Ip Man

The Wilson Yip-Donnie Yen Tag Team Delivers the Saga of Bruce Lee's Kung Fu Teacher
In the tradition of Jet Li's "Fearless" and "Fist of Legend", comes the fourth collaboration between the Wilson Yip-Donnie Yen tag team who also brought us the phenomenal "Shah Po Lang" in 2005. "IP MAN" is based on the life of the man responsible for making the Chinese kung fu style of "Wing Chun" (invented by a woman), which is up to this day, is among China's most revered style. Yes, Ip Man is also the man who has a huge number of talented disciples--most notably, the late great Bruce Lee.

In the 1930's, the Chinese province of Fo Shan is a thriving place of martial arts schools, with various sects of different styles. Fo Shan is said to be the place where the famous Wong Fei Hung learned his art and therefore this place has a reputation. Ip Man (Donnie Yen) is a very accomplished martial artist but he keeps to himself, maintains a low profile and quietly spars with friends at home. But after an acknowledged victory over a fighter from the Northern quarter, Master Jin...

Holy Smokes!
Donnie Yen's crowning achievement? Very possibly. I've always thought Donnie was the paragon of martial artistry on film... I've also admired how he remains relatively true to the style of the hero in question, if that is relevant (See Iron Monkey, for example.). The story of Ip Man is similar to that of Jet Li's "Fearless", but to be honest, Ip Man the movie is better.

The action scenes are works of art. Donnie portrays Wing Chun with a good degree of authenticity to the style (considering, of course, the unavoidable dramatic, cinematic flair). Donnie's technique is crisp, rapid, accurate, potent. The choreography is splendid. There is no significant wire work here, just economical, brutally efficient combat-- which is what Wing Chun is about. Truly homage to the spirit of Wing Chun. As a practitioner of Wing Chun, I can truly point to this movie, show it to my friends who don't know, and say: "That's Wing Chun, that's what it's about."

The story of Ip...

An Instant Classic
As a fan of Chinese cinema for over 30 years, I've seen (and own) a lot of movies. However, whilst there have been dozens of memorable ones, few stand out as masterpieces in the Wuxia genre - 'Ip Man' is one such film, an instant classic that sets a new benchmark for action cinema. Wilson Yip, Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen have totally hit the mark in this outstanding motion picture, crafting a story that, although not sticking entirely to the facts (well, after all, it IS about entertainment!), works perfectly to tell the story of a real life Chinese hero, the late Grandmaster of Wing Chun Gung-fu, Ip Man. The camera work, direction and the performances of the entire crew make this a film that grabs the audience and holds them in its clutches from start to final gut-wrenching finish (all very good reasons why this film won the 'Best Picture' and "Best Action Choreography' awards in the 2009 Hong Kong Film Awards). Donnie Yen gives what I feel is his finest performance ever, whilst Sammo...

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