Ip Man

Well I figured we needed at least one action movie series before July ended.

Now I must admit, though my love and appreciation for martial arts film is high I surprisingly have not seen a lot of it. I want to, I know there have been tons of well done, well told, very good films with martial arts fighting in it that is unbelievable but I am glad I have seen this one. Not only does Ip Man have very impressive and incredible fighting scenes, but the story delves deep into the history of one of the most well known teachers of Wing Chun. So the story takes place in 1937, Ip Man has been living a quiet life teaching at his school until the Japanese invade China and occupy his city, where the general of the Japanese army challenges every master of every school to a duel to prove Japan is superior in every way. But Ip Man is surprisingly not a competitive and eager to fight kind of person, they do justice to the man and show him as kind, understanding, and respectful but has his limits like any person and will fight because it is the right thing to do and defeat the general. Now of course this is a trope in film, but all tropes have some basis in reality. He of course sees Wing Chun as something more than pure physical strength and power, and never oversteps his boundaries. His fighting style shows prowess and reservation, more about draining his opponent and finding openings to attack than a pure outpour of energy and strength, you can tell an awful lot about a person from how they fight. Almost as if their fighting styles and techniques are just further extensions of their character. To pit against a western point of view, Rocky Balboa is a southpaw, unorthodox, can take hits and dish them out twice as hard, unbelievable will and determination to win. You can tell a lot about Rocky from his fights, the same with Ip Man. And the fights are outstanding, with such speed and quick editing but never so fast you have no idea what is going on. The shots are well placed enough to encapsulate the entire fight, and the editing adds power and style to make every fight exhilirating and have a purpose. Now obviously martial arts is the name of the game, you go see a movie like this to view such well executed fight scenes, fights can occur from something like the dropping of a hat, but this movie's fights progress the story and be highly entertaining. That is in my opinion, the true virtue that makes a great martial arts movie. And I do highly suggest you watch the subtitled version, granted there is nothing wrong with the dub, but to appreciate the acting and story better that's the one to go for. If these movies are a guilty pleasure or something you greatly enjoy, if you haven't seen it you probably should. And we got 2 more before the week is out so stick around.