Review of Ip Man (2008) by Paul S — 19 Jul 2012

The martial arts genre of cinema use to produce wonderful films starred by Jet Li, Jackie Chan, and Bruce Lee from the 70s to the 21st century. However, as the 21st century arrived the martial arts genre was running out of good films to produce. Kiss of the Dragon, Rush Hour 2, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and other 21 century martial arts films were decent, but they were not as good as the ones before the 21st century. It was after those films that I gradually lost interest in martial art films because ever since Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon most martial art films would use generic special effects of flying martial artists in slow motions.

However Ip Man changed that for me because unlike most martial art films today, Ip man does not resort to cheesy and generic special effects but emphasizes on good plot line and amazing action. The plot line is fairly interesting since it is essentially a twofold subplot line in which one transitions to another. In each of these plots there is a constant theme of Ip Man becoming the heroic symbol of hope for the chinese city of Foshan. Throughout the story Ip man faces challenges and struggles, but this is where the flaw and strength of the movie lies: The actor who plays the character Ip Man displays wonderful martial art combat techniques and even brutality in various fighting scenes. Not only are the martial art techniques impressive but the degree of flexibility to use any tools as weapons, which resembles the way Jackie Chan does things, is very impressive. The fighting scenes, as usual, constitute the essence of the movie which is fine because the way Ip Man fights is truly amazing. What also constitutes the essence of the movie was the moral principle and character Ip Man displays in order to convey the moral message to the audiences. While this can be a bit preachy and didactic, I think it was done at the right moment and the right situation. Additionally, the moral virtues of courage, kindness, humility, and calmness of Ip Man made me admire the protagonist.

As for the problem of the movie, Ip Man is just too powerful. He's so talented and powerful that almost none of his opponents can defeat him. Even his very last and most powerful opponent was eventually overwhelmed by Ip Man's martial art. Even one of the most impressive martial artist Jin was beaten up badly by Ip Man. This de-emphasizes the struggle within the fight scenes although Ip Man did struggle economically, financially, and emotionally throughout the story. But in the fight scene he is practically almost god-like. Even characters played by Jackie Chan and Jet Li had to struggle at some point, but Ip Man apparently did not. This does not mean that Ip Man easily won the battle in a ridiculous short period of time. Ip Man had to exchange some blows along the way. Nonetheless, because the way Ip Man fought with his opponents through attacks, counter-attacks, blocks, and evasion was so convoluted, elegant, and brutal it compensated for this noticeable flaw.

While the character development is apparently limited and the plot line is a bit disorganized, the fighting scenes are truly worth seeing. I was really impressed by the fighting scenes, story progression, and the moral character Ip Man that I give this movie four out of five stars. If the movie did allow struggles in the fighting scenes and noticeable character development/complexity then I might have given this movie a perfect score. Nonetheless, I think this film is wonderful for what it promises to deliver.