Ip Man

As a fan of Martial Arts Films in general and Donnie Yen's brand of frenetic action scenes in particular, it wasn't hard to convince me to give this film a look.  I've stated in the past that any film with Donnie Yen in it has my attention, regardless of how potentially awful other aspects of the movie may be.  Honestly, I would have been happy with 90 minutes of Donnie punching people for no discernible reason.

But with Ip Man, I was treated to so much more.

The film opens in the mid 1930's in Foshan, the hometown of Chinese Folk Hero Wong Fei-Hung, and a well known center of Southern Chinese martial arts schools.  We are introduced to the unassuming, independently wealthy Wing Chun practitioner Ip Man.  He is a humble man who has mastered his fighting style, but has not opened a school because he is uneasy with the idea of having students answer to him.  His privileged life is spent discussing martial arts with his friends, the occasional friendly duel with locals or masters from other provinces seeking to make a name for themselves, and family time.  As humble and selfless as he is, his martial prowess is unequaled in all of Foshan.

The idyllic first act comes to disheartening close, as in 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War breaks out, and Foshan falls in Japan's invasion.  Ip Man, now destitute as his home and possessions were confiscated by the occupying Japanese forces, is forced to work sifting coal to feed his wife and child.  One day, a Japanese Colonel comes to the coal mine and announces that General Miura is staging martial arts competitions between his soldiers and local Chinese citizens, and with a bag of rice promised to any man who wins, several men accept the invitation.  When one of Ip Man's old friends from before the War never returns from one of these tournaments, he volunteers himself in order to learn what may have happened to him.  Once there, he witnesses another Master and friend fight and defeat a Japanese soldier.  They toss him his bag of rice, but he boasts that he wants to fight three more men.  The General is pleased to acquiesce to this request, and three more fighters take on Master Liu.  It becomes clear that Liu is over-matched and he yields.  When he picks up the rice he won for his first fight, Sato, the Colonel, shoots him dead on the spot.  All Ip Man can do is scream at the interpreter "Why!?  Why did they Shoot him?"  General Miura twists Sato's arm to point the gun at his own face and demands an explanation.  Sato explains that he shot Liu for taking the rice even though he lost the match.  The general forbids him to use deadly force again, but the cold blooded murder goes largely unpunished.

At this point, Ip Man forces himself to the front of the crowd and volunteers to be the next to fight.  When he comes to the center of the ring, he coldly demands Ten Opponents.  The general is intrigued by Ip Man's gall to challenge so many men at once, and obliges.

Ip Man calmly brutalizes all ten opponents into submission, shock due to broken bones, or unconsciousness due to broken skulls.  From there, his legend only grows and the film culminates with an honor duel of epic proportions.

The plot is epically good, telling several touching stories against the backdrop of one of the most turbulent periods in Chinese history.  Westerners were seemingly blissfully ignorant of the attrocities being commited in China at the time, and seeing what the twisted bastardization of the Japanese Warrior Code of Bushido let bubble to the surface in Japan's society prior to the end of World War II is a sad reminder of the grim realities of the first half of the Twentieth Century.  When you really look at the sequence of events leading up to the Cultural Revolution, the rise of communism in China begins to feel less like a sinister reversal for a free and happy culture, and more like a tragic inevitability.

That said, this film is pro China and celebrates the culture that existed before the march of time and endless war swept it away forever.  Donnie Yen's character demonstrates the best virtues of old Chinese Culture perfectly.  He is level headed, selfless, forthright, humble, and strong willed.  This film is also loaded with a lot of very talented actors and impressive martial artists.

Sound is handled extremely well, with no trace of cheesy Foley sound effects and an excellent score.

If there is one term I would choose to describe every fight in the film, it is "One-Sided".  Whether it's Ip Man effortlessly defeating Master Liu before the war, or Jin pounding a reputation out of several Foshan Martial Arts instructors, it is always fairly evident which man is the superior fighter early on.  This actually adds a sense of realism to this film based on the real Ip Man's life.  There are no feeling out processes, no shifting advantages, no second winds, no come from behind victories.

