The latest IP MAN movie is a Hi-YAH! Original, directed by Li Xi Jie, Zhang Zhu Lin and starring Miu Tse, Chen Guan Ying, Zhao Yu Xuan, and Hao Yan Fei. No, Donnie Yen does not reprise one of his most well-liked roles in this movie, but, the cast and crew of Ip Man: The Awakening do a fine job of presenting another tale of martial arts heroics from one of the most recognized names in its history.
Ip Man: The Awakening treads familiar ground, but is a fun, enjoyable watch nonetheless. As I’ve said before, there’s always room in the genre — be it martial arts movies, first person shooter videogames, whatever the medium and genre may be — for another solid entry. I don’t mind the fairly routine plot setup of this latest Ip Man movie because I’m ultimately here for the action, not for the depth of the characters, story, or anything more abstract like that. It’s probable that Li Xi Jie and Zhang Zhu Lin recognized that this idea is shared by most, which may explain why the movie goes about its business at a brisk pace. With a runtime a little bit shy of eighty minutes, Ip Man: The Awakening doesn’t spend a great deal of time on any superfluous scenes. However, the spring festival celebration scene is shot in slow-mo and comes across as pretty cheesy.
The story sees a young Ip, probably in his early to mid-twenties, visiting Hong Kong. He witnesses the attempted kidnapping of multiple women who are held in bonds and clearly about to be shipped out to suffer in the horrors of human trafficking. Ip’s young friend and pupil laments that this kind of thing happens with regularity, but is reluctant to do anything about it for fear of the repercussions. Ip, having a more righteous character, steps up and thwarts the attempted kidnapping and thereby sends a message to the English crime lord who is running the trafficking ring. Several more encounters over the next few days lead to an escalation of tension between Ip and the criminals, culminating in the kidnapping of Ip’s pupil and his sister. The crime lord agrees to let the two go if Ip fights him on a public stage in an attempt to display to the town that Wing Chun is inferior to the boxing-heavy martial arts style that these criminals champion.
As you can surmise, the plot flows about how you would expect, and not unlike some previous Ip movies, Ip Man 3 especially, and also other films like Jet Li’s Fearless. We know that Ip ultimately wins, but his attempt is almost sabotaged at the outset. With the help of his own master (who does not fight, but does offer Ip medical assistance and wisdom), Ip beautifully demonstrates the power of righteousness, and superiority of Wing Chun.
Ip Man: The Awakening features some great fight scenes and very good choreography. I thought some of the camera angles during the fights were messy, often changing too quickly or zooming into too closely, but for the most part the visuals are great to witness the awesome speed, power, and efficiency of this southern Chinese style. For the most part, Ip fights empty-handed, but in one scenes he uses a staff to defeat a group of criminals who come to destroy his friend’s home and rickshaw business. Again, personally, the main reason I watch martial arts films is for the action, and I enjoyed what was presented here.
The screener version of the film I watched was just the film, no extra features or anything like that. It’s safe to assume that the movie was made on a budget, so there may not have been the extra time or finances to put together some of the typical featurettes that you might expect. Video and sound quality were perfectly serviceable, no complaints nor anything remarkable there.
For Hi-YAH! subscribers, Ip Man: The Awakening is obviously a must watch, but I would expand that to include anyone that enjoyed the Ip Man movies that Donnie Yen made so popular over the last several years. This latest movie is not of the quality of those, but, it has much of the essence of what made those films so enjoyable. Furthermore, I think given enough quality material and time, Miu Tse could prove to be a great actor for the portrayal of a younger Ip Man.
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