Blows Fearless out of the water

Rating: 9/10 (27 February 2011)

Donnie Yen headlines this excellent biopic of Ip Man, a real-life historical figure who taught Bruce Lee wing chun and overcame Japanese oppression on the eve of WW2. Straight away I was reminded of the Jet Li film FEARLESS, another biopic about a real-life martial artist, but from the first fight scene I knew that IP MAN was going to be better: the wirework isn't as obvious and there are none of the cheesy CGI effects that spoiled some of the fights in the Li film.
In actual fact, this turns out to be a brilliant piece of filmmaking that ranks as one of the best kung fu flicks I've seen in many years. It kicks off in typical fashion, with a fight master forced to battle a couple of up-themselves rivals, but then the story gets serious as the Japanese army arrives. As the enemy devise a tournament competition in which Chinese fighters take on Japanese soldiers, I realised I was watching a great, edge-of-your-seat film in which the story is just as good as the action sequences. And what action! It comes thick and fast, is never repetitive, and utilises Sammo Hung as action choreographer; is it just me, or is Hung getting better and better as time goes on? Here he delivers all kinds of brutal battles, from the bloody tournament bouts to a full-scale warehouse brawl and plenty of other decent stand-offs.
Donnie Yen underplays his leading role while at the same time getting across a measure of the man's gravitas and dignity – no hissy fits or show-off moments here, just a quiet dedication to his cause. Simon Yam appears in a minor role, but he doesn't make much of an impact and nor does he need to: this is a film all about the leading figure and the historical backdrop in which his story unfolds. Brilliant action and a brilliant storyline equals a classic movie.