"Ip Man" (2008)

Rating: 8/10 (18 January 2013)

Yip Wai-shun's 2008 historical martial arts action-drama "Ip Man" is one of the most rollicking, rocking, socking martial arts films in years. It also has the distinction of being one of the few martial arts movies to be based on a true story. In this case, it's Wing Chun Grandmaster Yip Man (1893-1972), who once instructed a teenage Bruce Lee in Wing Chun (and we all know where Lee went afterward). The film basically tells a self-contained story set before and during the Second Sino-Japanese War in Fo Shan, China, with Ip Man (Donnie Yen, in a perfectly balanced dramatic action performance) helping to restore Chinese pride and nationalism in the wake of oppression by the invading Imperial Japanese Army. It all culminates in a vicious public - and symbolic - bout against General Miura (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi), the commanding officer in charge of the Japanese military forces in Fo Shan. While "Ip Man" pulls no punches (no pun intended) in detailing the brutal oppression the Japanese inflicted upon the Chinese, "Ip Man" goes a step further in not showing a one-sided portrait of the Japanese (like so many other films have done in the past). The Japanese are indeed shown to be the brutal aggressors that they were doing that time, it also plainly shows that General Miura is at least a man of honor. The film's action sequences (choreographed by Sammo Hung) are fast and vicious, with star Donnie Yen's (a veteran of countless martial arts vehicles) excellent fighting skills at front and center. I can't wait for "Ip Man 2."
8/10