King of Beggars

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A decent Stephen Chow film. DVD

Summary

A decent little film, though nothing to get excited about. It's a genre piece: heavy standard morals messaging--power from the people, responsibility, humility--with the predictable slapstick and decent action.

My only real complaint is I really like the idea of "the beggar nation". I wish it had been developed a little more.

Notes and Details

Minor Spoiler.

I wonder if the beggar nation thing is a familiar meme/trope in China? The little bit the Emprorer at the end where So tells the emperor that if he rules well, the beggars will dwindle so he need not fear them was really interesting. It ties together with the idea of So channeling the spirit of the master and the whole sleeping disciple idea, also really cool on it's own by the way.

I would like to have seen, maybe a sequel?, more playing on this idea of "beggar personified." It's a very classical view of the deity. The deity is the thing. He is the king of the beggars because he is the personification of beggar. By channeling that, he gains strength.

All this is really my own schtick so it's not so much a comment on the movie as the thoughts the movie stirred up.