Wayne Morellini
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Joy, another IP Man movie, and what a beautiful enthralling action packed movie it was. I'm glad I got to see it on the big screen.
http://m.imdb.com/title/tt2888046/
IP Man was a true life Wing Chun grandmaster that taught Bruce Lee and the man who taught the man that taught me. We are all men. He apparently had many legendary journeys (not that I study these things much) and is the last in a series of legendary masters out of mainland China last century and the century before. Wing Chun is said to be the only style of Kung Fu invented by a woman andbis know for its ease and efficiency. It is said to be the AK-47 of Kung Fu styles, a legendary machine gun. So Wing Chun is up there with the best of them, but the art moves on, who knows what is best now.
The movie was well shot. Some parts, such as the sword fight showed accelerated motion a little bit much, but those things are too dangerous to do normally. Even if you rehearse to filmic like perfection, there is the element of mistake that would wreck filming and lives, so not an issue.
I was expecting an older much slower 50-70+ IP Man account, but turned out to be very high action and tensity with a lot of emotional beauty as this series maintains.
I have seen two or three accounts of IP Man's life, and the differences in portrayal are interesting. Things are left out in each account that are in the other accounts. In this one, the big boss, played by Mike Tyson, is absent from the other accounts I have seen. But some of the events surrounding it might explain why it was absent in the others (apart from the volume of material in this life). There might be a several years series worth. As in the other one or two series, he seems to have a problem fighting big western bruisers, so the outcomes might not.be desirable to include. Personal hardening and muscle coverage offers a lot of protection, however maiming is still easy, but the character was the sort that would not like to maim somebody for little reason. Avoiding maiming is not something western fighting was particularly skilled in in that way. However, in the last fight, against another opponent, he uses a basic move I was taught the first night to defeat him, that he could have used against the big boss. I also question a lot of right scenes (in most Chinese movies) as it has reverted to Chinese Theatre rather than the cinema Bruce Lee sort. I mean, if you have 20-30 guys that want to keep coming back to kill you you need to work your way through them in such a way that you hurt them such as they wont come back. Maybe it is the thing of the friendly fight, which is OK when they aren't trying to kill you and come back and eventually succeed. The character in the film puts it succinctly, that the rich and powerful won't inherit the Earth, but "The Pure in Heart". This summarised the IP Man character perfectly. I might be somewhat patient if I were him, but not that patient.
All together I was nearly in tears in parts of this movie.
http://m.imdb.com/title/tt2888046/
IP Man was a true life Wing Chun grandmaster that taught Bruce Lee and the man who taught the man that taught me. We are all men. He apparently had many legendary journeys (not that I study these things much) and is the last in a series of legendary masters out of mainland China last century and the century before. Wing Chun is said to be the only style of Kung Fu invented by a woman andbis know for its ease and efficiency. It is said to be the AK-47 of Kung Fu styles, a legendary machine gun. So Wing Chun is up there with the best of them, but the art moves on, who knows what is best now.
The movie was well shot. Some parts, such as the sword fight showed accelerated motion a little bit much, but those things are too dangerous to do normally. Even if you rehearse to filmic like perfection, there is the element of mistake that would wreck filming and lives, so not an issue.
I was expecting an older much slower 50-70+ IP Man account, but turned out to be very high action and tensity with a lot of emotional beauty as this series maintains.
I have seen two or three accounts of IP Man's life, and the differences in portrayal are interesting. Things are left out in each account that are in the other accounts. In this one, the big boss, played by Mike Tyson, is absent from the other accounts I have seen. But some of the events surrounding it might explain why it was absent in the others (apart from the volume of material in this life). There might be a several years series worth. As in the other one or two series, he seems to have a problem fighting big western bruisers, so the outcomes might not.be desirable to include. Personal hardening and muscle coverage offers a lot of protection, however maiming is still easy, but the character was the sort that would not like to maim somebody for little reason. Avoiding maiming is not something western fighting was particularly skilled in in that way. However, in the last fight, against another opponent, he uses a basic move I was taught the first night to defeat him, that he could have used against the big boss. I also question a lot of right scenes (in most Chinese movies) as it has reverted to Chinese Theatre rather than the cinema Bruce Lee sort. I mean, if you have 20-30 guys that want to keep coming back to kill you you need to work your way through them in such a way that you hurt them such as they wont come back. Maybe it is the thing of the friendly fight, which is OK when they aren't trying to kill you and come back and eventually succeed. The character in the film puts it succinctly, that the rich and powerful won't inherit the Earth, but "The Pure in Heart". This summarised the IP Man character perfectly. I might be somewhat patient if I were him, but not that patient.
All together I was nearly in tears in parts of this movie.