I saw this film late, after everyone else in hong Kong had raved about it. But the general gist of comments from the initial release was that it wasn't as funny as Shaolin Soccer, but it was a far more visually attractive movie.

So, someone gave me the vcd and I was expecting lush 30's Shanghai scenes a la Wong Kar Wai with moody 30's music and some laughs.

Well it did that, sort of.

I suppose if one is to fully appreciate the film, then one must view it through 'Hong Kong slapstick mode' comedic lenses. Personally I favour more subtle humour, like the recent 'Life Aquatic', where the humour is much more understated.

Which is not to say that the film is not funny. It is, but I have always found that Mr Chow's main strength in comedy has been in the brilliant cantonese dialogue he manages to conjure up in his films. There is less of this in KFH, where most of the laughs were slapstick gags, but there were one or two moments which were really quite good. Like the Shining reference for example.

Finally - CGI. While the HK movie industry has increasingly employed the use of CGI in movies, Chow being one of the pioneers; The CGI effects in this film were totally over the top. I felt myself consciously trying to suspend disbelief throughout, and the 'roadrunner' sequence I felt just broke the whole rhythm of the movie, and I found myself squirming in my seat. If only they could tone down the CGI, make the fight sequences more realistic (either using higher quality CGI or just make it less bizarre), then it might have been more palatable.

In summary, this is a film which promised a stylish action comedy, aimed probably at a more western audience, but ultimately fell short due to an almost looney tunes type quality. But understandably it is difficult to satiate all tastes when it comes to comedy, and by leaving the more comfortable territory of traditional HK humour, The films shortcomings may have been due to Mr Chow stepping into a somewhat unfamiliar territory of higher budget comedy films whilst simultaneously trying to cater to different audiences.

A brave step which should be applauded, and I look forward to the next film.