Movie Review: IP Man

Ok, the movie is not pronounced as “ai-pee man” but rather “eep-mun”. It is a dude’s name and not a movie about IT geeks gone wild or crudely put it as the next geek flick. On the contrary, this movie reminds me of the good old kung-fu flicks that I watched as a boy and this movie does not disappoint.

ipman

Ip Man is adapted from the life story of Ip Man, the grand master of the Wing Chun style of kung fu and sifu (master) of legendary kung fu superstar Bruce Lee. This movie will be the first important record of the master’s life. Ip’s persistent devotion to Wing Chun is a classic example of the love and respect shown to wushu and the freedom and spirit it represents. Ip Man is a concept, a spirit, a way of thinking – and it represent a new peak in Hong Kong’s wushu movies.

Based on a true story and coupled with realistic fight scenes, like I said earlier, this movie does not dissapoint. Everything about this movie was excellent and I figured that I would enjoy this show.

The movie brings us back to China just before the Sino-Japanese war, a city called Fushan which was famed to house many martial arts practitioners. With martial arts being popular and people wanting to show that their own style of martial arts is popular, the scene portrays a city where martial arts dojos are the cash cows of the city’s economical height.

Ip Man was not one of those who set up a training schools and teaching disciples but his reputation of a skilled martial artist precedes him and his humility reminded me of how Jet-Li portrayed “Wong Fei Hong” in the “Once Upon a Time in China” series.

The supporting casts of Simon Yam, Fan Siu-Wong and Lynn Hung added the much needed sense of drama, romance and friendship which makes this movie complete. If you thought that “Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon” was a real kungfu flick, you are sadly mistaken. This is as real as it gets, there are not fancy flying about waving your swords through the air. This is real down to earth martial arts at its best.

I give it a 9/10 rating. If you haven’t watched it, what are you waiting for, catch the next available show!

6 thoughts on “Movie Review: IP Man”

  1. I have to agree. This is the best martial arts movie to hit the screens in a very long time.

    The Wing Chun style translates beautifully to the big screen. The fights are all amazingly choreograph, especially the rapid fire punches….Poetry in motion. Against Donnie, his opponents stand no chance.

    It's so good I watch it twice haha

  2. Harmony: He is way too strong! The opponents were strong as well but not as strong 😛

    Acura: I also want to watch it twic!

    Nick: Yeah, he portrayed his character very very well IMHO 😀

  3. So far it's the best martial art movie I've ever seen!!! It's not just about kung-fu fighting, this movie's got depth in it. Beautiful.

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