Ip Man (2010)

Ip Man is a 2008 Hong Kong biographical martial arts film based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun and teacher of Bruce Lee.In the 1930s, Foshan is a hub of Southern Chinese martial arts, where various schools actively recruit disciples and compete against each other. Although the Wing Chun master Ip Man is the most skilled martial artist in Foshan, he is unassuming and maintains an almost invisible profile. As an independent wealthy man, he feels no need to accept any disciples and instead spends his days training, meeting with friends, and spending time with his family. However, his wife is often resentful of the time he spends training and discussing martial arts with friends and colleagues. Though not a professional martial artist, Ip is respected in Foshan due to the abilities he displays in friendly, closed-door competitions with local masters. Ip's reputation is further enhanced when he defeats an aggressive, rude, highly skilled Northern Chinese martial arts master, Jin Shanzhao, thus upholding the regional pride of fellow Southern stylists and others in Foshan. (taken from Wikipedia)An excellent foreign film into the culture of Chinese martial arts. Tremendous skill and scenes of fluid movements. A great film

High-budget and high-quality. Ip Man is really a unique kung fu movie with excellent sequels. The fight scenes were incredible and built onto the story nicely. Southern kung fu styles like Wing Chun (less acrobatic/less kicking and more short-range than Northern Shaolin styles) are rarely shown in movies, so it was great to see a different type of kung fu on-screen. Donnie Yen is a top actor/martial artist and perfect as Ip Man. It was fast paced and somewhat set out in story arcs (the sequels are entirely laid out in story arcs, with one overarching arc). Soundtrack was also good. Can't really fault the movie, so 10 stars. Highly recommend.

The film Ip Man follows the story of a rich martial arts enthusiast in the Chinese city of Foshan in the 1930s and 40s. Although he is the best in all of southern China, he doesn't run a martial arts school, like many of the other enthusiasts. He simply practices it because it's his passion. A northerner comes into town and beats all of the schools in the area in an attempt to show the superiority of northern fighting styles, open his own school, and get rich. He ends up challenging Ip Man and loses. Shortly after, Japan invades China in 1937. This marks the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and later WWII. Ip Man's estate is confiscated by the Japanese and turned into their headquarters in Foshan. He, along with his family and friends, is forced to live in decrepit apartments and abject poverty. Ip Man manages to find a job in a coal mine and helps defend a cotton mill his friend invested in from a group of Chinese bandits lead by the northern martial artist from the beginning of the film. General Miura, the Japanese general in charge of Foshan holds daily martial arts duels between the Chinese citizens and Japanese trainees. If the Chinese participant wins, he is granted a bag of rice. Ip Man eventually challenges Miura after he is ordered to teach the Japanese trainees his superior form of martial arts. Ip Man defeats Miura and is later shot in the shoulder. He survives and successfully escapes to Hong Kong with his family as the war ends. Overall, I liked almost every aspect of this film. It was action packed and although the storyline was a little cheesy and cliché it was still captivating. Not once did this movie manage to bore me. The only time the movie was hard to watch was during the one or two sad scenes where someone would die. One thing I noticed is that the death scenes were very emotional and somewhat exaggerated. The cinematography and choreography were very impressive as all of the fight scenes appeared very well practiced and professional. I expected it to be a less serious, more fun movie being about martial arts and such, but it ended up being really good. Also, this movie opened my eyes to the Japanese atrocities towards the Chinese in WWII. I had always heard of them but never really researched them at all and I think this movie did a good job of at least portraying what the typical life of a typical Chinese man was during the second world war. I had heard of this movie before multiple times but never came around to watching it. I'm glad I picked it for my final.

In FoShan, southern China, Master Liu challenges Ip Man (Donnie Yen) and gets beaten. Ip Man promises to keep it private but loudmouthed Yuan tells everyone. Jin from the north challenges every master in FoShan. He wins in every match except for Ip Man. In 1937, war starts between Japan and China. Ip Man loses everything. Japanese General Miura has organized fight tournaments. Yuan's older brother Lin is killed. Ip Man fights to avenge his death. Meanwhile, Jin leads his bandits including Yuan. They steal from Ip Man's friend Zhou Qingquan.The start is well-done kung fu movie and a good solid story. Donnie Yen has great dignity. The movie is essentially extended into two parts. The war scrambles everybody and everything. The second part is also good. It introduces whole new villains. I would have preferred having two separate movies. The fight action is fun, and energetic. This is a solid kung fu action movie.