IP MAN - THE AWAKENING (YIP MAN: ZONG SHI JUE XING)
Cert 15
80 mins
BBFC advice: Contains sexual threat, strong threat, violence
All fists and feet but no story - IP Man post-Donnie Yen is a pale imitation of the hugely successful martial arts franchise.
Indeed, the only connection is the name and the fact that this is meant to be a representation of the character before the movie series.
However, the prequel fails dismally - especially on its woefully weak storyline, dull dialogue and complete lack of character exploration.
It also presents some laughably stereotypical British villains.
Li Xi Jie and Zhang Zhu Lin's movie stars Miao Xie as Ip Man at a time when Hong Kong was a colonial outpost.
The young master is a chirpy chap but can't avoid getting involved if he sees criminality.
This public spiritedness manifests itself when he observes a mother and daughter facing muggers on a tram. This sparks a fight and leads him to detect a much more serious exploitation of women.
Thus, he comes up against a callous Brit (Sergio De Ieso) who trades in what he calls piglets.
From then on, it is Ip Man's conventional martial arts up against the Brit's form called Baritsu.
The fight scenes are plentiful and well-choreographed but they can't save this from being a desperately poor film with lampoons of villains and a hero who has very little charisma.
The script is clunky and the non-Chinese actors' voices are dubbed with strange, stilted voices.
This is Ip Man in name only and surely marks the end for the franchise,.
Reasons to watch: Decent fight scenes
Reasons to avoid: Very thin storyline
Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 2/10
Did you know? Ip Man also known as Yip Man, was a Hong Kong-based martial artist and a grandmaster of the martial art of Wing Chun when he was 20.
Posting Komentar untuk "259. Ip Man - The Awakening (Yip Man: Zong shi jue xing); movie review "