Overall, this film is absolutely solid.  I honestly have nothing bad to say about it.  It more than deserves to be mentioned in the company of such genre classics as Hero, Huo Yuanjia, House of Flying Daggers, Drunken Master, and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and should be on anyones watch list, even if you don't enjoy martial arts movies.  And Donnie Yen continues to build his legacy as a Film Legend.

10 Karate Guys broken in Half out of 10.  Seriously, instant classic.

Top Ten: Martial Arts Fight Scenes

-FYI, I was sick as a Dog most of the week, so I am taking a pass on Saturday Anime this week, cause it's 7pm on Sat and I haven't even started it yet.  Good news tho, I am thinking of starting work on a serialized science-fiction/fantasy story, so stay tuned.  I got a Top Ten done, tho, so enjoy!-

One thing I love is Martial Arts flicks.  It is a genre where I can easily forgive film trespasses that would doom other movies in a heartbeat.  The most insanely improbable street gangs look commonplace in a Tony Jaa movie, as long as he jumps off walls and beats seven shades of whupass out of them, the flimsiest plot to motivate Donnie Yen to suplex someone is perfectly acceptable, the most unfathomable racist and over the top dubbing goes unnoticed if Jackie Chan is jumping through playground equipment at the time, and no amount of crappy filmmaking in general can prevent me from enjoying Jet Li doing anything.  For my top ten this week, I decided to compile a quick list of the 10 best fights that come to mind when I think of the genre, whether they be classic duels or a case of the odds stacked against a Wushu master.  You may notice a distinct lack of Bruce Lee fights, and that's because I've honestly not seen his stuff enough to judge it. Enter The Dragon is the only movie of his I've really seen, so Bruce fans, I apologize in advance for my ignorance of his work.  I'm going to link vids because I know nothing about HTML and Something I did messed up embeding them so they come out as tiny little squares. Whatevs, here we go!

10)  Jet Li Vs. Chen Zhi Hui - Huo Yuanjia AKA Fearless

This scene is the moment when Jet Li's character more or less ruins his life, and it comes out in his mannerisms in the fight.  What starts out as a relatively honorable duel quickly degrades to a brutal fistfight with little finesse and a lot of emotion.  As Huo Yuanjia and Master Chin fight, Chin with a weighted sword, Huo is clearly overpowered and outmatched, only turning the tide when he disarms his opponent.  The fight culminates in an act of brutality against a defenseless man that changes Huo's fate and the fate of China in the process.

Fun Fact:  Fans of Dynasty Warriors, if you had to guess which character Chen Zhi Hui played in a movie based on the Three Kingdoms, who would you guess? If you said Zhang Fei, You win, Grats!




9)  Zhang Ziyi Vs. Michele Yeoh - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon


Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh epically tangled in this wuxia classic.  When Jen (Zhang Ziyi), the headstrong daughter of an aristocrat  steals wudangquan master Li Mu Bai's (Chow Yun-fat) famed sword Green Destiny, she is intercepted by Li Mu Bai's friend Yu Shu Lien (Michele Yeoh) who was entrusted with the weapon.  Shu Lien attempts to subdue Jen, but the might of Green Destiny overwhelms her and breaks weapon after weapon.  Broadswords, Hookswords, a heavy Brass rod, all are shattered by the legendary sword.  Jen taunts Shu Lien, saying she cannot overcome her no matter what weapon she chooses.  Shu Lien selects a heavy steel sword.  As the fight continues, Green Destiny once again breaks Shu Lien's Weapon, but the broken blade comes to rest against Jen's throat in what could have been a killing stroke.




8)  Donnie Yen Vs. Jet Li - Once Upon a Time in China 2 and Hero


Donnie Yen and Jet Li only had a short fight in OUATIC2, and it only hinted at the epic confrontation these two masters would one day have in Hero.  As the Nameless Warrior (Jet Li) retells his tale of slaying the three most dangerous assassins in the kingdom, he describes his encounter with Long Sky (Donnie Yen).  Confronting the Assassin at a weiqi parlor, Nameless and Long Sky spend a long moment envisioning their fight, before they attack one another.  While this fight is heavy on Wire Fu, it still displays a great deal of martial talent and lightning fast attacks, coming to an amazing finish.





7)  Jackie Chan Vs. Benny the Jet - Dragons Forever.


