Hard to believe that this iconic martial art franchise started 12 years ago and launched Donnie Yen straight into fame for Western audience. The film is based on the life story of Yip Man, the first person to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun and Bruce Lee’s trainer. This film focuses on his struggles during WWII where Japan invaded China.
Let’s start with what made this movie so popular in the first place, the fight scenes. The choreography is done by the legendary Sammo Hung who manages to craft a a variety of amazing fight scenes in this movie. Every fight in this movie feels different from one another yet exciting and memorable. There are one on one fights with different style of martial arts to fighting against multiple foes to fights where he uses an object to having the surrounding create a different fight. He manages to use different styles to show a characters personality through the fight scenes by having Ip Man elegant style against a much more fast pace and ferocious, villainous fighter. This movie also contains one of the most iconic fights in martial art movie history with Ip Man vs 10 dudes being INSANELY good. Every fight and action scene in this movie is nothing short of BREATHTAKING.
Major praise must be given to actor Donnie Yen who plays the titular character. He trained in Wing Chun and learnt about Yip Man mannerism from Ip Man’s sons. Donnie Yen gives of a wise, calm and knowledgeable mannerism for Ip Man that makes us believe that this is a master martial artist without having the need to use flashbacks to show this. When emotional moments happen, Donnie Yen is able to show a more aggressive side to the character while somehow maintaining the gracefulness of Ip Man which is astounding. All the supporting actors also do a great job as well with each character having notable traits and personalities that contrast with Ip Man.
Having great action scenes is great and all but if the story is not engaging then it won’t mean much. Fortunately, Ip man has a phenomenal character driven story. The story begins pre-WWII to show how happy and successful Ip man is before. It gives a sense of his strength and personality within a couple of minutes before it gets into the meat of things, World War 2. The movie doesn’t show the invasion but shows the Japan occupation of China and the effect it has on Ip Man. We get to see him struggle unlike at the beginning and show that despite him being invincible in a fight and being able to beat up anyone, his fist can’t protect anything anymore. There is a lot of drama within this movie during non fights that blend perfectly with the action sequences. Even during these non fight moments it is never boring and the director successfully keeps us the audience invested in the ongoing predicament. Interestingly enough, the movie manages to have Ip Man who was already somewhat perfect to change from the beginning to the end of the movie. The movie is able to convey a very clear yet important message by the end.
The score by Kenji Kawai is very beautiful which is a perfect representation of Ip Man’s character. When the action happens it is more sharp and loud with drums which makes the action more thrilling. The cinematography by O Sing-Pui is very vibrant in colors during the pre WWII sequence and very grey and monotone during WWII. He also uses this color template to show how the events are changing and by the end there is a lot more color even when they are still in WWII. The use of color to help tell the story is amazing. The costume and sets are very believable and feel like an accurate representation of China during the invasion.
Any flaws I really have with the movie is borderline nitpicking. The story is a very pro-China story and mildly anti Japan. It can feel incredibly cheesy during parts and near the end where they portray China as the all mighty good guys. There are also some side plot that occurs during the movie that kind of feels like padding as it doesn’t really relate to the main narrative. Additionally, it also feels really silly and unrealistic compared to the rest of the movie.
In the end, this is one of the best martial art movies in decades. It is exhilarating, dazzling and ultimately captivating. If you’re a fan of martial arts in general then this movie is a definite must watch. If you’re not a fan of martial arts then this movie is still a must watch as there is still something for everyone in this movie.
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