The film as An art form is limited by many factors, one of which cannot be avoided no matter the genre, and that is the time limit. Especially for kung fu films, in the limited time of the movie, storytelling cannot show kung fu, and show kung fu cannot tell stories - the disconnect between narrative and action scenes has always been the weakness of Chinese kung fu films. Although the film has made progress in this regard, it has not been able to make a breakthrough.
As for Donnie Yen's previous kung fu films, especially after he came out to take the lead, he collaborated with director Yip Weixin in "Slaying the Wolf", "Dragon Tiger Gate", "Fuse" and other kung fu films. The problem of imbalance between literary and martial arts has always existed. It became more and more serious, and "Fuse" was even rated as "100 points in martial arts and 0 points in literary drama". As far as my personal preference is concerned, these kung fu films are very good in terms of martial arts design, action scenes, etc. Donnie Yen's martial arts performance has also been on the rise, but the weakness of literary drama and his own performance give the overall quality of the film a lot. Pulled it down - after all, a movie is still a movie, and no matter how good kung fu martial arts are, it can't be a distraction, which conceals the most essential characteristics of a movie to tell a story and tell a character.
Donnie Yen once said in the tidbits of "Fuse", "We are filmmakers who understand martial arts, not martial artists who want to make movies." But in "Dragon Tiger Gate" and "Fuse", his kung fu surpassed the director, the story, the characters, and the supporting roles. Although he was getting better and better in terms of kung fu, ordinary audiences still Tired of this kind of movie.
When it came to "Ip Man", because of Sammo Hung's return, and because of Wilson's previous accumulation, Donnie Yen and them re-formed a balanced iron triangle. Therefore, "Ip Man" is very balanced in terms of narrative and kung fu, and Donnie Yen's Ip Man is very good (not that Donnie Yen has made a leap in performance, but director Wilson Yip made full use of various film techniques to help the narrative and characterization. ), is no longer a fighting machine that only knows how to vent violence. As far as the story is concerned, every character in the film has flesh and blood, which is really rare in Donnie Yen's films in recent years.
In short, those viewers who are not very obsessed with kung fu can also enjoy watching this movie when they watch this movie. For those fans of kung fu movies, "Ip Man" is a rare masterpiece in recent years. Almost every fighting scene in the film is well done, and all the action scenes, whether in rhythm or action design, can make kung fu fans hooked.
Sammo Hung is the action director of the film. His design of these action scenes is directly reflected in the rhythm, camera position changes, the use of fast and slow mirrors, the selection of action points, and the comprehensive use of various techniques, such as different scenes. The kung fu scenes are arguably the prime example of action scenes. Coupled with strong concrete implementers, several fights in "Ip Man" are not only fierce in style, but also have their own styles.
The opening scene of Ye Wen and Master Liao of the boxing gym was in Ye Wen's house. There was very limited space for maneuvering and dodging, and it was not a life-and-death situation. Therefore, the focus of the action was on the details. The positive performance mainly reflects the characteristics of Wing Chun's bunt inch strength. In a few seconds, a dozen fists are punched in a row. The speed is so fast that I doubt whether it is downgraded during the shooting.
The Shandong martial artist Jinshan Zou played by Fan Shaohuang is obviously Yan Zhendong in "Once Upon a Time" (in the official release version, Jin Shan's role was re-dubbed, so he speaks Shandong dialect). The martial arts he went to to play on Wuguan Street in Foshan was really wide open, fierce and fierce, especially the performance of his leg skills. Although the traces of hanging steel wires can still be seen, due to the ingenious design of the movements, the Does not appear obtrusive. In this scene, Jinshan finds and picks three martial arts gyms in a row, all of them have fists, feet and weapons. The process can still be done with a sense of comedy, which is really rare.
Jinshan found Ye Wenjia to challenge that scene, the combination of movement and stillness, the transformation of civil and military scenes, and the grasp of the sense of rhythm can be said to be the best in this film. Different from the previous competition with Master Liao of the boxing gym, Jinshan was looking for something to challenge, so Ye Wen had to give his best, so the fight was also very good-looking. In this kung fu fight scene, the grasp of the sense of rhythm and the timely change of the camera position are very subtle, and the words are very weak, so I can only understand it by watching it several times. The scene where Ye Wen singled out ten Japanese people was a little weaker, because there were too many people, so the rhythm was a little chaotic, but the victory was in the punches to the flesh - there were scenes of anti-joint, the reality was too violent~~~ But I like~~
The duel between Ye Wen and the Japanese at the end, although it is the climax in the plot, it is a little weaker in terms of kung fu scenes. According to Sammo Hung's interview, the Japanese actor Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, who plays the Japanese general Sanpo, is not good at kung fu, so in the action scenes, the panorama is basically a stand-in (always with his back to the camera); some of the front and middle shots are done by the actor himself. , but mostly used fast editing to cover up, and a small number of shots directly lowered the camera position to get the stuntman's head out of the frame; and the close-up must also be a stuntman. However, as far as the overall effect is concerned, Sammo Hung's design does not reduce the final effect of this fight scene because the Japanese actors are not good at kung fu. Because Donnie Yen's performance is really good, the audience's attention is naturally on Donnie Yen, so the Japanese actors 's stand-ins won't get a lot of attention (at least for the average audience, they won't care much about it).
