Kung Fu Master

Rating: 6/10 (22 June 2016)

Ip Man is a heavily fictionalised biopic of the founder of Wing Chun style of Kung Fu and someone who went on to become a mentor to Bruce Lee.
Ip man is a wealthy family man in 1930s China and a reluctant teacher who we see initially combat with his fellow martial art masters from rival schools who want to see for themselves how they are in comparison.
When a rival bully from the north turns up and beats up all the kung fu masters in the town, it is left to Ip man to defend the town's honour as he humiliates the upstart who wants to start his own rival martial arts school.
Once the Japanese invade China, Ip man descends into poverty especially when his wife becomes ill. He gets a labouring job and finds out that other kung fu masters are getting involved in duels with the Japanese platoon for an extra bag of rice. Ip man angrily takes on 10 Japanese soldiers and beats them up when he finds out that one of the kung fu masters was shot dead by one of the soldiers.
This display puts him in a collision course with General Miura, the Japanese's top exponent of karate and the man who organises the combat bouts with the Chinese kung fu masters and wants to prove himself against Ip man.
The film is certainly well made with good production values and art direction. The martial arts does not have the over the top choreography and wire work of many other recent Chinese or Hong Kong films.
There are some references to the Bruce Lee action films such as teaching the factory workers to fight in order to defend themselves against the same bully who beat up all the other kung fu masters.
The film is certainly restrained and lacks the histrionics of other martial art films, even General Miura is portrayed as more honourable than the other Japanese officers.
However it is not a true story. The real Ip man was an opium addict and plagued with money problems.