Although the film is called Ip Man, in fact Ip Man is just an introduction to the story. What the director wants to tell is Hong Kong with Ip Man, and it is an out-and-out image of all beings in the era. Ip Man left his hometown to avoid chaos and came to Hong Kong. He accepted a group of apprentices because of the difficulties of life, but he never opened the museum, just because he didn't want to be too ostentatious. Not only martial arts, but also literary style. He is very affectionate to his wife and loves his apprentice son. Even if he has some entanglements with the dusty woman, it is only limited to the seemingly non-existent emotions. This kind of design makes Ye Wen not obsessed with fame and fortune, informal and serious. The image of the Confucian scholar who values love and righteousness is more vivid.
In fact, the image of Ip Man and the image of Huang Feihong created by Jet Li of the previous generation are very different from the starting point. As a martial arts master who is capable of both literature and martial arts in troubled times, Huang Feihong has always been talked about as a national hero in the movies. There is still this residue in Ye Wen created by Donnie Yen, but he has already begun to consider himself and himself. family. This time, Ye Wen, played by Huang Qiusheng, no longer has any national righteousness. The problems he faces have nothing to do with the country, but are all his own difficulties. So the overall quality of the film is indescribably excellent, but it is pioneering in this regard.
The film focuses on restoring an old era, trying to do it with many characters, but unfortunately it is not successful. Among Ye Wen's apprentices, Liang Shuang, Li Qiong, Chen Simei, and Wang Dong all performed well, but that's all. Due to the needs of action films and the length of time, each of them became a live prop for the action. , only Deng Sheng is really alive, the old Hong Kong police, he is the second most outstanding character in the movie, but his action scenes are not much, maybe it is also because he got rid of the fetters of fighting and the plot line of the characters. Can be an important part of the movie. The first half of the movie depicts the atmosphere in which the mountains and the rain are coming when Ip Man first came to Hong Kong. In the second half, all the plot lines follow Deng Sheng. Ip Man seems to be an expenditure line, and he also He is not a hero, but a little person who is trapped in real time and is unwilling to be ordinary. In order to survive, he cooperates with the gang leader, the head dragon. He is deeply taught by his master. When his brother's life is threatened, he resolutely breaks with the gang. Emotionally indecisive, Deng Shengcai is more like a hero in the arena who is happy and vindictive. Aside from the gap between Chen Xiaochun and Huang Qiusheng's acting skills, Deng Sheng's image is more plump than Ye Wen's. In a sense, Deng Sheng is the protagonist of the movie.
The disconnect between the main characters and the narrative does not lead to a death sentence for this film. The most terrible thing is the unreasonable arrangement of the fighting scenes. The criterion for distinguishing whether a kung fu film is outstanding is very simple. What this film shows is that in that era, the characters' difficult living conditions and the chaotic era, fighting was originally necessary. Ip Wen, a great master, must have all fights out of self-defense or out of righteousness, but the film has no effect on fighting. The expression of the cause is a bit confusing for the second monk, especially the fight with the pavilion owner of the Baihe faction. The literati expression can only make ordinary audiences feel inexplicable. Most of the other action scenes are fighting for the sake of fighting, forcibly inserting fighting into the narrative.
Of course, this is always a commercial film that focuses on action, and the audience who come here is mainly concerned about whether the fighting is exciting. From the point of view of the action scenes alone, the work is really good. Huang Qiusheng not only contributed wonderful acting skills, but also did a good job in the fighting scenes, especially the fight on the newspaper at the beginning. All are reflected incisively and vividly. After that, the closed-door discussion with the pavilion owner of the White Crane Sect, and the life and death fight with the ground dragon are exciting enough. Other people who have action scenes, except Chen Simei (played by Zhong Xintong), are all played by professional action actors, which ensures the action scenes. is exciting enough. For kung fu fans, watching this movie is not a waste of time.
The director of the film, Qiu Litao, is well-known to Chinese fans for his cult films, but this film has a strong literary popularity, but this is obviously not what he is good at. Although the more literate Ye Wen is novel, every time he fights, it seems The virtual fire rose, but Deng Sheng, who was cold outside and hot inside, was more powerful. Ip Man's peaceful life should be the focus of this film. The requirements of commercialization and the director's emphasis on showing the mistakes in the characters make the content of the film seriously out of shape.
Anyone can accuse that this Ip Man film is not good, but it cannot be ignored that this film has opened up a new way of literati for future kung fu films.
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