The Thrilling Kung Fu of 'Ip Man'
Reviewing four exhilarating action movies
The “IP Man” movies made for a rousing end to 2022. Suggested by my nephew, my Phoenix family and I finished Christmas week enjoying the four Hong Kong-produced stories based loosely on martial artist and grandmaster IP Man (Yip Man) of the Southern Chinese style of Kung Fu. Great entertainment and the moral universe are woven unerringly in the storyline from Japan’s invasion in the 1930s to IP Man’s death in 1972.
Actor Donnie Yen delivers a character of confidence and humility, who’s short and pleasant looking with remarkable skills (not super human) to believably rip through ten opponents. Economy of movement is his fighting signature. Most kicks remain low and unglamorous, his punches and blocks within the immediate space around his body, and IP Man refrains from pumping up his emotions with Bruce Lee-style animal cries and screeches.
What is most impressive in all four “IP Man” movies is the energy of Confucian culture extolling the dignity of every person, even the most annoying.
When a British boxer verbally humiliates six advanced students before laying waste to them and killing their Master, IP Man challenges the brute and takes to the ring. There he receives a bloody beating as the referee almost counts him out of the match on two occasions. Lying still on the mat, nearly unconsciousness, he rebounds and wins, saying to the predominantly British audience before leaving the arena:
“By fighting this match, I’m not trying to prove Chinese martial arts is better than Western boxing. What I really want to say is though people may have different status in life, everybody’s dignity is the same. I hope that from this moment on, we can start to respect each other.”
IP Man awakens the British audience’s sleeping Christian soul, and he’s given a standing ovation.
Many years ago, I saw a Chinese play depicting a lifelong battle between two warriors. Initially, there were no props, they dressed in white, with a narrator off stage telling the story. After one warrior overpowers and finally kills his opponent, he continues striking the man in rage and then starts yanking out the man’s intestines, which were stringy and blood red, the only prop in the play, shocking everyone in the audience. An Immortal appears and never says a word, yet the man understands his transgression and immediately stops. We are told that a limit has been reached, and the man is silently reproved for his hatred by one of the Immortal Chinese gods.
Even after he’s defeated the obnoxious Brit, IP Man continues to punch the man hard in the face, wanting to avenge the death of his fellow Master. And as if an Immortal had appeared, the great martial artist abruptly stops mid punch, aware that a moment of revenge has almost destroyed himself, the boxer, and everything he believes.