I had first heard about the Ip Man movie from a friend. He showed me the famous "fighting ten Japanese karate-ka at once" scene. I eventually remembered the movie and watched it three times in one day. Then, I watched Ip Man 2 twice.
I had been reading about Ip Man and Ip Chun and came across the pharmacy fight scene on YouTube. At that point I had decided that I wanted to watch the movie.
The one major thing that nags me about The Legend is Born: Ip Man is that it is "semi-autobiographical". Actually, that bugs me about all three movies, really - is it wrong to want to see an honest-to-goodness biographic film? I'm not sure if this is a trend in Chinese cinema, but the Japanese are very heavily villainized in Ip Man and The Legend is Born (and the British take their place in Ip Man 2). This natonalist/racist sentiment is very off-putting for a foreigner, but then again how often do we Americans (and Europeans) dip into the Nazi well, as it were? I imagine the Japanese are the "default bad guys" in Chinese cinema...
One of the most important analogies related to me about movies is that they are always embellished a little here or there. Some take it really far, and when they do (as in the case of The Legend Is Born), you should approach the film as less of an authoritative biography and more like a legend that has been expanded and changed over the years. There may very well have been a great warrior name Hercules, and if he existed I'm sure a lot of the stuff of legends never really went down that way.
As a standalone story (and thinking of Ip Man as the template of a character rather than an honest representation of the man himself), I think the movie is really good. It's far slower-paced than 1 and 2, but I think the story seems much more fleshed-out. Ip Man and Ip Man 2 seemed to have a more "slice of life" feel to them, whereas The Legend Is Born did a better job of telling a greater overall arching narrative in my opinion.
The fight scenes are interesting. I always enjoy a "from nothing to something" underdog story, and it's amusing seeing young Ip Man get his ass handed to him. The brashness that he seems to lack as an adult (save for a few key scenes) in 1 and 2 is all the more showing here, and anyone who has been with young martial arts students can recognize the fire in young Ip Man's eyes.
I can judge the movie as having a profound effect on me in the sense that I see Young Ip Man occasionally in 1 and 2. I see the older Ip Man (as played by Donnie) as a more mature, reserved adult - but when he gets in a bad way the teenager inside of him (and all of the lack of control that implies) is awakened. I see young Man in older Man. These films aren't even all that related save for sharing the same real person as a basis and some characters, but I thought it was really, really interesting.
Ip Man may be our generations "Zatoichi". I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a dozen really good films in the next ten years, and I would watch every one of them.
I give Ip Man the standard 7 out of 10. Great fight scenes, great story, but I came into it wanting to see an honest biopic and left with a nationalistically-slanted, compelling, and ultimately fictional story.
I had been reading about Ip Man and Ip Chun and came across the pharmacy fight scene on YouTube. At that point I had decided that I wanted to watch the movie.
The one major thing that nags me about The Legend is Born: Ip Man is that it is "semi-autobiographical". Actually, that bugs me about all three movies, really - is it wrong to want to see an honest-to-goodness biographic film? I'm not sure if this is a trend in Chinese cinema, but the Japanese are very heavily villainized in Ip Man and The Legend is Born (and the British take their place in Ip Man 2). This natonalist/racist sentiment is very off-putting for a foreigner, but then again how often do we Americans (and Europeans) dip into the Nazi well, as it were? I imagine the Japanese are the "default bad guys" in Chinese cinema...
One of the most important analogies related to me about movies is that they are always embellished a little here or there. Some take it really far, and when they do (as in the case of The Legend Is Born), you should approach the film as less of an authoritative biography and more like a legend that has been expanded and changed over the years. There may very well have been a great warrior name Hercules, and if he existed I'm sure a lot of the stuff of legends never really went down that way.
As a standalone story (and thinking of Ip Man as the template of a character rather than an honest representation of the man himself), I think the movie is really good. It's far slower-paced than 1 and 2, but I think the story seems much more fleshed-out. Ip Man and Ip Man 2 seemed to have a more "slice of life" feel to them, whereas The Legend Is Born did a better job of telling a greater overall arching narrative in my opinion.
The fight scenes are interesting. I always enjoy a "from nothing to something" underdog story, and it's amusing seeing young Ip Man get his ass handed to him. The brashness that he seems to lack as an adult (save for a few key scenes) in 1 and 2 is all the more showing here, and anyone who has been with young martial arts students can recognize the fire in young Ip Man's eyes.
I can judge the movie as having a profound effect on me in the sense that I see Young Ip Man occasionally in 1 and 2. I see the older Ip Man (as played by Donnie) as a more mature, reserved adult - but when he gets in a bad way the teenager inside of him (and all of the lack of control that implies) is awakened. I see young Man in older Man. These films aren't even all that related save for sharing the same real person as a basis and some characters, but I thought it was really, really interesting.
Ip Man may be our generations "Zatoichi". I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a dozen really good films in the next ten years, and I would watch every one of them.
I give Ip Man the standard 7 out of 10. Great fight scenes, great story, but I came into it wanting to see an honest biopic and left with a nationalistically-slanted, compelling, and ultimately fictional story.