A giant leap forward in Stephen Chow's ongoing assault on Jackie Chan's status as reigning balletic clown-master of martial-arts mayhem, this extravagantly nutty crime comedy is a work of some kind of genius. Not everybody's kind of genius, to be sure, but an East-West blend of Looney Toons pratfalls, computer-assisted fight choreography, goofball gags, Shaw Brothers allusions and sheer lunacy set in '40s Shanghai. Set pieces include the powerful Axe Gang's operatic trouncing of cops and rival Crocodile Gang thugs; an aerial battle between a prodigy of the Buddha's Palm technique and a veteran of the Kwan Lun school's Toad style; and a musical interlude featuring sha...
Released:
2004
Rated:
R
Length:
99 mins