Film

A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box

Stephen Chow's riotous 1995 reimagining of Journey to the West trades mysticism for slapstick, cosmic chaos, and romantic desperation. It's a densely layered comedy that moves like a pinball machine—jokes stacked on jokes, pratfalls bleeding into genuine heartbreak, time-travel logic bent into pretzels. For anyone who loves comedy that refuses to sit still or respects its own emotions.

TMDb rating3.8

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Kung Fu Hustle2004

Chow directs again with the same anarchic energy, mixing martial arts mayhem with sentimental comedy. A gang of street performers becomes unlikely heroes in a tenement war. Pure joy.

But The tonal whiplash between broad slapstick and genuine pathos won't land for everyone. Some fight choreography stretches plausibility to the snapping point.

Kung Fu Hustle poster

Shaolin Soccer2001

Another Chow vehicle that treats its absurd premise—monks playing football—with total commitment. Combines wire-work action, heart-on-sleeve romance, and gags that land in unexpected ways.

But The CGI has aged badly. The film also runs long and meanders when it should accelerate.

Shaolin Soccer poster

Rush Hour1998

Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker's chemistry carries this Hong Kong–LA buddy cop film. Chan's physicality is extraordinary; Tucker's mouth never stops. Action sequences are genuinely inventive.

But The humour leans heavily on racial stereotypes and fish-out-of-water clichés. The plot is completely forgettable.

Rush Hour poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Everything Everywhere All at Once2022

Both films reject narrative linearity in favour of emotional truth. A nobody protagonist discovering they're capable of everything. Comedy as a shield for desperate tenderness.

A multiverse odyssey where a Chinese immigrant laundromat owner discovers infinite versions of herself across reality. Like Pandora's Box, it's dizzyingly baroque—jokes and heartbreak colliding at impossible speed, time and identity in complete flux, cosmic stakes serving a deeply personal story.

But Unrelenting visual overstimulation will exhaust you. Emotional intensity combined with absurdist comedy isn't for every mood.

Everything Everywhere All at Once poster
More like this (8)

Drunken Master1978

Jackie Chan's first major role, playing a young martial artist trained by a drunken master. The action is balletic and the comedy comes from genuine physical comedy, not CGI fakery.

But The print quality is often poor. Comedy beats sometimes feel dated; pacing drags between sequences.

Drunken Master poster

The God of Cookery1996

Stephen Chow again: a pompous cooking celebrity loses everything and must rebuild his reputation. Absurdist humour, cartoonish characters, and visual gags that don't require dialogue to land.

But The logic is completely nonsensical, which is the point but not everyone's point. Subtitles work overtime.

The God of Cookery poster

Police Story 3: Super Cop1992

Jackie Chan plays an undercover cop infiltrating a crime syndicate. Spectacular stunts (including that famous train sequence), real chemistry with Maggie Cheung, and Chan's gift for comedic timing within action.

But The plot is threadbare and the dubbing is occasionally distracting. Some action sequences feel repetitive.

Police Story 3: Super Cop poster

Once Upon a Time in China1991

Jet Li as Wong Fei-hung in the Qing Dynasty, defending his people against colonialism and corruption. Gorgeous cinematography, balletic fight choreography, and genuine political weight beneath the spectacle.

But Subtitles are essential. The film moves slowly between action sequences, and some audiences find the philosophy heavy-handed.

Once Upon a Time in China poster

Police Story1985

Jackie Chan at peak physical invention: a cop protecting a witness against impossible odds. Stunt work that still impresses—no wires, no CGI, just a man throwing himself through glass and into ideas that shouldn't work.

But The plot is negligible. Editing is choppy in places. The film's age shows in how casually it handles violence.

Police Story poster

The Protégé2021

Maggie Q plays an assassin trained by Michael Keaton; when he's killed, she seeks revenge. Smart action sequences, witty dialogue, and two leads who move beautifully through the fight choreography.

But The script is thin between action scenes. It tries to be both elegant and trashy without committing fully to either.

The Protégé poster

The Shape of Water2017

Both rewrite mythological source material through physical comedy and silence. The outsider hero who speaks through action. Romance as a form of rebellion against cosmic order.

A mute woman in a Cold War laboratory falls in love with a captured creature. Guillermo del Toro's romanticism finds magic in the overlooked. Fairy-tale logic applied to grimy 1960s realism. Movement and gesture matter more than dialogue.

But The pacing is deliberate and hypnotic, which reads as slow. Talking fish romance isn't everyone's entry point.

The Shape of Water poster

The Secret of Kells2009

Both treat mythological tales as vessels for personal transformation. A young, seemingly powerless hero discovering agency through connection to something larger. Physical beauty as narrative language.

An Irish animated film about a boy helping to complete an ancient illuminated manuscript. Hand-drawn, gorgeously stylised, steeped in Celtic mythology and the weight of inherited stories. Music and image do most of the talking.

But Animation that doesn't resemble American television will feel strange. The pacing is painterly; nothing explodes. Subtlety isn't always rewarded.

The Secret of Kells poster

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