Well, it’s been over a month.  I guess I should update.

Let’s talk about a wicked kung fu movie, shall we?  I’ve done a few reviews here that feature the legendary Wong Fei Hung, but it’s time for a slightly more recent bad ass to take the stage.  This post’s movie is Ip Man, a biopic about Yip Man (just an alternate Anglicization), the great 20th century Wing Chun master.  There is honor.  There is sadness.  It’s kung fu during World War II.  What more could you want?

The basic story is this: Ip Man is a martial artist and member of the idle rich in Canton Province who does not like fighting but ends up doing so repeatedly, especially after Japan invades the region in the late 1930s.  The story isn’t strictly true to life, but the general themes are right.  Yip Man really was a martial artist from Foshan who did not take a large number of students.  He was rich, but he also worked as a cop. (Oh, and if you watched the metacafe clip linked above, you should know that he really was Bruce Lee’s teacher.)

In the movie, a group comes to Foshan from the northern provinces and tries to establish itself as a kung fu school.  They do this by the old rules, which means their master starts kicking the crap out of every other sifu he can find.  His hope is to beat them all and quickly advertise his kung fu as the strongest in Canton.  Now, these northern boys are doing something that looks like Long Fist, which means their master kicks ass and looks great doing it.  There are flips, kicks, jumps, and all manner of flashiness happening in the streets of Foshan, and the local sifus are all losing face.  Eventually, the northern master asks if anyone in this town can fight at all.  The local sifus, distraught over losing students and teeth, beg Ip Man to stand up for them.  It is up to him to prove that the kung fu in Canton is just as strong as it was in the days of Wong Fei Hung.

The northern master comes to Ip Man’s home with a huge crowd.  In a gesture of respect toward his wife, Ip Man politely refuses.  She has asked him to stop sparring, and so he forebears.  However, the northern master is extremely rude.  He insults Ip Man and his kung fu.  He says that Wing Chun was started by a woman, which it was, and is only good for women and subservient men.  After that, his wife gives her blessing to the fight (“Go ahead, but don’t make a mess”).  Ip Man and the challenger fight right there, in the main hall of his family’s home.  Long Fist blows rain down and are parried left and right.  Ip Man fights defensively but stops the action whenever the challenger breaks a vase or other decoration in the house. The fight resumes only when the challenger shouts, “I’ll pay for it!”  Eventually, Ip Man’s son appears and says, “Mother says that if you don’t start attacking, this bumpkin will break everything in the house.”  He attacks, and soon the northern master pulls out a sword.  Ip Man is forced to defeat him with the handle of a feather duster.

This fight happens in about the first half hour of the story.  When the Japanese invade, we see the wealthy reduced to poverty.  Kung fu masters have no recourse but to work in coal mines.  Thousands of people die.  What I’m saying is that it’s very sad and poignant.

Then, Ip Man fights a Japanese Colonel who does Karate!

OK, so I’m being a little silly.  The long and short of it is this: this flick has great fights, a touching story, and what I think is some nice acting.  Donnie Yen plays the title role, and Sammo Hung choreographs.  How can you lose?  You also get to see some cool action on the wooden dummy.  If you like Wing Chun and haven’t seen this movie, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up.