This one is a rare gem.  Benny "The Jet" Urquidez is one of the original mixed martial arts legends.  His fast, brutal offense and unorthodox style made him an unpredictable competitor in Karate and Kickboxing from 1974 to 1993 with an official record of 63 Wins, 0 Losses, and 57 Knockouts (he claims an unofficial record of 200-0).  The Jet is a real life Martial Arts Legend.  He appeared in two films opposite Jackie Chan, and put him over both times.  "Put Over" is a wrestling term, meaning to lose to someone in order to make the victor look better.  And Benny Urquidez did this spectacularly well for Jackie Chan Twice!  This fight is fast and technical, and even includes the classic "Guy gets knocked through a wall of boxes full of smaller boxes" trope. 





6)  Tony Jaa Vs. Lateef Crowder, John Foo, AND Nathan Jones! - The Protector (Tom Yum Goong)


When Tony Jaa's character arrives to find the Temple he had been hiding out in is under attack, he is confronted by a man with Dreadlocks and the word Pray carved into his chest.  The mystery man (Crowder) knocks Tony around a while with capoeira, until Tony picks up on the weaknesses of the style and exploits them.  Before he can catch his breath, he dodges a flying Dao and is forced to defend himself against it's wielder unarmed.  One Indiana Jones reference later, Tony arms himself with the hammers used to sound the gong and dispatches the assailant.  Then an arm the size of a Great Dane grabs Tony through a door, and Nathan Jones comes through with it.  Tony collects himself, but now he is fighting a man nearly 3 times his size (Tony weighs in at around 130 pounds and Nathan tips the scales at 350).  Jones tosses him around easily, bouncing him off a pillar, rugby tackling him, and kicking him into a bookshelf, destroying it, before the arrival of the police forces him to retreat.
Jaa Vs. Jones II is also awesome and deserves to be combined into this pick.  Even with the help of three other Human Elephants and a whip swinging Lady-Man, Tony still busts Nathan up in their rematch.

5)  Jackie Chan Vs Jet Li - Forbidden Kingdom



What can I really say about this one?  Do I even Have to explain?   This is a dream match that fans of the genre really never believed would happen, especially after Jet Li stated that Huo Yuanjia would be his final Martial Arts film a few years before this film came out.  So to see two of my favorite film martial artists actually face off was surreal and thrilling.  Say what you want about this film, the fact that Jet and Jackie are both in it makes it absolutely worth it.






4)  Jackie Chan Vs Ken Lo and Ho-Sung Pak - Drunken Master II


In the final confrontation of this wuxia classic, Wong Fei-Hong confronts the leaders of the gang that was smuggling Chinese artifacts and selling them to foreigners in the steel foundry they had taken over as a front for their operation.  Fei-Hong takes care of the lower ranks easily, but the lightning fast Tae Kwon Do master (Ken Lo) and his brutal thug (Ho-Sung Pak) prove a much greater challenge.  Earlier in the film, he had shown that the right amount of alcohol augmented his Drunken Fist fighting style, but he had also made a drunken fool of himself by consuming too much.  In desperation to even the odds against his two opponents, Fei-Hong grabs a container of industrial firestarter.  Whether it was grain alcohol or pure Gasoline, consuming just the right amount of the volatile liquid does the trick, and Fei-Hong proceeds to dispatch his foes in spectacular fashion.


3)  Tony Jaa: The Pretzel Factory - The Protector (Tom Yum Goong)



While some may argue that most of what goes on in this scene may not strictly qualify as martial arts, it is nonetheless impressive at the very least.  The sheer number of ways Tony and the fight coordinators came up with to bust these schmucks up is just mind boggling.  And the lesson to be learned is Don't mess with Tony's Elephants.









2)  Jackie Chan Vs. Benny The Jett - Wheels on Meals



Remember how I said that Benny The Jet faced off with Jackie Chan Twice?  Are you really surprised to see the other fight on this list?  This is a very well paced fight, if you can call "almost too fast to follow" a pace.  Jackie bodily dragging Benny off the steps to clear an escape route for Sammo Hung?  Good Stuff.  Benny taking a stiff punch in the face and licking his lips in response?  Wow.  Benny back kicking Jackie AND taking his coat off at the same time, then snapping his oh so snappy suspenders?  Classic.  The "feeling out" process mid fight?  Benny attacking a shelled up Jackie and pushing a banquet table around the room in the process, the roundhouse kicking the Flames off Several candles, no special effects required?  Holy Crap!  And that's just the first Minute and a half of this Five and a half minute brawl.  A true Classic, and a Must see fight.


