Review of Ip Man (2008) by Yorkman — 20 Feb 2016

Wilson Yip's 'Ip Man' isn't the masterpiece a lot of people on this site think it is. It's not bad, but definitely not 'the best martial arts film ever', and other such nonsense.

Donnie Yen is good as always, balancing the dramatic with the physical. The rest of the main cast are also very good....

All except Lynn Hung, who plays Man's wife Cheung Wing Sing. Every scene she's in she's just whining and moaning about something, it's like her entire character arc is based on the notion of being the 'unlikable' one in the film... It's very grating!

The Direction of the film is pretty basic, nothing really special in it at all. Production values are exactly what you'd expect for a mid-budget martial arts film made in 2008.

The musical score is very 'by the numbers', a bit of a crescendo here... A bit of dramatic music there.... Sombre music when it's needed....

The only outstanding things in the film are the fight scenes. Sammo Hung worked as the action director, and choreographed some of the best Wing Chun action put on screen. Hung is well known for being a close associate of Bruce Lee (who was a student of Yip Man), and Hung does a brilliant job of putting the ferocity and speed of this very effective (but particularly vicious and brutal) kung fu style on film.

However, everything outside the martial conflicts is very slow paced and mundane. It's like a porn film, where you fast forward the bits where the plumber checks out the pipes, to get to the actual 'interesting' bits!

The storyline is predictable, and doesn't really conform to the actual life story of Yip Man anyway. I understand that there needs to be a little artistic license.... But if you're going to make stuff up, don't just make the fight scenes exciting, add some intensity and real drama to the story and the narrative.

Overall, it's a watch it in its entirety once kind of film.