Ip Man

For this whole month, I will be reviewing a franchise that I watched while working out, the “Ip Man Franchise.” Let’s get started with the first “Ip Man” movie, released in 2008.

Rich Cline started his review by saying, “A terrific true story, clearly elevated to mythical proportions, this film benefits hugely from the lucid fight direction by the master Sammo Hung, which gives the film a remarkable resonance by letting us see the characters' personalities in their every move.”

In 1930s regional China, Ip, played by Donnie Yen, is a very loner Wing Chun master who doesn’t want to open a school or prove how good he is. With basically no aggression, he easily wins every fight, so the town knows he’s the real master. One of the town thugs, played by Fan Siu-wong, finds this out the hard way. Ip stays quietly devoted to his wife (Lynn Hung) and son (Li Chak), but after Japan invades China, things get very difficult. This escalates when Ip stands up to both the returning thug and the Japanese general (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi).

As you can see, Ip is a well-respected man in China and, for just the sake of an inspiration, he deserves that right. Cline notes, “Yes, the filmmakers show perhaps too much reverence for him, implying that he singlehandedly defeated the invading Japanese army as they build to a Rocky-style finale and a coda that mentions how Ip taught Bruce Lee everything he knew. But it also has to be said that they state their case effectively, portraying Ip as a steely, calm genius who always deflected attention away from himself and only reluctantly became a hero.”

Yen is perfect in the role, giving the fight scenes a surprising look. Cline mentioned, “The battle choreography is fiendishly clever, and Yen stays utterly cool and focused, building in wry humour and emotional undercurrents along the way.” Ip’s formal pride is maybe his only downside, but it’s still great to see him humiliate his opponents and motivate everyone to stand up for themselves, most likably the workers in a factory owned by his lifelong friend Quan, played by Simon Yam.

Cline said, “And the filmmakers aren't afraid to get dark and tough, showing the raw brutality of war and conflict with only a bit of movie manipulation in characters who are courageous, weak or villainous. By the time we reach the climactic face-off (or three), things have become truly brutal and nasty.” It may be a little exaggerated, and also really straightforward in its storytelling, but it’s a really inspirational film.

If you haven’t seen this movie and like the type of martial arts movies where it looks real and you feel the impact when people hit one another, then you should see this movie. It should still be streaming on NetFlix, so you should see it if you have an account. You will really get into the story and action and you will absolutely love it.

Look out next week when we look at the sequel in “Ip Man Month.”