Review by Jamie M MacDonald
Young Master Ip Man can`t stand injustice in the world! So, he can`t just sit by and do nothing when he sees three women been abducted by a local gang. Savings all three women`s lives, showing off his amazing Wing Chun skills, Ip unwittingly angers a human trafficking ring, the power and the money behind the local gang of thugs. In retaliation the gang will kidnap two of Ip Man`s close friends, forcing him into a battle with the groups Baristsu champion. It is time for Ip Man the hero to awaken to stand up to this tyranny the only way he knows how….
This is one lean mean fighting film, at a running time of just one hour twenty minutes it has no fat - nothing to trim here just straight into the action. There`s a nice introduction to the villains and how nasty they are. We see that life doesn`t mean anything to them, Profit is all that interests plus drives them. There`s a wee fight here showing the boxing champion skills. At times the camera angles are distracting from the fight, though the action scenes do settle down and the fight chorography plus camera work become more fluent letting us see the combat perfectly. Ip Man is Full of old school Kung Fu fight action, these fight scenes are very reminiscent of old school eighties films for me, a little bit slower and all about the movement, which I loved. When we first see Ip Man he stops to save two women from bag thieves on a tram car. Tse Miu plays a younger version of Ip Man, who doesn`t think about his actions effecting those close to him. It is his performance that is the heart of the film, and he does a fine job. As I said above the film`s running time means that it doesn`t hang about, we get a wee intro to the characters, Ip Man`s friend Feng, Feng`s mother and sister. Then it`s all about the fighting and getting to the finale, for the ultimate showdown between Wing Chun and Baristsu.
Directors Zhang Zhulin & Li Xijie keeps tight control of to all the actors. The Villain is just the right amount of over the top when it`s needed. The rest of the cast do a fine job and you care for them. Obviously, it has a limited budget compared to other films about Ip Man. But I think both cast and crew should be proud of their film. The best new old school kung fu film that I have seen in years, full of old school Kung Fu scenes. That should satisfy all fans of the Kung Fu film genre.
