReentry: The Beast sends Sing high enough in the sky to produce friction when the latter descends and unleashes Buddha's Palm on him (burning Sing's shirt at it, [[MagicPants but not his pants]]). |
| 285 | * RubberMan: The Landlord, he is a Tai-Chi master, an art that is usually used by using the opponents momentum against them, but the Landlord is so effective at it, that when attempting to hit him, he produces an audible "boing" sound. |
| 286 | * RuleOfCool: Oh, so, so many... 90% of the movie is either taken up by this, or RuleOfFunny. The whole fight scene all the way through with the blind musicians takes both of these up to eleven. |
| 287 | * RuleOfThree: 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. |
| 288 | * SealedEvilInACan: 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 '''[[IncrediblyLamePun On]]''' the Can. |
| 289 | * ShadowDiscretionShot: |
| 290 | ** 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 become bisected to the music while Coolie notices nothing. Plus a splatter of blood on the wall. Ominous. |
| 291 | ** Coolie's death is somewhat... less shadowy. |
| 292 | * ShoutOut |
| 293 | ** [[spoiler:Donut's dying words include [[Film/TheUntouchables "What are you prepared to do?"]]. Before that, he says, [[Film/SpiderMan1 With great power... comes great responsibility]].]] |
| 294 | ** "[[Film/{{Casablanca}} This could be the end... of a beautiful friendship...]]" He's just FULL of these. |
| 295 | ** The Landlord getting hurled out of a window and smashing through awnings on the way down shouts out to a similar (and nearly fatal) movie by Creator/JackieChan in ''Film/ProjectA''. Of special note is the Landlord's actor, Yuen Wah, who was Jackie's fellow disciple. |
| 296 | ** The chase between Sing and The Landlady is an obvious tribute to ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'', ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner'', and every other "chase" cartoon out there. |
| 297 | ** Sing juggles a soccer ball and then stomps it flat, shouting, "No more soccer!" This is a reference to Chow's previous film ''Film/ShaolinSoccer'' and his refusal to make a sequel. |
| 298 | ** Upon arriving at the Beast's cell, Sing imagines the door opening and [[Film/TheShining blood pouring out of the room.]] |
| 299 | ** The various fighting techniques demonstrated in the movie contain many shout-outs that had been twisted and parodied in some way for comedic effects. For example, the Ha Ma Gong (literally, Toad Technique, used by The Beast) is a technique used by an infamous poison-master from one of Creator/JinYong's famous novels. It's supposed to create harmful chi in the target's body, eventually killing them with no external injuries (the toad is considered one of the "Five Poisons" in Chinese culture, along with snake, lizard, centipede and scorpion). In the movie, however, this is taken a bit more literally. |
| 300 | ** ALL the names on the manuals the beggar held at the end of the movie are shout-outs to many of Jin Yong's novels. Audiences unfamiliar with the {{Wuxia}} genre [[GeniusBonus will not be able to fully appreciate the parodic values of it]]. |
| 301 | ** The Axe Gang's introduction is styled suspiciously similarly to ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'' (complete with a knockoff of the famous Peter Gunn theme music). The assassins also resembled the Blues Brothers. |
| 302 | ** When the Landlady appeared in the seat of Sum's car, she wordlessly threatened him with her fists, cracking her knuckles and brushing her nose in a way reminiscent to what Creator/BruceLee did in ''Return of the Dragon''. |
| 303 | ** The Landlady and Landlord introduce themselves to The Beast as being Xiao Long Nu and Yang Guo, the protagonists of Jin Yong's ''Literature/TheReturnOfTheCondorHeroes''. |
| 304 | ** The scene where Sing - attacked from all sides swoops down and crushes the toes of his enemies - is a homage to one of the more comedic Wong Feihong movies ''Last Hero In China'', where Wong Feihong himself uses the counter-strike whilst dressed as a chicken. |
| 305 | ** The Buddha's Palm technique (and the 'Daring General' tune of the soundtrack) are lifted directly from the 1982 film ''Film/BuddhasPalm.'' |
| 306 | ** The blind musical assassins are a shout-out to a real assassination attempt that was made upon UsefulNotes/QinShiHuangdi, when his blind musician tried to smash his head in with a weighted lute. [[note]]It didn't work.[[/note]] |
| 307 | *** The score that the assassins perform is an abridged remix called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgWEg-Ujhy0 "The Conquerer Unarms"]]. |
| 308 | * ShutUpHannibal: 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 [[AgonyOfTheFeet 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. |
| 309 | * SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: Sing's arc (and thus the arc of the film as a whole in a way) is learning that his profoundly cynic worldview where one must be a thug to thrive is wholly wrong and the childhood idealism he dismissed (namely the Buddhist Palm) is very much real. It's empathized by the fact Sing is a [[MinionWithAnFInEvil absolutely godawful cynic thug]] but turns out to be unstoppable as a wise martial arts master. |
