#12 Films You Should Watch If You Loved Mortal Kombat

In some ways, Stephen Chow is the natural successor to the Shaw brothers. Both are from Hong Kong; both are partial to martial arts-heavy genre-bending exercises that favor magical realism over boring stuff like gravity and logic. The primary difference between them is one of tone. The Shaw brothers’ films maintain an inherent sense of dignity, even as some wackiness encroaches. Stephen Chow’s films, though, are never worried about composure. As the Looney Tunes have proved for over 90 years, dignity is overrated.

“Kung Fu Hustle,” in particular, understands and expounds on this. There’s no shortage of Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner-like one-upmanship to its frequently madcap fights. Some are accented with “pew pew” sound effects. Others feature random, sunset-accentuated pratfalls. “Kung Fu Hustle,” like 2021’s “Mortal Kombat,” understands that, if its characters primarily exist to smash each other senselessly, they should be able to make us laugh as they’re doing so, if necessary.