I'm not huge into martial arts movies, I just tend to enjoy them when I watch them. In other words, I don't regularly go seeking these movies out, but if I hear of a good one I will definitely watch it.

I love Bruce Lee and Enter the Dragon, I also enjoy his rougher Hong Kong work with the terrible dubbing. I really like Sonny Chiba. I grew up on Van Damme and a ton of low budget western martial arts flicks from the 80s and 90s (many distributed by Cannon Films). Road House is a guilty pleasure of mine. I find Jackie Chan movies amusing and I thought Jet Li rescued Lethal Weapon 4 from being a terrible movie. I really like Scott Adkins and his work in the Undisputed films. I became a huge fan of Tony Jaa after seeing him in Ong Bak (one of my favorite kung fu flicks) and The Protector, and The Raid: Redemption is easily one of the best action films I have seen in a decade.

I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of the whole wire-fu genre unless it has some sort of mystical or science fiction element, and even then I am wary of it. Ip Man has wire work (though it is toned down), slow motion, and is over choreographed. Each fight is like an elegant dance, I understand the appeal of this to some people, but it's not for me. I like my martial arts films to have more grounded and brutal combat, not a ballet of fists and kicks. So right off the bat this was not my type of martial arts movie. I know there are others like me, so this review is for them.

The story certainly won't save this movie if you don't favor this type of action. It's a familiar tale of helpless Chinese civilians learning how to defend themselves against an oppressor, in this movie that oppressor is the Imperial Japanese Army circa WW2. Ip Man is supposed to be based on a real life person who defied the Japanese occupation and trained people to fight, he is presented in this movie as an Asian Beowulf - a hero with heavily exaggerated physical abilities. There's a distinct nationalistic tone to the movie and an odd insinuation at the end that the Japanese may have surrendered because of IP Man's Chinese resistance instead of two massive American bombs leveling two of their cities (most historical films would have said the "The Japanese surrendered to General MacArthur and the allied forces in 1945, but this film being from the propaganda machine that is China simply says Japan surrendered in 1945 and never specified to whom).

Some quick facts about the real Ip Man:





This movie is a propaganda piece, no question about it, but I did not rate it down for that reason, I just feel it should be mentioned.

This is the only Donnie Yen movie I have watched, but I don't see the appeal of him as an action star. His facial expressions and mannerisms are bland and his fights in this movie are so ridiculously one sided that it makes Steven Seagal look humble. Add in the wire work, and I just don't see the appeal of him compared to what I saw in Ong Bak or The Raid.

One word thundered in my head after I finished watching this movie: overrated.