Being a biography of a real Wing Chun kung fu master – no, the Wing Chun master – does the kung fu in Ip Man measure up?
Yes.
The Story
This movie review contains plot spoilers.
Ip Man is a fictionalized account of Ip Man's life. It begins just prior to the war between China and Japan, and ends with him being forced by the Japanese occupation to leave China for Hong Kong. Bruce Lee does not appear in the movie, though Lee is mentioned in the epilogue.
The movie dramatizes Ip Man's resistance against the Japanese occupiers, which caused him to flee to Hong Kong to escape Japanese retribution (in real life, he left in 1949 because of the communists: see link to Ip Ching's biography of Ip Man below).
The story is interesting enough but there is little new here. Despite being based on a real person, the plot elements are fairly traditional Hong Kong movie boilerplate:
- Ruffians challenging kung fu masters to fights and bullying spirited but untrained (in kung fu) friends of the hero.
- A modest and virtuous hero who disdains violence.
- Arrogant and cruel Japanese overlords getting their just desserts at the hands of superior Chinese kung fu.
This is standard Hong Kong fare, where the kung fu is the star. It isn't Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Unfortunately, this will probably limit the movie's appeal with audiences outside Asia.
Real Wing Chun
The involvement of real Wing Chun masters in the making of the movie is obvious. The movie manages to showcase Wing Chun's distinctive characteristics.
- Close range combat. Many martial arts styles emphasize kicks. They believe that being longer and stronger than the arms, the legs are the primary weapons. Wing Chun disagrees and prefers to use the hands at close range.
- Balance and body structure. Donnie Yen keeps his body upright and does not over-reach with his hands or feet. With his feet firmly planted on the ground, his punches are supported by his entire body, channeling the force from the punch into the ground.
- Narrow stance. Donnie Yen stands with his feet about a shoulder's-width apart (compare this with the dramatic wide stances of much of movie kung fu). This allows him to move quickly.
- Low forward kicks. Any flying or high kicks in the movie are executed by non-Wing Chun fighters. Donnie Yen doesn't kick above the waist, which would only jeopardize his balance.
- Vertical punch. Wing Chun uses a distinctive punch, with the elbow down and the fist vertical. This is for speed, power and to protect the chest.
Real Movie Kung Fu
Kung fu fans who have had to put up with fake, flashy acrobatic kung fu all these years can rejoice. Ninety percent or more of the kung fu here is real and entertaining.
Steven Seagal's on-screen Aikido is real enough, but Aikido is not kung fu.
Bruce Lee did not use real kung fu in his movies. Neither did Michelle Yeoh in the 1994 Wing Chun (oddly enough, also starring Donnie Yen).
Neither (obviously) did Jackie Chan, except sometimes in brief sequences. The same for Jet Li – brief flashes of the real stuff. One of the closest is, surprisingly, Matt Damon in the Bourne movies; using some hybrid form of Wing Chun's close range hand work.
Ip Man shows that it is possible to portray kung fu accurately on the screen, without becoming boring. Whatever its eventual box office success or failure, this will be its movie legacy.
Resources
- Sport versus Combat Martial Arts
- Bruce Lee's Hong Kong Years, by Hawkins Cheung
- Biography of Ip Man, on his son Ip Ching's website
