Kung Fu Hustle

In 1940s Shanghai, the Crocodile gang is easily and brutally defeated by a much more powerful gang known as the Axe Gang, led by a young killer named Brother Sum and an unnamed vice general. Only Shanghai's poorest villages and slums are not affected by the Axe gang's killings. One such slum is Pigsty Alley. Two thieves named Sing and Bone visit the village to extort the residents by pretending to be Axe gang members, though Sing and Bone are revealed to be very weak and terrible at fighting. Sing eventually attracts the attention of some real gang members and their vice general after throwing a firecracker onto the vice general's head. Just as the vice general is about to kill one of the residents, an unknown force blows him 50 feet back while also breaking his back, causing him to summon the full gang. Three of the slum's tenants: Coolie (who revealed himself to be the one who killed the vice general), Tailor, and Donut, are revealed to actually be kung fu masters, and the three of them team up to defend the slum and defeat the gang. Fearing the gang's retaliation, the slum's landlady evicts the trio after Brother Sum orders the gang's retreat. The gang captures Sing and Bone, and Brother Sum tries to kill them for posing as gang members. However, Sing and Bone narrowly escape using their lock picking skills, impressing Brother Sum, who offers to let them join the Axe Gang, on the condition that they kill someone. Sing recalls his childhood to Bone when he was tricked by a vagrant into buying a martial arts pamphlet with his meager savings. After practicing the pamphlet's Buddhist Palm technique, Sing attempted to save a non-verbal girl named Fong from bullies, but instead he was beaten and urinated on. Sing became adamant that heroes never win, and he resolved to be a villain. Sing and Bone return to Pigsty Alley to kill the landlady by throwing knives at her, but they fail ridiculously and Sing is stabbed several times and bitten by venomous snakes. They are chased off the premises by the landlady. Sing retreats to a traffic pulpit where his injuries mysteriously heal. Meanwhile, Brother Sum, intent on vengeance against Pigsty Alley, hires two harpists that use a magical guzheng as their weapon. On the same night, they successfully eliminate all three masters, but they are destroyed by the landlady and her husband the landlord, who reveal themselves to also be extremely skilled fighters. The next morning, Sing attempts to rob an ice cream vendor, but discovers that she is actually Fong. When she recognizes him and offers him a lollipop, which reminds him of the day he tried to save her, he smashes it and leaves. When Sing returns to the gang's casino, Brother Sum offers him immediate gang membership if he uses his lock-picking skills to free The Beast, a legendary and extremely powerful assassin, from a mental asylum. Sing succeeds and brings The Beast back to the Axe Gang's headquarters. Brother Sum is initially skeptical of The Beast due to his flippant attitude and sloppy appearance, but quickly changes his mind when The Beast stops a bullet in mid-air. The Beast meets the landlady and landlord at the casino next door, engaging them in a fierce fight that ends in a stalemate, despite the Beast showing much better fighting skills and clever trickery. Sing, realizing the error of his ways, attacks Brother Sum and The Beast, who angrily retaliates but accidentally unlocks the Ren and Du channels in Sing. The landlady and landlord grab the unconscious Sing and flee. The Beast kills an angry Brother Sum and takes over as leader of the Axe gang. The landlady and landlord treat Sing at Pigsty Alley and are surprised by his quick recovery. The landlady deduces Sing is, in fact, a natural-born kung fu genius. With his new-found powers, Sing effortlessly dispatches hundreds of Axes before fighting The Beast. Sing uses the Buddhist Palm technique to neutralize the Beast, who concedes defeat. Sing and Bone open a candy store with Fong's lollipop as their logo. Fong visits Sing at his store, and the pair hold each other's hands as they appear to be younger version of themselves. The vagrant who sold the pamphlet to Sing can be seen outside selling other pamphlets.

Plot from Kung Fu HustleCC BY-SA 4.0