Grandmaster Ip Man

Been a while since I wrote a review on any movie I think. Today i met up with Zawen, my workout si fu (lol) and Nicholas, who both work with me for motion capture. We’ve got a long end of the year break so we decided to just chill and hang out by watching the movie Ip Man. The latest kung fu movie starring the wonderful martial artists actor Donnie Yen.  I feel that Hollywood has seriously spoilt us when it comes to fabulous fight scenes. We are so used to seeing some gun fight and big armies fighting with one another, that we fail to appreciate hand to hand combat. Probably also cause th eonly type of fighting styles I’ve scene lately on the big silver screen are Jackie Chan’s and Jet Li’s, both martial arts masters of their own.  Ip Man or also known as Grandmaster Yip Man, is a semi-biographical movie about the first martial arts master to teach the popular Chinese kung fu called Wing Chun. Ip Man also happens to be the mentor of the infamous Jeet Kune Do  master Bruce Lee.   

The movie is set in Fo Shan, China, has a pretty basic storyline, and most the story is all in the action. The movie tells the story of how Ip Man, born of a wealthy family revolved his world around just practicing his martial art form. In the 1930s, when China was still peaceful and not under the Japanese occupation, Ip Man was a man who refused to take any students under his wing. According to the movie there were tons of other martial arts school, all teaching their own type of kung fu, but Ip Man’s fighting style was still the best out of all. It is only when the Japanese conquered China and took over Fo Shan, that Ip Man realises he has to do something for only he was strong enough to stand up to the Japanese. Not too sure about historical facts here, but that’s how it goes. He’s resilience against the Japanese gave encouragement to the Chinese and made them rebel against the Japanese, by not letting them just treat them as their lackey.   

The movie has many great moments. Donnie Yen, did extensive research on his character Ip Man. Pressure can definitely be felt for Donnie, since Ip Man’s real son Ip Chun served as a consultant for the film.  I think not many people know Donnie for his acting abilites but more for his martial art skills. Which makes Ip Man interesting, cause while you see hardcore fight scenes. You also see Donnie doing a fantastic job of showing the calm yet you can get an understanding for his character who wishes to do nothing protect his family and mind his own business. Here’s the cast list. 

 

   

[L-R] Donnie Yen: Yip Man;  Simon Yam: Zhou Qing Quan; Fan Siu-Wong: Jin Shan Zhao; Li Qi Long: Green Dragon;  

 

   

I couldn’t find any other good picture of the guy playing General Miura. Don’t know if he is really part of history. You build some sort of relationship too with this character. While he’s a cold Japanese general, he still has a big lean towards honor. He enjoys watching fights which is about the skill. In comparison to his henchmen who is just an evil subordinate.  

The soundtrack is a beautiful score too. Composed by Kenji Kawai, the person who also composed Ghost in the Shell. I can’t wait to find it and buy it. This will be great for workout music.  Do go catch Ip Man. Even if all the facts aren’t 100% real, it’s still great to instill the want to know more about the legend of Wing Chun, martial arts and even a bit on Chinese history. Ip Man the Grandmaster is now no longer a hidden legend