Ip Man

The first thing you might be asking when you see the movie Ip Man is, who's that guy? Such a humble person with such a collected composure? Is that really Donnie Yen? Yes, it's Donnie Yen, surpassing himself in acting, successfully creating a spanking new image, under Wilson Yip's polished direction and gripping storytelling.
 
 Ip Man's somewhat an anti-hero, he's not the type to stand up for anything... unless he's really forced to. A very unassuming, humble, laidback person, who's utterly devoted to martial arts, he loves sparring against people (his eyes would light up on hearing about/meeting strong opponents), exchanging pointers that he sometimes neglects his family. He's equally obsessed with martial arts as Xing Yu, who studies under all masters. But of course, his wife's lion roar is enough to snap him out of his fervour. And Donnie Yen just looks his part, handling all the qualities very fittingly well and subtly.
 
 The film is divided into two portions - "peaceful" times and invasion. The first portion is too short and too rushed while the second portion is perhaps a mite too long. It has the right amount of well-placed martial arts philosophy without turning too preachy or getting lost (or getting the audience lost) in zany Zenny mumbo jumbo.
 
 While there are many fights, quite a few don't seem particularly long, such as the opening fight.
 
 The first fight is a challenge by Chen Zhi Hui who's trying to prove his worth. Their interaction are quite light-hearted as he arrives at a wrong time. It also establishes the laidback nature of Ip Man. This scene seems rather routine and mechanical as if Donnie Yen's doing dummy training on Chen Zhi Hui who just gets into punching bag position. It looks as if he's practicing Wing Chun on his own.
 
 Two martial arts sequences that stands out the most are highly remarkable Fan Siu Wong going around challenging everyone, and his fight against Ip Man, fighting with grace, speed and power.
 
 Compared to Prodigal Son, Ip Man has more speed, energy, ferocity in the fights, but the choreography doesn't appear to be as detailed and varied in forms. While Wing Chun is more difficult to portray on the film than other forms of martial arts, given its tighter, close-quarter, less glamorous movements, Sammo Hung shows he still has the expertise and creativity in making it come to live again on the screen, but this time at full speed, with no pauses between each move.
 
 In particular, Fan Siu Wong and Donnie Yen are incredibly fast - think of the alleyway fight in SPL, but using traditional forms - their exchange is no less than shockingly fast, powerful and precise. Fan Siu Wong's character resembles Iron Robe in Once Upon A Time in China, but he's more adorable maybe because of his brashness and Fan Siu Wong's excellent portrayal and cute expressions.
 
 There's quite a bit of humour in the first portion of the film, like Donnie Yen's funny look when Fan Siu Wong breaks something in his house as they fight each other and Fan Siu Wong's equally funny responses and facial expression. While "Gomu, gomu no, gatling gun" look a bit cartoony in the trailer, within the context of the film, they are mightily impressive. They're already going at very very astonishing speed, yet Donnie Yen's still able to push himself further, despite his injury and pains in the shoulder. Hats off to him.
 
 But maybe they make Ip Man much too peerless in the film, there's not much of a challenge, anticipation, or tension, whoever he's fighting. He's forever so calm, casual and relaxed, (except when he's enraged against the Japanese - but the reasons somewhat misguided) and his opponents couldn't even come close to him, not even Fan Siu Wong - once Ip Man begins to retaliate. Would definitely wish they make Fan Siu Wong an equal match, rather than having Ip Man being overpowering, and starting the film with the training days of Ip Man would be welcome, perhaps they could make a prequel instead of a sequel, especially considering who Wilson Yip has in mind to play Bruce Lee.
 
 The camerawork can get out of hand at times, in particular Fan Siu Wong's 2nd encounter with Donnie Yen at the cotton mill. This scene looks so much nicer in the BTS, but is a letdown in the film with too much closeups and rapid editing - you could hardly make out anything.
 
 All in all a wonderful film, but marred by less than inspiring synthesiser score rather than live instruments and some quirky cuts/camerawork in the action scenes.
 
 It seems that they have quite a bit of footage that didn't make it to the theatrical cut and they're planning to use them for the sequels. We shall see.

Merry Xmas