15 Years Anniversary Review Of Ip Man

Back in the late 80´s i actually trained the Japanese martial arts sports known as Judo. I can honestly say i wasn´t really good at it but i did train it for a while. In a way it was an attempt to try something different from the tennis tournaments i used to do with a tennis team i played for in my youth, so i decided to give Judo a chance. My Judo teacher was great and he noticed that it was taking me some time to learn Judo, but thanks to his kindness he tried to take time to teach me so i was able to understand how i was supposed to practise Judo. I remember one time where i actually suprised my teacher and that was when i made a Judo throw against another guy named Roger. I could tell that Roger was not prepared so i took the chance to go harder than he expected, and i got him down pretty good. Roger looked at me very surprised, and the teacher said it was a good throw but perhaps a bit too hard. I probably wanted to show the other students that even if it took me some longer time to learn than other students, i was able to do this sports as well as everyone else. After i while i decided to quit anyway and focus on tennis instead, since this was the sport i grew up to play. Looking back today it was actually fun to have tried Judo at least because you learn a lot from doing martial arts, no matter what kind of martial arts sport you prefer to do. It was in the late of the 80´s i really got into martial art films in many different categories starting off with Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan and of course Jean-Claude Van Damme movies. It was also during the 90´s i discovered other martial artist action actors such as Donnie Yen in the 1993 film called Iron Monkey from director Woo-Ping Yuen. At that time i did not know much about Donnie Yen, but i was really impressed over his martial arts skills on the big screen. The martial arts fights in this film are really fun, very fast and i guarantee you will not fall asleep. I have not seen the sequel Iron Monkey 2 yet, but i have seen a lot of Donnie Yen films over the years. One of his most beloved films Ip Man from 2008 have now turned 15 years old and i thought it would be a good time to revisit this film to see if i still enjoy it. Is the very first IP Man film still solid entertainment or has this film aged a lot more than i expected?

In 1935. Foshan is a hub of Southern Chinese martial arts where the various schools´students compete against each other Ip Man ( Donnie Yen ), the most skilled martial artist in town, maintains a discreet profile while building a reputation for skill through friendly, closed-door competitions with other masters. One day, a local troublemaker named Yuan ( Wong You-nam ) loses his kite, which lands in a tree in the Ip family´s back yard. While retrieving it, Yuan witness Ip Man defeat fellow kung fu master Liu ( Chen Zhihui ) in a sparring match. Although Ip Man and Liu had agreed that the news of who won would remain a secret, Yuan unwittingly spreads the story around town, inadvertently embarrising Liu. This only cause more problems as Ip Man tries to deal with the situation. As the Second Sino-Japanese War force Ip Man and his family to move into a new home after the Imperial Japanese Army confiscates their house for use as military headquarters. Running out of valuables to sell for food, Ip Man have no other choice than accepting a job at the coal mine in 1938. Not only does he have to survive this war but is also forced to deal with other challenges as well.

Ip Man really gave Donnie Yen a bigger platform worldwide through his martial art skills. Even though a lot of people have seen him in several films before Ip Man was released, this was his real ticket to stardom across the world. I remember when this film came out and the buzz surrounding Donnie Yen back in 2008, you could read about it in newspapers and movie magazines so it was clear that this film made an impact. Looking at the very first Ip Man today i think there is especially one thing that still works really well in this film. And that is the professional martial arts fighting scenes that includes a lot of power. You can feel the punches as well as fall in love with the sound effects during the fight scenes. The combination works so well and you just want the fight scenes to continue longer than we get. The time period of the year 1935 is captured well, especially through the set design, costume design as well as the Chinese weapon design. I also enjoy the look of the film with cinematography from O Sing-Pui ( who also did cinematography on the great Hong Kong film The Pye-Dog ) who clearly knew what this film needed to look good on the big screen. When it comes to the acting in this film i would say we have a very mixed bag. I am not saying some of the actors are all bad, but when it comes to some of these martial arts films from Hong Kong they usually act out very loud and with a lot of body language. In some scenes this works well, while in some scenes you feel that they might overdoing it in certain scenes. The most charming acting performance comes without from lead actor Donnie Yen as the main character Ip Man. I especially appreciate that they show a completely different side of him when times are tough, and he is forced to try and find work to provide for his family. It doesn´t matter how good he can fight unless he can help his son and wife live an ordinary life. In war you have to do what you can to survive, so i really appreciate that this film capture the struggles of war. I really enjoy the evil character Jin played by actor Siu-Wong Fan. Not only is his fighting skills really powerful but i like the angry tone that he delivers in the dialogue. Director Wilson Yip proves with Ip Man that you can make a powerful martial arts movie and combine the story with a historical war that gives this film some depth. Ip Man may not be the most iconic martial arts film in history but is definetely one of Donnie Yen´s most beloved and respected films in his career. If you are a fan of this genre and Donnie Yen as a martial artist and actor, you simply have to experience Ip Man.

Rating: DDD