Review of Ip Man (2008) by Vernon C — 27 Mar 2011
A very tidy film indeed with some outstanding fight sequences and a not so shabby storyline that does more than just fill in the gaps between fights.
IP man is a relatively wealthy man in pre WW2 China in an area that is famous throughout for its martial arts. IP is a master of a form called Wing Chun and lives a happy existence with his wife and son. Further fame is heaped upon IP when he salvages the towns honour from an aggressive outsider who was seemingly hell bent on furthering his reputation at the expense of the towns. The outsider vanquishes all before him until he confronts IP. Having seen off the challenge an even bigger one presents itself when the Japanese army invades and turns Chinese against Japanese and Chinese against each other as they fight to survive hard times, oppression and starvation.
Despite the downbeat tone of the story there is much to admire. The importance of family, honour and self control. Even the Japanese enemy show flashes of the importance of honour. Donnie Yen (as IP) is an excellent front man for such a film in that he has a calming influence that you can see why he is so highly thought of by his peers. The fight scenes are excellently choreographed, realistic and in no way overdone. Tremendous.
This review of Ip Man (2008) was written by Vernon C on 27 Mar 2011.
Ip Man has generally received very positive reviews.
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