A martial arts movie you can take serious.

Rating: 10/10 (27 September 2014)

When rating a "10" for a movie there needs to be some careful consideration before haphazardly telling everyone "Oh man! That movie was TEN!" Quickly rating every movie you see as a 10 diminishes its value. A 10 means it is a movie that should be original or has an original take on a story, good cinematography, directing, casting, storyline, editing, music, etc. It should be a movie that makes you think/reflect or perhaps learn more about the depicted topic or story. Overall an excellent combinations of parts that come together to produce an amazing whole. It is actually a rare thing in Hollywood.
In the category of martial arts movies there is no shortage of bad cheesy forgettable (or memorable for the wrong reasons) over-the-top flicks that quickly fade into history. IP Man actually breaks away from the norm. This is a martial arts movie that can be taken serious. There are no Chinese people running on top of trees or obviously hooked up to wires. It is loosely a biographical story on the life of Yip Man (who later trained renowned Bruce Lee). It takes place in a real world setting of China in 1930's during the Japanese occupation prior to the break out of WWII. IMDb sums up the plot nicely with, "In 1935 in Foshan, south China, there are martial arts schools on every street corner. Ip Man is the undisputed martial arts champion, yet he has not devoted himself to teaching. Despite this, it seems that all the kung fu masters of the city are eager to fight him to improve their reputation. Written by Riccardo Amadori" Added to that the Japanese invade causing a depression upon the town. Yip's grand estate is taken from him and he, his wife and child must move to more humble means. During this time, he along with many other towns' people are driven to slave labor in order to survive. The head Japanese commandant, Colonel Sato, has competitions amongst the Chinese and the Japanese. If the Chinese win they get a bag of rice. Yip initially refuses to fight; however a bad incident in one of the challenges causes Yip to get angry and request to fight. He then takes on 10 Japanese and of course beats them all. Since the commandant considers himself to be the best he is intrigued by Yip's win and from then on wishes to challenge him. Yip continues to refuse, but is eventually captured, which leads up to the climax of Yip vs. Sato. This was a really well executed ending. The choreography was amazing and I found my heart racing fast during this epic scene where Yip totally schools this Japanese colonel. This is definitely a scene that is worth repeating and for watching the whole movie to see.
The actor, Donnie Yen, does a superb job of playing the title character. The character is not running around with his shirt off to show muscles or acting cocky in hopes to start a fight. He is an unassuming kind modest man that at first you would not think to be a grand master of Wing Chun. Donnie Yen's own skill shines through the character.
Though the movie is entirely in Chinese and must be read with subtitles, you quickly forget that you are reading it since the story, choreography, action, and cinematography is that good. Within the genre of martial arts movies, this has to be one of my personal favorite. I have watched it several times and have recommended it to many people who like martial arts movies or even if they don't, they may like it for the history and biographical sense and get to see some great actions scenes in between. I give this movie a 9.5.