Ip Man review

Ip Man is Ye Wen (叶问) in Cantonese. Some of my friends pronounced it as IP (internet protocol) Man and made a fool of themselves. Ip Man is an action-packed movie and I love every minute of it.

Ip Man (played by Donnie Yen) is a practitioner of a Chinese martial art style called Wing Chun (永春); he led a carefree life in Foshan, China and spent most of his time practicing Wing Chun and sparring with other martial art masters. However, his life was disrupted when Japan invaded China during WW2. During the Japanese occupation, Ip Man's fighting ability attracted the attention of Japanese general, Miura and he wanted Ip Man to teach the Japanese soldiers his fighting style. But Ip Man refused the offer and challenged Miura to a duel. Ip Man eventually defeated Miura and his actions served as a wake up call to the whole of China to rise and repel the invaders.

I am not afraid to provide spoilers as the actions are the main attractions of the film. The plot is neat and easy to understand and the flow of the movie is well-structured ; it gradually builds up to the climax at the end of the show. There is really not a wasted minute in this movie and the only flaw I can pick is that the fights are not really very realistic. But are there any movies that are realistic? I would give Ip Man 4.3/5. It is really a great show and I almost signed up for Wing Chun lessons after watching it. Haha...