Review of The Grandmaster (2013) by Zacho D — 13 Jan 2014

We have already seen Ip Man's story brought to the big screen in "Ip Man' and "Ip Man 2" which were surprisingly excellent with Donnie Yen giving a great performance in both films.

So how does "The Grandmaster" compare? Well, it's ,are by Kar Wai Wong, so if you are a fan of the Ip Man films and you are also a Kar Wai Wong fan, then you probably know that you are going to get something very different here.

The cinematography and overall look of the film is absolute top notch. Just watch the opening of this film and you will see what I'm talking about. The score was also really good, surprising me every time and it really fuelled the various emotional and fight sequences.

Tony Leung does a fine job here as Ip Man, but he is certainly no Donnie Yen. That does not really matter a whole lot for me because the real star in my eyes is Ziyi Zhang who gives yet another great performance like many of her past films such as "Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

The story is sweeter than I expected, focusing a bulk of it's size on relationship and less on the martial arts. Though, there are more than a few fight sequences that are really good, but never seem to get to the heigh of the "Ip Man" movies.

That's kind of how I felt throughout "The Grandmaster". Good, but not as good as those movies. This also made the Oscar Shortlist and could even get a Foreign Film nomination at the Oscars this year, so I'll never understand why "Ip Man" was never even in consideration.

Anyways, one highlight of the film is the director's signature slow-motion/skip frame technique that he uses a lot in his films and it really worked here. "The Grandmaster" is good, but not great Chinese cinema.

It's not an intense ride with some smooth moments, it's a smooth ride with some intense moments.