| 310 | * SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: 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}}s, who are then countered by the Landlord and Landlady, who are in turn countered by the MadeOfIron and [[SuperSpeed superhumanly-fast]] Beast, who is in turn countered by the [[spoiler:HeelFaceTurn-ed [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist Unsympathetic Comedy]] VillainProtagonist]]. The Beast attempted to use a pile of basic Axe Gang members to soften up the hero before properly fighting him, unfortunately for him the algorithm was still in place and they got splattered without slowing him down. |
| 311 | * SpoilerCover: The home versions both feature Sing ([[SheCleansUpNicely albeit clean-shaven]]) in a heroic pose, but he spends two-thirds of the movie as a HarmlessVillain. |
| 312 | * StartOfDarkness |
| 313 | ** 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. This moment convinced him that NiceGuysFinishLast. |
| 314 | ** [[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.]] |
| 315 | * StealthHiBye |
| 316 | ** While he's [[spoiler:busy turning Brother Sum's head backwards]], the Fated Couple make off with Sing before the Beast can react. |
| 317 | ** They pull the Hi version earlier, appearing in the shotgun and back seats of Sum's car with each camera cut. |
| 318 | * StealthPun: |
| 319 | ** Tailor's CampGay behavior belies his martial art, which requires extremely strong (as opposed to limp) wrists. |
| 320 | ** The Beast's very first attack, after being recruited by the Axe Gang? An axe kick. |
| 321 | * SteppingStonesInTheSky: On a ''bird'', no less. |
| 322 | * SunkenFace: When the Landlord and Landlady battle the Beast, their punches flatten his face several times. Notably, all it really does is amuse him. |
| 323 | * SupernaturalMartialArts: This is a {{Troperiffic}} AffectionateParody of all the over-the-top supernatural martial arts films to ever come out of Hong Kong. |
| 324 | * SuperSpeed: |
| 325 | ** One of the Beast's abilities, which he demonstrates by shooting himself in the head, and then catching the bullet in mid-air. |
| 326 | ** And in the fight scene that comes after, he's moving in super speed ''while the scene is running in BulletTime.'' |
| 327 | ** The Landlady demonstrates this as early as the first time the Axe Gang sets foot into the Pig Sty Alley... by running back home to hide underneath her covers. She then uses it to chase Sing out after the failed assassination attempt, and [[spoiler:to carry the badly injured Sing out of the casino after the Beast's beatdown]] (this one, along with her husband). |
| 328 | * TailorMadePrison: The Beast, though he [[CardboardPrison stayed there voluntarily]] because he ran out of good opponents... by killing them. It's more or less explicit that [[PlayAlongPrisoner he could have escaped any time if he wanted to.]] |
| 329 | * TeethFlying: When one of the {{Musical Assassin}}s punches the Landlord, his fist just bounces straight into his partner's mouth, sending a bloodied tooth straight upwards. |
| 330 | * ThrewMyBikeOnTheRoof: Sing stomps the kids' soccer ball flat for no reason than to be an asshole. Behind the scenes, it's also a clever retort to fans who keep insisting that Chow make a sequel to ''Film/ShaolinSoccer''. |
| 331 | * TookALevelInBadass: Sing. Almost every time he gets seriously hurt, he always manages to come back stronger. By the end of the film, he's a OneManArmy and a WorthyOpponent to the Beast. |
| 332 | * TotalitarianGangsterism: The Axe Gang rules all of Shanghai and spend an awful lot of time, energy and resources to snuff out any sign of dissonance. They were able to spook the entire Shanghai Police Department and clear out the streets just to kill the Crocodile Gang (which is just four guys and the boss' defenseless wife), they send an army of goons to ransack the impoverished Pig Sty Alley when two of their lowest goons fail to intimidate them, they hire two of the most deadly (and expensive) assassins in the world when three of their tenants manage to fend them off, then they break out the Beast - who was being held at a government facility for essentially being the deadliest man on Earth - as their last resort. |
| 333 | * TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening: After being beaten to within an inch of his life, Sing suddenly awakens to his true power as a Kung Fu master. |
| 334 | * TheTriadsAndTheTongs: The Axe Gang, led by Brother Sum. There's also the Crocodile Gang at the beginning of the film, which is destroyed after most of its members defect to the Axe Gang, allowing them to eliminate the few remaining Crocodile Gang henchmen and their boss. |
| 335 | * ATwinkleInTheSky: Sing ends up as this when the Beast launches him upwards with the [[FoeTossingCharge Toad Technique]]. [[spoiler:However, subverted immediately afterwards, as it ends up as a setup for Sing to deliver the [[LimitBreak Buddha's Palm]] onto the Beast.]] |
| 336 | * UndefeatableLittleVillage: Pig Sty Alley is this kind of village within a larger city dominated by criminal gangs. |