1)  Jet Li Vs An Entire Karate School - Fist of Legend


It's Jet Li.  Versus an entire Karate School.  Jet never even breaks a sweat.

Need I say More?

Bonus:  Watch for the move I affectionately call the "Crotch Toss".









Honorable Mentions:  The Bride Vs. Gogo Yubari and the Crazy 88s, Tony Jaa Vs everyone in the Ong Bak movies and the stairwell longcut in The Protector, Tak Sakaguchi Vs. Everything that Moves in Death Trance, Nathan Jones in Som Tam, and Any fight involving Donnie Yen, particularly Donnie and Rong-Guang Yu Vs Yen Shi-Kwan in Iron Monkey.  Mifune Toshiro in Sanjuro or any of a number of other samurai movies.  And there is something Hilariously Awesome about the Conveyor Belt Fight in The Myth, starring Jackie Chan.  Oh, and I have to mention The Hammer scene from Old Boy, but I'm not posting a Vid, so you have to see the movie.  Go do it now.  Seriously, stop reading this and watch Old Boy.  I'll wait.

The Good, The Bad, and the Weird

Hey again. Going forward, I think my reviews will be a little more about the asthetics of the subject and less about the story to cut down on the length. That said, here's a new one coming at you.

So whilst browsing through Netflix on my new Blu Ray player, I spotted this film. I had seen it the other day when I was shopping for Blu Ray movies. The title hooked me from the start, as it clearly seemed to be related to the Greatest Western of All time. Don't argue with me! Anyway, I looked at the case and realized that this film was a South Korean movie, which was another mark in it's favor. I decided to give it a look, mostly to see how the streaming would look on the new player, and very quickly realized that I was in for a heck of a good Action flick.

The film revolves around three key characters, and like other aspects of the movie, there is no doubt that these characters were at least inspired by Sergio Leone's classic, complete with shifting alliances. The stoic bounty hunter Park Do-Won, the obsessive gang leader Park Chang-yi, and the odd petty criminal Yong Tae-Goo. After Tae-Goo obtains a mysterious map during a train robbery, he discovers that it leads to something terribly valuable. It is the pursuit of this McGuffin that drives the plot from here. Tae-Goo is almost immediately attacked by Chang-yi and his gang, who appear to be after the map. The thief escapes only to be caught by Do-Won. The scenario eventually evolves into a race for the prize between the three main characters, two rival gangs, and the Japanese army itself. If you have seen enough westerns, it may be easy to call the shots as far as the story, but that doesn't do much to stop this from being an entertaining and action packed western-style bullet fest.

While the actors are all very skilled at playing their roles in the plot-driving quiet scenes, the gunfights are what make this film legendary. They are varied, creatively filmed and fast paced. I often found myself marveling at the level of activity.

Set in the Manchurian Desert in the early 20th century, when Imperial Japan was busy conquering much of China and Korea, this film takes place at a very historically interesting time. It is a time of contradictions. While the automobiles, Machine Guns, and Artillery are common for the military, the common people are frequently seen riding horses and wielding melee weapons along with their Rifles and six shooters. This makes for some varied and ofter one sided combat scenes, particularly the penultimate scene, which involves all the interested parties in a full tilt mounted gunfight with horsemen, military trucks, machine guns, artillery fire, jumping from vehicle to vehicle and too many awesome shots to take in on the first viewing. It just has to be seen.

Watch The Trailer!



As I've stated, I'm a big fan of Asian cinema in general, and South Korean filmmakers have been turning out some inspired films in recent years (Oldboy for example). This movie takes it's lessons from Westerns, but the film is undeniably a unique animal. I was inspired to give this film a look in part by my love of Sukiyaki Western Django, and I have to say that this movie has probably dethroned it as my favorite Western-Inspired Asian action film. It's just staggeringly good.

I give it 9 Opium Den Girls out of 10. Did I mention the Opium Den? That was hilarious!