Movie Review: Ip Man (2008)

After a few recommendations from my VIP friends, I finally caught this movie today and I have to agree it was quite a well-made movie. It's well-measured between fight scenes and acting and although Donnie Yen still can't really have much acting chops on his facial expressions nor body language, he has competently filled the shoes of Ip Man during those fight scenes. Fortunately for the movie as well, the supporting cast did a good job with their acting to balance the gaps.

The movie showed the middle-aged life of the grandmaster of Wing Chun on his humility of his talent and skills, passion and discretion for the rest of the Chinese martial arts circle in Foshan, his responsibility as a family man and his patriotism for China during the Sino-Japan war after the Marco Polo Bridge incident.

The fight scenes were beautifully-executed and realistically-sequenced so that they did not look exaggerated and overwhelming to the viewers' senses. I thought Ip Man was one of the most realistic and sincere kung-fu movies made in the recent five years and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The movie is still available so do catch it if you have a couple of hours and a good curiosity to know the difference between fist-fights/brawls and genuine martial arts and the people behind those categories.