25 years after the wildly popular “Shaolin Soccer”, Stephen Chow is finally back with the sequel, “Kung Fu Soccer”. Expect more crazy soccer games, CGI-heavy mayhem and zany comedy. Whether any of this brings anything new or was actually necessary, however, is another question.
Next thing, he will announce “Shao Lin Hustle”…
You know GZA’d be down, and something tells me that Wong’d at least make a portaled cameo, too. 🤘🏼
“Fight Back to Adult Education Centre”
Chow is awesome. I’ve always enjoyed the more original work he’s done. He’s not the stunt man Chan is. But he has a similar sense of humor and comedic timing. Then pushed to 11 with Looney Tunes CGI shit. But even his takes on their Journey to the West have been enjoyable.
IMHO, his Journey to the West is among the worst of its kind. (Nevermind that the “origin” story is little more than propaganda excusing the theft of sacred texts from India —and I’ve had a brass statue of Sun Wukong in my den for decades.)
Don’t get me wrong, there’s a glut of shit renditions, and I’ve no idea why I expected more from the Kung Fu Hustler. His filmography shows he’s a one-note kazoo.
Yeah. I’d say it’s very accurate to describe him as one note. If you like it you like it if you don’t you don’t and it’s not well suited to a wide variety of things.
or was actually necessary,
No movies are ‘necessary’.
I was very excited they made a woso shaolin soccer until
The big novelty here is the gender switch, by now a familiar strategy for contemporary sequels and remakes. On paper, this was an interesting idea that could have allowed Chow, as director and writer (among, rather incredibly, about nine others), to explore issues of gender stereotypes and misogyny. Unsurprisingly, there is nothing of the sort in “Kung Fu Soccer”, which barely mocks boyfriends and their cowardly lies to women, but does not hesitate to make fun of the lack of femininity of some female football players – notably the Japanese goalkeeper, played by a male actor.
We watched a few of Chow’s 90s/00s films late last year in the #Comedon watch party & while largely fun, we did keep noting the way female characters were treated (e.g. they’re unworthy of Stephen until they pretty themselves up).
jesus. 🤮
