Ip Man Movie Review
Review by villagevoice
Legend trumps fact in Ip Man, a kickass fictionalized biopic of the titular grandmaster of Wing Chun martial arts and mentor to Bruce Lee. Hong Kong star Donnie Yen certainly proves a worthy heir to Lee’s throne, bringing a calm and humility to Ip that enhances the grand precision and potency of his lightning-quick fighting techniques. Set during the 1930s in the southern city of Foshan, Wilson Yip’s film (which has already spawned a sequel in China) is driven by nationalist pride, casting its subject as not only a protector of comrades’ reputations, but also—after 1937’s Japanese occupation, which leaves Ip and his countrymen destitute—a noble defender of Chinese honor.
Review by slantmagazine
Just as historically erroneous, morally reductive, and narratively clumsy as we’d wish of a film about Bruce Lee’s mentor, Ip Man is nonetheless an explosive exercise in bare-knuckled myth-biography. Hopelessly heavied by an easily mocked, canonizing grandeur, the movie elides any and all real life details that might humanize its larger-than-life kung fu master protagonist (played by the contemplative Donnie Yen); as such, we have to suppose that Ip Man’s unflappable calm and reserve is the result of tireless block training rather than daily, hearty gong-kicking. Instead, writer Edmond Wong and director Wilson Yip establish their hallowed figure as an elusive local hero in the fortified martial arts center of Foshan; in a departure from the typical humility of wu xia exposition we see him quietly enjoying his reputation and wealth with wife and child, as well as defending the honor of the southern Wing Chun discipline with Quiet Man-like reluctance when pressed by nomadic upstarts. Then the Japanese invade, and Ip Man’s experience in the Second Sino-Japanese War is shamelessly if viscerally revised to that of a fallen star, conflicted insurgent, and, eventually, national symbol.
Review by colesmithey
Director Wilson Yip’s first of a two-part biopic about the kung fu grandmaster who taught Bruce Lee, is a well put-together period action film that features a star-making performance from Donnie Yen as the title character. The story takes place in the southern Chinese town of Foshan during the ’30s when the region is famous for its martial arts schools. A master of the Wing Chun style of kung fu, Ip Man (Yen) is an independently wealthy yet humble family man whose reputation as a true master of his art precedes him although he does not teach. A private competition against a ruthless Northern martial arts master named Jin, ensures Ip Man’s esteemed reputation after Jin has vanquished every martial arts teacher in Foshan. The 1937 invasion by the Japanese army leaves Ip and his family destitute and working at the mercy of their oppressors.
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