Within a short period of 10 years, I have watch more than 5 different movies on the story of 'Ip Man'. Here's a quick recap on who 'Ip Man' is. He is a martial arts teacher and one of his student is the international superstar, 'Bruce Lee'. Movies wise...
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'Ip Man'(葉問) This is the start of the trend. And after the release of this movie, there's a big boom of youtube videos titled with 'I want to * 10'(我要*十個). On top of that, it's like the 'Matrix' effect back then where tons and tons of films started remaking a similar scene from the 'Ip Man' movie. Seriously, this is one of the better 'Kungfu' films since the 'Wong Fei Hong'(黃飛鴻) movie series featuring 'Jet Li'(李连杰). Which reminds me, if I'm not mistaken 'Donnie Yen'(甄子丹) was acting as one of the villain in one of the 'Wong Fei Hong' movies back then. |
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'Ip Man 2'(葉問2) With the success of the first film, they started rolling out the 2nd film. And 'Donnie Yen'(甄子丹) returns with more 'Kungfu' action. In the first film, it's more of this life in mainland china where he started off leading a wealthy lifestyle and due to the war in China, he ended up becoming poor. And due to unforeseen circumstances, he ended up heavily injured in a fight and the whole family decided to settle down in 'Hong Kong'. In the second film, it's more of his life in 'Hong Kong' and the difficulties that he encounter when he tries to setup his Martial Arts School. Though the story is pretty straightforward but it's all the 'Kungfu' fighting that makes the whole film interesting. (Note: I think that the fight between 'Sammo Hung'(洪金宝) and 'Donnie Yen' standing on a round table is the best part which shouldn't be missed.) |
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'The legend is born - Ip Man'(葉問前傳) A completely different approach of 'Ip Man', the main focus of this film is on the early stage of the life of 'Ip Man'. It shows a younger 'Ip Man' that is much more rebellious. But as compared to the earlier adaptations, this film focuses more on the story rather than all the fighting scenes. But, the scriptwriters have managed to structure the story in an interesting manner which slowly builds up the tension to the last scene, which is a big fight between friends, families and members of the same sect. By the way in order to boost the sales of the movie, one of the incentive would be the actor playing the role of 'Ip Man', 'Dennis To'(杜宇航) was a martial artist. |
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'The grandmaster'(一代宗師) 'Wong Kar Wai' version of 'Ip Man'. Infamous for creating and producing artistic movies that has deep 'depth', combines with the fantastic acting skills of 'Tony Leung'(梁朝伟) has pretty much explains how powerful this film will ended up to be. Rather than focusing on the story of 'Ip Man' only, it focuses more on the story of numerous Martial Arts teachers during the 20th century. As mentioned earlier, on top of the story, 'Wong Kar Wai' approach of the movie not only makes things interesting, it's artistic and bring depth to the overall action pack film itself. In fact, even the liners that are coming out of the actors are deep. =.="" |
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'Ip Man: The Final Fight'(葉問：終極一戰) As compared to the earlier films, 'Anthony Wong'(黃秋生) has ended up to be much more plump and much more uncle-like as compared to the other 3 'Ip Man'. Besides focusing on the story of a more emotional 'Ip Man' in 'Hong Kong', this film also brings out the life the 'Hong Kongers' were leading back then. Pretty much similar to the '3rd' film, this film focuses more on story building than all the 'Kungfu' fighting scenes. Anyway, as usual these movies ain't based on the true story of 'Ip Man'. They are just just beautifying the story so that it can interest the audiences like us. :D |
* Click here to find out more about the movie 'Ip Man'(葉問).
^ Click here to find out more about the movie 'Ip Man 2'(葉問2).
~ Click here to find out more about the movie 'The legend is born - Ip Man'(葉問前傳).
# Click here to find out more about the movie 'The grandmaster'(一代宗師).
- Click here to find out more about the movie 'Ip Man: The Final Fight'(葉問：終極一戰).
(In order to make your life easier, instead of pasting the official sites here, I have pasted
the links to the respective IMDb pages here.)
