Review of Ip Man (2008) by E F — 05 Aug 2012

Great fight sequences. Interesting how it shows the contrast between Chinese martial arts and Japanese martial arts. It is a little hard to suspend disbelief, though, and accept that Ip Man, a real person in history, actually fought and killed a Japanese general in a public martial arts duel.

Then, there's a part where Ip Man says, to paraphrase, "Chinese martial arts are based on Confucius' ideas of benevolence, and the Japanese can't get that." Then, he goes on to kill the Japanese general without mercy.

It sort of goes against what he just says. Anyway, you knew he was going to beat the general to death because he was pissed off seeing the Japanese soldiers kill his friends and "bully" the Chinese people.

But, I think it requires a little more cultural sensitivity when the enemy is shown to be a whole race of people. It's not like this movie was made in 1950, it was made in 2010. I wonder how a Japanese viewer would feel about this movie.