Review of Ip Man (2008) by I Don't Know W — 20 Aug 2011

This was how I was basically introduced to martial arts films, and I have to admit, it's a really good movie. The choreography is magnificent, the story is done well, it's just a memorable movie.

However, there's one flaw that really brings this movie to a huge low: Little Developed Characters. The only one I can think of at the moment is Ip Man himself, no one else. It's a shame, really.

All these characters had good potential, but it wasn't as exploited as it should of been. However, if you can ignore that one huge flaw, this'll be one of your favorites. The movie is separated into two parts, one is mostly just fighting, which is awesome, but the second part is the best, as the characters change from a rich family to a poor family that has to work to survive.

The second part has more story, which is pretty cool, as there was not much of it in the first half. Now, let's get the greatest thing out of the way, the action scenes. The fighting styles, the realism, the brutalization, the grace, it's all executed wonderfully.

All the way through the fight, you're cheering for Ip Man. He's extremely likable and a good role model, well, even though he does beat people up for a living, BUT STILL! My only other major flaw in this movie are the villains.

They just seem like your average bad guys with little reason for acting the way they do. Even still, they just make it so there are more fight scenes in the movie, which would usually anger me, but the fights themselves have reason and are executed perfectly, so i'm not complaining.

Overall, it brings new life to the martial arts genre, with no overused artistic quality, no misunderstandings, just good old martial arts. I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't hate the martial arts genre.

You probably wont be disappointed.