Watched Ip Man yesterday afternoon. This is a martial-arts movie (somewhat) based on the life of Yip Man, a well-known and renowned kung fu master from the Fo Shan region of China – the movie is set initially around 1935 before WWII and before the Japanese invasion of China.

The movie is a bit slow in places (not unlike the early parts of Hero, another great martial-arts movie) but I liked it a lot. I hadn’t taken notice of Donnie Yen before (plays Master Ip), but will definitely have to seek out a few more of his movies. He seems less flashy than others, but has a disarming, quiet and powerful presence throughout the movie – until he lets loose against the Japanese near the end. I liked the fact (truthfully or not) that they tied his art back to the rigorous nature of his practice day in and day out.

One thing they aren’t clear about is how he actually makes a living – he seems to have the best house in town, but doesn’t work, refuses to have a martial-arts school of his own (despite beating everyone else else in town including the other kung-fu masters) and when they show him shopping with his wife, everyone gives him expensive stuff for free? Nice life. Of course he loses all of it later when the Japanese invade, the focus of the second half of the movie.

Even though this movie was made in 2008, much later than the Matrix movies – I kept thinking of several fight scenes in the second Matrix movie especially when watching Ip Man fight here. Apparently Donnie Yen is a renowned fight choreographer beyond his skill in martial arts, it wouldn’t surprise me if his earlier work had an influence on the Matrix fight choreography, and/or if the Wachowski brothers were fans of his.

Apparently the ‘real’ Yip Man had a bit of an issue with opium addiction (see Wikipedia link above) – they never talk about that in the movie. But they do mention that his later success in martial-arts education based in Hong Kong included such famous pupils as Bruce Lee among others. Yip Man passed away in 1972.

If you like kung-fu movies, check this out – it’s definitely one of the best! Apparently a sequel came out recently, will have to watch it soon.

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