(Chinese Biographical Martial Arts - 2008, 2010, 2015, 2019)
(Subtitle - English)
If, like me, you grew up watching and loving martial arts films, then this film will be right up your street. From the days of the likes of Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Michael Dudikoff, David Carradine, Jim Kelly, Mark Dacascos, Cynthia Rockrock, Wesley Snipes, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Steven Seagal, Michelle Yeo, Jackie Chan, Jet Li… and the list goes on, to Super Nintendo and Sega games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, the fascination with the various types of martial art was a world-wide passion, which was evident in the widely acclaimed Karate Kid Franchise.
There have been so many films, spinoffs and series based on IP Man – partly facts and partly fiction. Who was he? He was a Chinese martial arts legend from Hong Kong. IP Man was renowned for being a Grandmaster and teacher of Wing Chun; a concept-based traditional style of Kung Fu used mainly in the form of self-defence. Responsible for the wide practice of the art, he is especially notable for having taught the famous martial artist, instructor, Chinese and American actor as well as director, Bruce Lee, among many others.
I will be focusing on the 4-instalment IP Man franchise that was directed by Wilson Yip, produced by Raymond Wong, and starring Donnie Yen as IP Man. Writers: Edmond Wong, Chan Tai-lee, Jil Leung Lai Yin, Dan Fukazawa. All the 4 IP Man films came out between 2008 and 2019.
In the first instalment, IP Man is introduced as a wealthy, quiet, principled, and humble man living in Foshan, a small Southern-Chinese town. He is well respected as the most experienced martial artist, especially in the art of Wing Chun. This was set in the 1930s when learning and teaching martial arts was prevalent. You were either a teacher (master) of martial arts who owned a school, or learner of martial arts and belonged to a school. Fighting and competitions were the order of the day. IP Man wasn’t interested in opening a school but was content teaching people willing to learn and having friendly spars with the masters.
When the Japanese invaded in 1937, people’s lives are adversely affected in Foshan. Homes and livelihoods were lost, and poverty spread. IP Man, his wife and son are not unaffected. They too lost their wealth and home and are forced to live in hardship.
Despite the prevailing hard times, IP Man displays his selflessness and fights against injustice, unleashing the “hero” in him. We see this in the events that unfold when a Karate Master and Japanese military General set up a martial art fighting arena where he lures hungry Chinese martial artists to fight against his military trainees for a small bag of rice. IP Man was forced to intervene after a friend of his goes off to participate in the fight and never returns. We see it again when IP Man’s friend’s cotton mill and workers are constantly being raided and harassed by a gang of thieves. IP Man couldn’t and didn’t allow this to continue.
Instalment 2 moves on to 1949, IP Man and his family have now moved to Hong Kong. He starts a small school, to try to make ends meet but struggles to find enough pupils. It is later made known to him that he needs to prove his worth by fighting with the other masters in a testing ceremony before he can start a school. This he is able to do impressively well.
Invited to a British Boxing match where the different Chinese martial arts schools can showcase and promote themselves and their culture, the terrible events that transpires forces IP Man to challenge an arrogant racist and vicious British boxer in order to right a great wrong and defend the Chinese martial art. This was a brilliant match with boxing versus Wing Chun in the ring. A must see!
Bruce Lee, as a young child, is depicted in this sequel.
Instalment 3: It's now 1959 and IP Man is trying to live a quiet life, but once again, he has to help stand up to an American property developer and highly skilled boxer, Frank (Mike Tyson) who insists on owning the land where a popular school is already situated. This happens to be the school that IP Man’s son attends. We're entertained by the fights resulting from the constant attacks on the school and IP Man and his students' defence and protection of it. The awesome and powerful fight scene with Frank is also one to watch. Mike Tyson shows off his powerful boxing prowess which was matched by IP Man's Wing Chun. Guess who won?
Sadly, in this same sequel, IP Man’s wife dies from cancer.
A teenage Bruce Lee appears in this sequel. It is also in this sequel that we are introduced to Cheung Tin-chi (Max Zhang) who challenges IP Man to a battle to determine who the true Grandmaster of Wing Chun is. This battle is deep and intense, and the true champion and Grandmaster is established. Cheung Tin-chi goes on to feature in a spinoff titled Master Z: IP Man Legacy.
Final Instalment: Donnie Yen joins Raymond Wong in the production of the final sequel. It starts off in 1964. Diagnosed with cancer, IP Man decides to send his troubled and reluctant son to San Francisco but travels down there first to put everything in place.
IP Man encounters a lot; one of which is having to rescue a Chinese schoolgirl who is being racially targeted by fellow students from school.
Meanwhile, on the United States Marine Base, there’s conflict regarding whether or not the Sergeant should integrate Chinese martial arts, Kung Fu into their combat training. The Sergeant, another racist, aggressive, and arrogant man, is sourly against this and is determined to prove that the Marine’s karate training is superior. IP Man’s merciless defeat of the Marine’s Karate instructor on camera at the Mid-Autumn festival, infuriated the Sergeant who proceeds to cause havoc and show off his strong skills in Karate by beating up all the other Chinese grandmasters. Of course, in a final, tense, vicious and amazing fight, spectated by all the marines on the base, IP delivers the ultimate victory.
He does eventually decide that it was best that his son remain in China.
An adult Bruce Lee, who is now making a name for himself in America, is represented in this sequel. Even thrown in was a fight scene closely resembling the battle scene between Lee (Bruce Lee) and Oharra (Robert Wall) in 1973’s Enter the Dragon. It is also in this sequel, that IP Man’s life comes to an end.
The IP Man franchise was well thought out, brilliantly written, exceptionally directed and delivered, and definitely deserving of accolade. The setting of old poverty stricken China was excellently recreated. Great Cinematography!!! There is a lot more involved than what I've summarised; more details, more characters, more action interwoven in main and sub-stories of great depth that dealt with life and the struggles in times of poverty, injustice, racism, political unrest, and corruption. IP Man’s ability and discipline to stand up against it all, using his Wing Chun skills to help those in need and fight for what is right, is remarkable.
All 4 parts display some of the best directing I’ve ever seen. Martial arts executed in one of the best and creative forms. The speed of the filming was awesome, the moving shots and the precise angles caught, plus the natural acting. It was engaging and fun to watch the incredible fight scenes, and believe me, there were many of them. I found Wing Chun such a beautiful style of martial art, the strong and fast leg and hand movements…wow! It’s was just so captivating and interesting to watch... with the end of major fight scenes making you erupt with exhilarating goose bumps. Donnie Yen couldn’t have performed better, making him the best suited and best actor ever cast as IP Man.
I'd rate it as a collection: 38.5 out of 40.
A must see if you're into martial arts, and if you're not, it's worth checking it out. All 4 are currently available to watch on Netflix.
Here's a little treat for you from one of the instalments.
The stories were moving. Trust me, there was a bit of spoken English here and there, like you would find in any foreign film, but these were mostly in Chinese. I suppose IP Man 4 had a little more English as it was mostly based in the States. Nevertheless, it just goes to show how you get used to reading subtitles, you forget the language being spoken isn't English.
I'm not one for watching subtitled films and I'm not crazy about kung fu films either but I loved each of these films and couldn't wait to watch the next. I liked it because there was an interesting and moving story behind the saga and it wasn't just about kung fu. Even now I'm still not convinced it was all in Chinese but it just goes to show how much I got into it and the subtitles didn't take anything away. Obviously there was some English in it, as Hong Kong was a British colony at the time. I loved it and would thoroughly recommend watching... at least try the first one!