Review of Ip Man (2008) by Matthew S — 25 Feb 2011

Stunning.

I don't think there could be a better martial art movie than this one. As a movie, it wasn't as classic of a warrior story but stayed true to the confines of its history.

Donnie Yen did an extraordinary job portraying a Wing Chun and the movie itself didn't exaggerate levels of martial art skill, like most movies do. It was authentic, believable, and very well executed.

This is the first martial arts movie where There weren't crazy camera tricks to make scenes seem more than they could offer but didn't. The audience was able to see martial arts without deception and tricks.

Even though it was a movie, I am compelled to feel as if it were an extended documentary - simply altered to make it appealing on a screen. Movies have some a long way when one rises above the rest to captivate viewers into a story that includes enough parts to keep it from being the long bore it could have been.

For any martial arts enthusiast, this is a must see movie. I was pretty astounded to first stumble up it as a search result with a hulu link as an option. Needless to say, merely a part of it deemed it worthy for a dvd rental and eventual buy.