As far as the film's narrative is concerned, this duel scene is a bit frustrating - because the audience knows that Ye Wen will definitely win, so the key is how Ye Wen wins. But in the movie, Ye Wen's victory was so smooth that he was basically close to killing his opponent in seconds. It is estimated that due to the limitations of the actors, there is no way to come up with new tricks that are evenly matched.
Shi Xingyu plays Ip Man's little brother in the film. There is only one fight scene. Although he died tragically in the end, I personally think it is a waste to use Shi Xingyu in this way. From the performance in "Fuse", the relationship between Shi Xingyu and Donnie Yen It must be great to play. It is a pity that Shi Xingyu may not be able to play the villain because he is not famous enough.
In kung fu movies, the strength of both sides is very important. If it is not evenly matched, there will be no fight. It is said that when real kung fu masters compete, it is usually over in three or two. For kung fu movies, it is really important to have enough and good kung fu actors. Otherwise, it is difficult for kung fu movies to revive the prestige of kung fu movies, a unique type of Asian genre, now that the special effects of kung fu movies are more and more developed.
The so-called "Double J sparring" scene between Jet Li and Jackie Chan in "The King of Kung Fu" is a friendly match to fool the Americans, but it can be clearly seen that their physical strength and level are declining (the two eldest brothers add up to nearly a hundred years old, they are people not gods). As for Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, and Zou Zhaolong, the big brothers, although they are still young from the perspective of their recent works, they have all debuted for many years, both physically and emotionally. level to when.
Two last words. Donnie Yen has become a box office superstar after "Painted Skin" - although Donnie Yen and "Painted Skin" have a box office of over 200 million, it doesn't matter, but he is the number one star, hehe.
The overall quality of "Ip Man" this time is not bad, and it should be able to perform better at the box office than "Dragon Tiger Gate" and "Fuse". Unfortunately, due to the temporary adjustment of the release date of "Mei Lanfang", the entire New Year's Eve films had to jump up and down. "Ip Man" was temporarily adjusted to be released this week, and it collided with "Women Are Not Bad". It is estimated that this change has also caused the distributor to be in a hurry. I haven't seen the poster of "Ip Man" in the cinema.
It is said that the box office expectation of "Ip Man" is over 100 million, but now it seems that I guess it is enough. The reason has been mentioned before. From the perspective of audience selection, I personally think that the two movies "Ip Man" and "Women Are Not Bad" are in conflict at the box office. Now it's all women who have the final say, what to watch or not to watch, it's all the girlfriend or daughter-in-law who has the final say. "Ip Man" obviously suffers a bit in terms of subject matter and genre.
Before this schedule, there was "Mei Lanfang" and "If You Are the One" after that. All of them rushed to the 200 million box office with red eyes. Under the siege, the box office space is really limited. I went to see "Ip Man" today. Four of the eight theaters are showing "Mei Lanfang", two are showing "Ip Man", one is showing "Women Are Not Bad", and one is showing "Foreseeing the Future" in turn. and Wolf Tooth.
"If You Are the One" will be launched next week, but I guess how can "Mei Lanfang" survive the release of "Red Cliff" (all of which are from China Film, so they won't let their children suffer). Under the strong market offensive of "If You Are the One", if you count it according to eight halls, how can "Mei Lanfang" hold one hall, "If You Are the One" at least four halls, and the last unlucky ones are like "Ip Man" The honest child, it is estimated that he can only share the remaining two or three halls with others.
After "Chibi" is on, don't think about anything. It is estimated that even movies like "Mei Lanfang" and "If You Are the One" will not be able to make people eat meat and drink soup, so they can only follow behind and lick the plates.
Last but not least, a few words, haha. The poster of "Ip Man" is really bad! The trailer is so bad!
View more about Ip Man reviews
