Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle is considered a landmark martial arts film, taking into account the kind of fanbase the movie has developed in the last 20 years owing to its superb direction, fight choreography, and performances.
However, fans have been going through a strange predicament regarding the film: the absence of an English dub. Kung Fu Hustle is available for streaming on Netflix, but it doesn’t have an option for viewers to watch it in English. Other legal online sources also do not offer an English version of the film, and it seems the only way to procure it is via a DVD store or eBay (if you are lucky). Another way to get your hands on the coveted movie’s English dub is through Amazon.
Fans believe the reason behind the unavailability is that some of the film’s dialogue is a bit offensive, and the English dub exacerbates this. Fans have noted that the original subtitles and even other languages are more somber and tamer than the English dub.
Kung Fu Hustle has grown in stature over the years, earning the “cult classic” moniker. The film stars Stephen Chow, Danny Chan Kwok-kwan, Yuen Qiu, Yuen Wah, and Leung Siu-Lung in leading roles, and the story follows an aspiring gangster’s attempts to terrorize a neighborhood and the three martial arts experts he comes across. The movie pays homage to and alludes to multiple iconic films, with the likes of Shaolin Soccer (another film by Chow), Internal Affairs, The Shining, Gone with the Wind, and Karate Kid getting mentions in different forms.
Kung Fu Hustle is available to stream on Netflix. Interested viewers can also rent or purchase it on Prime Video or Apple TV.
(featured image: Columbia Pictures)
