This is one of the, if not the greatest martial arts films ever made. The casting, writing, choreography, and story line are all in sync. I was in awe with this movie when I first watched it and have watched it several times since. That said, I feel it dragged on a bit too long but it is still an astounding film. I think I went through every emotion at my disposal watching this film, which says a lot about the writers, actors, and directors. What a ride!!!"Karate flicks" have been around for decades. Bruce Lee transformed "Karate flicks" into a global phenomenon. His influence on-screen opened the floodgates of respect for the Asian culture and made Martial Arts mainstream around the entire globe. This amazing film is the product of Bruce Lee's achievements. In it, Donnie Yen does not disappoint!!!Donnie Yen's skills are beyond belief yet so believable. His demeanor brings a level of civility, humility, love, and courage that is unmatched. Almost everything in this movie is just right at every moment in the film with one or two exceptions. The hero is heroic without being over-bearing. He is powerful yet gentle.The wife is simply drop dead gorgeous. She was cast well and played her part. I enjoyed her various scenes and enjoyed her expressions such as her look of "Boys will be boys even when they are grown men". When she was ticked-off her husband knew it and had that "uh-oh" look on his face. She basically kept her hero husband in check. When things got rough, she was the glue that held the family together. This film captured many nuances without going off track which is simply amazing.I love true martial arts, always have. Ip Man's character is the embodiment of what martial arts is to its core. There never will be a perfect film. When it comes to a film about martial arts and more, Ip Man is as good as it gets. They are not running up walls and jumping 100 feet into the air on top of trees. The speed and agility displayed in this film without all of that stuff is incredible.I deduct one star for a somewhat clumsy sub-plot that was added but did not add to the movie and only served to make the film longer than needed.

Ip Man is a 2008 martial arts film based on the events and life of Grandmaster Ip Man, a teacher of Wing Chun and mentor of the legendary Bruce Lee. The film focuses on the events in Ip's life that supposedly took place in Foshan during the Sino-Japanese war. The film stars Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Lynn Hung, Hiroruki Ikeuchi, and Tenma Shibuya. The Plot: The movie begins in 1935 - Foshan. Foshan is bustling with activites and martial arts popularity is through the roof with many masters opening their own schools and training disciples. In many people's mind there was only one martial arts master who was the best. However, this master had no interest in opening a school to teach his art. This master's name was Ip Man, played by Hong Kong martial arts action star Donnie Yen.Master Liu (Chen Zhi-hui) visits Ip Man (Donnie Yen) at his house when Ip Man is having dinner with his wife, Cheung Wing-sing (Lynn Hung), and his son. Ip Man asks Master Liu to leave and come back at another time. However, Liu insists so he stays and waits for Ip Man to finish his dinner with his wife and son. Master Liu challenges Ip Man to a sparring match. It is of friendly nature and not a hostile one. Ip Man wins the match and comes out on top. The rest of the film is focused on the Japanese occupation AKA the Sino-Japanese war and how Ip Man and Cheung Wing-sing make it through and survive. I don't to go too in depth because I don't want to give any spoilers. The film was the very first film ever made on the life of Ip Man and was directed by Wilson Yip. The fantastic martial arts choreography was done by the legendary Sammo Hung. Overall, Ip Man (2008) is a masterpiece in martial arts cinema. It is one of the greatest martial arts films of all-time and definitely Donnie Yen's best film. Highly Recommended.10/10.

This "film" is 100% fiction; there is NOTHING remotely true about it. Ip Man never had a single fight as described in the film, never lived in Fo Shan during the war (he lived in Hong Kong), did not work at any of the jobs as portrayed (his profession was as a police officer), and was persecuted not by the Japanese but by the Chinese Maoists. This is a disgrace and leads me to this question: why not make a fictional movie about a fictional character if all one is going to do is create entirely fictional accounts of a real person?Donnie Yen is a fine actor, don't get me wrong. The action is entertaining, the plot is invigorating... but it's all a pile of pandering rubbish because of the absolute misinformation it conveys without a single disclaimer to it's veracity. I would have appreciated it as a fiction but not as shameless propaganda. There are far too many fine wuxia, kung fu and dramatic Chinese movies out there to give any credence to one that outright and completely lies to its audience: Come Drink with Me, Iron Monkey, Kung Fu Hustle, Raise the Red Lantern, The Assassin, Devils on the Doorstep, Farewell My Concubine, YiYi, A Touch of Zen to name but a few.

This is a martial arts movie. So it's just lots of mindless action scenes, right? No! This is way more than the mundane martial arts flick.There are just so many things about this movie that allows is to transcend as a martial arts movie.The first and foremost are the martial arts scenes. I've seen other martial arts movies, and those fighting scenes were "cool," but only in the sense that they are fun to watch; however, they are mainly placed only for the sake of having those scenes. But what about these action scenes? They are meaningfully placed into the film. In addition, they are more than "cool"-looking; they are outstanding with the incredible realism and the true "wow" factor that are absent in other martial arts films.The second thing that transcends is the plot. It is not deficient in plot at all unlike other martial arts movies. Its plot is reasonably good even when pitted against other movies outside of this genre that are expected to have good plots.The final thing is that the characters are just exceptional for this genre. Rather than a boring hero, we have someone of significant depth that is absent in other martial arts movies.This movie trumps other martial arts movies in so many ways that it is just amazing. It is a masterpiece of a martial arts movie that delivers due to action, characters, and plot that way exceed expectations.This is worthy of Academy Awards. It's not those mindless martial arts movies; it's very meaningful, resonant, and fine-crafted.+ GREAT, GREAT martial arts scenes+ Thoughtful story+ Great characters+ Emotional resonanceScore: 10. This movie is really amazing. I would give it an 11 if I could, as this may be the best movie I have ever seen.