| 337 | * UnderTheTruck: A humorous case without motorcycles occurs in the film. In the scene where the landlady begins chasing Sing they end up running on the road. As they come up on a truck Sing opts to use this trope sliding under the truck at high speeds. The landlady opts to jump over, and ends up hitting a billboard. |
| 338 | * UrineTrouble: 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. |
| 339 | * VillainousBSOD: The Beast has spent his entire life looking for a WorthyOpponent, who he tells the Landlady and Landlord he expects to kill him. He finds his WorthyOpponent in Sing, but when Sing defeats him but not only doesn't kill him, but offers to teach the Beast his ways, the Beast is so moved, he collapses in tears. |
| 340 | * WhatTheFuAreYouDoing: The hero starts out this way. |
| 341 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The Axe Gang's accountant was last seen having a gang member tossed onto him, what happened to him after that is unknown. |
| 342 | * WhatYouAreInTheDark: |
| 343 | ** The three masters living in the Pig Sty Alley just mind their own business and don't do anything. But once the Axe Gang terrorises their neighbourhood, they defiantly stand up to defend everyone else. Coolie gets an extra credit, for he didn't know he would have any support, yet still saved a mother and a child from being burned alive by Brother Sum, being all alone against dozens of his mooks. |
| 344 | ** When having a chance to be finally accepted into a gang by attacking the helpless Landlord and Landlady, Sing instead beats Brother Sum and then attacks the Beast - despite either of those actions being essentially a death wish. |
| 345 | * WheelOFeet: Rare live-action example, namely the chase scene with the Landlady running after the hero. To reinforce how absurd this is, the hero uses two knives buried in his shoulders as rear-view mirrors, and at the end the Landlady goes flying and ends up flattened against a billboard for pain medication (somehow losing her hair curlers and bra on impact). |
| 346 | * WhosLaughingNow: Played with through Sing. After being beaten up and humiliated as a child he attempt to invoke this by become a thief and tough guy. Unfortunately for him he sucks at it and ends up being the ButtMonkey. [[spoiler:When his kung fu skills finally do awaken he subverts it, choosing not to get revenge on everyone who laughed at him and instead becoming the good man he wanted to be as a child.]] |
| 347 | * WithThisHerring: [[InvertedTrope Inverted.]] Sing is given a big bag of tools to use to break The Beast out of the mental asylum... which he promptly loses once inside. He actually gets the door to The Beast's cell open with the same dinky bit of wire he used to break out of his own shackles earlier in the film. |
| 348 | * WorldOfBadass: Almost [[EverybodyWasKungFuFighting everyone can fight on some level]]; street-thugs armed with shotguns and hand-axes, innocuous civilians who are more than willing to kick your ass if crossed, everyday shop-owners who happen to know SupernaturalMartialArts, blind {{Musical Assassin}}s, etc. |
| 349 | ** This trope was in fact parodied in a scene when Sing attempted to pick on the ordinary people in the Pig Sty Alley. He first threatened them with the line "whoever is seeking death, step forward" only to find all of them approaching him. Backing down, Sing asked for a one-on-one fight instead and started picking his opponents, but one after another attempted challenge he was cowed into turning each down as they appear tougher than they initially looked. |
| 350 | * WorldOfHam: Everything operates somewhere between {{Wuxia}}[=-style=] WireFu and ToonPhysics, their bad guys [[CartoonishSupervillainy Cartoonishly Evil]] and their strongest martial artists including a CrankyLandlady and her pervert husband, a CampGay tailor, a baker, blind harpists, the most dangerous man in the world who can turn himself into a human toad and the guy (who just the day before was the biggest loser in Shanghai) who defeated him with [[PowerOfTheGodHand the hand of God]][[note]]well, Buddha, but the principle still applies[[/note]]. |
| 351 | * WorstAid |
| 352 | ** "If you whistle, they'll go away!" Claims Bone to Sing, regarding venomous snakes all over him. Sing tries it and is promptly bitten. |
| 353 | ** It's kind of a running gag with those two. From the same HumiliationConga, came the above "Don't pull it out! / Oh sorry *stabs back in*", which fits just as well. Unless prepared to deliver immediate first aid, or if the object itself is an ongoing threat due to dirtiness or instability, it's better to leave something like a knife impaled in the wound to limit bleeding. But if you do pull it out, it's an even worse idea to ''[[TooDumbToLive put it back in]]''. |
| 354 | * YouKillItYouBoughtIt: How The Beast takes control of the Axe Gang. |
| 355 | * YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: [[spoiler:Brother Sum - in a fit of extreme hubris - calls out the Beast and scolds him for letting Landlord and Landlady get away with Sing when they were all on the verge of being killed. The Beast promptly breaks Sum's neck with a backhand, spinning his head 540 degrees.]] |
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