[c]
Kung Fu Hustle (UMD)
Region 1 • R • Dolby Digital • Available Now
[/c]
Sony delivers yet another regular off-the-assembly-line UMD, but they at least give the movie somewhat of a good treatment.
Thoughts on the Movie
When you watch a movie like Hero, you’re supposed to suspend all disbelief and realize that yes, people can fly, walk on water, and dodge just about anything in their path. Kung Fu Hustle takes that to the next level: whatever was possible in those movies is possible here, and then some. This movie is totally crazy.
I still really enjoyed it, although the movie gets oddly soft at the end (or maybe it was a parody of how all martial art movies like these end?). It begins with the background of the Axe Gang, who murders everyone in their path. Their destruction leads them to a slum outside in the middle of nowhere, and from there the movie is mostly about revenge. The gang wears suits like Agent Smith in the Matrix, and in fact one of the main characters fight something like fifty gang members, which was strikingly similar to the Matrix Reloaded, yet infinitely more believable. There’s something to be said about a movie that uses music as a weapon… I haven’t seen something like that since the old arcade classic Revolution X.
I thought this movie was hilarious. Definitely check this out if you enjoy serious movies like Hero and House of Flying Daggers… it’s a great change of pace.
Video Quality
This is a Sony release, so… chop chop. The movie gets cropped from 2.40 down to 1.78, although it didn’t bother me as bad as the cropping in say, Ghostbusters. The colors look great, but the black levels could be darker.
While I despise cropping, this movie still looks good. Not as good as other Sony releases I’ve seen, but good anyways.
4/5
Audio Quality
The movie sounds fantastic, but some of the best sequences are with the fake surrounds… I was really blown away. The scenes with the musical swords (PSP 2.0 users: jump to 42:40) sounds amazing, and the music pans front to back really well. I was very impressed with this audio!
Sony was kind enough to add a Cantonese and English soundtrack option… the default is Cantonese, and should stay that way. I highly recommend you don’t watch the movie in English, since it really takes away from the film. Both sound equally good in terms of sound effects however.
5/5
Extras
Well, we get the same damn menus we have always gotten since Black Hawk Down, but they look slightly better due to the crazy colors of the animated background. We also get four trailers- Hollow Man, House of Flying Daggers, Resident Evil and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. If you’re going to add trailers, at least add some about a lesser known movie (like 7 Seconds or Air Force One).
Oddly, the default setting for the UMD is the Cantonese track with no English subs. Make sure to turn on the subtitles before watching, or else you’ll be hopelessly lost in the beginning (like I was… doh!)
No chapter selection, no extras, but I’m going to count the English audio track as an extra since it’s nice to have for completion sake.
2/5
Overall…
This UMD retails for $25 MSRP, and although it has no extras and cropped considerably, the audio tracks and video make up for it. I’m recommending this one, but hopefully sometime in the near future Sony will leave the OAR alone once and for all. Someday…
3/5
