IGX

I like martial arts movies, so bear with me.

I had high expectations for this one. For my money, Jet Li set the bar high with 'Fearless' (particularly the International/Director's Cut), and it would be hard for anything in the genre to topple it. IMO, this comes as close to surpassing it as anything I've seen, but has a few glaring flaws that really prevents it from doing that. Even still, it's an instant classic in my book, and easily on my top 5 all time fav list.

What makes it great is the visuals and the action. Visually it's on par with Fearless...nicely shot with great scenery. As far as action, I think it surpasses the work done on Fearless. Sammo Hung provided the over all choreography, and Ip Chun (Ip Man's son) himself was the Wing Chun advisor. The opening fight scene is a little flat, but things get smoking when a band of Northern thugs come to town in order to test the local masters (including Ip Man). Yen is great...fast and efficient...he really brings the Wing Chun to life.

Where the film falls flat is the main character himself. Ip Man is presented as a Mary Sue who pretty much walks over everything in his path while everyone else in the film falls over themselves in awe. Anybody who presents a threat to him is just somebody who hasn't been chain punched into submission yet. While Jet Li's Fearless told the story of a man who found redemption through tragedy, Ip Man tells the story of a man with few flaws who can't seem to be bothered by anything. His biggest troubles come from his wife who mildly rebuffs him at the start for not spending enough time with their son. Everyone else is just a fanboy, or a villain who never seemed to have a fighting chance. He literally goes through the movie without anyone laying a hand on him until the final boss battle, and even then you get the sense that he only had to dig slightly deeper than usual in order to defeat the final Japanese general with his now established technique of "MY IRON FIST RAPES YOUR GODDAMN FACE".

To say that Yen plays it flat is an understatement. His performance is stoic, and unemotional. He doesn't seem to get sad when he has every right to be, and his rage is limited to that of a fast food customer who got their order messed up at the drive through. In the end, he doesn't seem to care much about anything, and you're left with the question of why you should care about him. Stoic demeanor...impenetrable spirit...the ability to fuck up everything in his path and make it look easy...there's just no reason to cheer for the guy. When a dozen guys pull out axes on him, you just say "meh...he'll fuck 'em up." He's just not much to watch or care about unless he's punching people in the face, but when he does it's violence pr0n of the first order.

Of course, the story is 90% bullshit. But, that doesn't matter much when it comes to stories of Wong Fei Hong, Fong Sai Yuk, or the events of the Three Kingdoms or Boxer Rebellion. The story just serves to elevate Ip Man to that same folk hero status...fuck the facts...we watch these movies for the legends.

The US dvd release (which took for-fucking-ever) has some major issues. The English dub is just fucked up. Poor voiceovers, and the rather long periods of Japanese dialogue are left both undubbed and without sub-titles. Luckily, they give you the option of turning on the original Cantonese/Japanese voice track, and enabling English subtitles. This makes for a much better viewing experience.

This is must see for fans of Asian martial arts flicks. Much like Fearless, it's one of those campfire movies that we can sit around and argue about while we enjoy it. There's as much bad going on as there is good, but on the balance it's at the top of it's genre and one of those movies that a true fan will enjoy for years to come.

Good but it was nowhere near Fearless. The epic sword and fist battle with Jet Li and Master Qin is a modern classic. Flash Point is a much better Donnie Yen flick.

Yes, I watched it again tonight. It just doesn't resonate with me like Fearless.

I also enjoy Flashpoint. It gets a little slow through the middle, but the end battle is jawdropping.