Ip Man (2008) - 6/10

This is a bit of an interesting one. It's not my first foreign film that I've reviewed for this, but it reminds me that there will always be some element of comparing apples to oranges. In this instance, it's hard to hold a Hong Kong film to the same standards/sensibilities as a western film. That's not a issue of artistry being inferior, but rather a recognition that the acting style, tone and themes may not fully translate across all audiences.

With that somewhat of a disclaimer out of the way, let's jump into Ip Man and see what did or did not connect.  

1. Acting 

Right off the bat is a category where I think something is being lost in translation. The style of acting in eastern films is largely different from western films. A colloquial way to describe it may be that the acting tends to be 'bigger' or 'exaggerated' by our standards. 

Donnie Yen leads the charge as the titular hero Ip Man. He obviously has the bulk of the runtime dedicated to his character and follows a nice arc. In particular, I liked how light and comical Yen kept things at the beginning and then brought in more seriousness as the film draws to its conclusion. With that said, I'd consider Yen's emotional range to be more limited and the choice of stoicism, even in the darkest moments, makes things feel bland at times. 

There is a gigantic 'however' here though. Yen's physical acting is tremendous. This film has a ton of martial arts fight scenes and Yen is at the forefront displaying a huge amount of prowess in that regard. More on this later, but I am very surprised that he hasn't been cast in more western films since he seems like a natural successor to Jackie Chan or Jet Li. I imagine at least one of the reasons is that Hollywood had started to move away from martial arts inspired movies at this point in time and Chan's shadow was too large for him to break out (apart from the supporting roles he has had in western films since the 90s). 

Apart from Yen, I had trouble connecting with the rest of the performances. I hesitate to call any of them bad because I think there is a culture barrier happening, but it either felt far too big or far too little for most performances. The one notable exception was Gordon Lam as Li. He got the benefit of having a more substantial supporting role and an interesting emotional arc to follow. I thought he did well throughout.  

2. Cinematography 

I didn't find a ton of things to note when it came to the cinematography. However, since this is a very Kung fu heavy film, they did take a good amount of care in blocking and shooting the fights. I think there were times the edit could've been less frenetic, but the action was well shot and coherent.

3. Production/Costume Design 

Without a more solid frame of reference, it is difficult to say where this falls in terms of quality. The sets looked good, but are clearly sets. The locations look good and they did a nice job winding back the clock to that era. But overall, nothing stood out in a major way.  

4. Writing 

Again, we have an element here that is clearly effected by a language and cultural barrier. The dialogue feels campy or underdeveloped to me. And there is clearly a nationalistic theme/tone that I don't have any personal connection to, which undermines some of the plot points and finale. 

Nevertheless, there is a still a fairly universal hero's tale occurring. I can appreciate the arc that Ip Man follows as he changes from a carefree man who just loves martial arts, into a more serious and inspirational symbol that is fighting against oppression. The only big issue I have with how things unfold is the rather abrupt tonal shift at the midway point. The film seems so lighthearted at first and then it take a very rapid 180 in the other direction. In fact, as I think back on the film, it feels like two separate movies. I wonder if foreshadowing the impending invasion from Japan during the first half or replacing the time jump with a montage would've eased the audience into things a bit more. 

As for the ending - I already know there are 3 sequels to this, so the emotional weight gets a bit undermined. I also already mentioned that there is clear nationalism here that I just don't get. Point being, what ever inspiration or gravitas that the film's ending was supposed to have is largely lost on me which drags the rating down. 

5. Sound Design 

Fine. I didn't really noted anything.  

6. Editing 

This must have been a tough film to edit due to the action scenes and it felt a bit chaotic at times during them. When you have actors and stunt teams this good, I always just want the camera to stay still and let things unfold, but understand that quick cuts and edits can also sell the intensity and pace of the action. Ultimately, it may just be a matter of taste and the end result of everything is good. 

The only other piece that I will mention here is just a retread of the writing section - the transition point at the midpoint felt too abrupt. The decision to just insert a couple of lines explaining the change of time, settings and tone seems a bit uninspired and too clinical. I wish there was another way to have gone about this. 

7. Visual Effects 

 The effects are mostly practical and are supported by great work from the stunt teams and choreographers. The VFX seems mostly restricted to helping sell the fights and painting out wires used in some of the acrobatics. 

8. Originality or Strength of Adaptation

Ip Man is inspired by real life martial artist Ip Kai-man who was a grandmaster of Wing Chun. He is also famously known as Bruce Lee's martial arts teacher. And while at least some of the events of the film happened in real life, this is clearly a fictionalized portrayal. That is by no means a complaint either. This is a really fun action film that has top notch fight scenes. I only bring it up to say that this is constructed more like a mythology tale and I think the end product is improved by leaning into those aspects of it vice a more factual and rigid biography. 

 9. Stunt Coordination 

This is obviously where this film excels the most. This is a Kung fu movie through and through and it's very fun to watch. The fights are extremely well choreographed and tell really engaging stories within the broader story. I love that there are moments where there are two different styles clashing and competing in thrilling ways. And I also love when Ip Man just tears through entire groups of people without breaking a sweat. It's all enjoyable and it's a shame we don't get this level of thoughtfulness when it comes to action scenes in western movies (we are starting to now at least). 

10. Direction 

Wilson Yip and his team did a solid job putting together the action scenes for this film, but again I have trouble identifying anything else I would point out specific to this.  

Legacy/Final Thoughts

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I just clearly am missing something when it comes to this film. It's heralded highly amongst critics and audiences, but outside of the outstanding actions sequences I fail to see what is so special. All of the Ip Man movies made it onto the watchlist when I built it, so maybe as the story continues and I get more foreign films under my belt, my opinion might change.