Under the shadow of the success of the "Ip Man" series, the reorganized "Ip Man Prequel" first gave people a bad impression of being a follower and a copycat. This practice led to a low ebb in Hong Kong films in the mid-to-late 1990s. However, when I actually saw "Ip Man Prequel" in the theater, I found that although this film has obvious intention to follow the trend, the quality is not poor, but it shows considerable sincerity. People have rediscovered the enjoyable feeling of the old Hong Kong films from beginning to end. The love scenes and some funny scenes also played a good role in the scene. The smooth feeling of coherence is also unique to old Hong Kong films, which makes people feel extra friendly. What is more regrettable is that the character change of the villain in the second third of the plot is too abrupt, deliberately creating ethnic conflicts to sensationalize. This is a unique approach to co-productions to please the audience. The blunt and deliberate plot and character design have produced a shocking effect, making the film a good start but not a good end.
The glory of the "Ip Man" series has been swept by Huang Baiming and Donnie Yen, but Xian Guolin, who was running around to bring Ip Man and Ip Man to the screen, has become one of the founders most ignored by the public. It is said that he was practicing martial arts at the age of 17. Xian Guolin, who has been practicing Wing Chun for many years, was determined to put his master Ip Man on the screen, and finally persuaded Huang Baiming to invest and Donnie Yen to join, and also taught Donnie Yen Wing Chun in person. "The Prequel of Ip Man" was invested by Xian Guolin's own company, which finally gave him the opportunity to come to the front. It is also very wise to choose the "prequel" to tell the story of Ip Man. Donnie Yen has already played the adult Ip Man so deeply that even Wilson Ye can't think of any new tricks, saying that he will not make "Ip Man 3" in recent years, naturally There is no need to PK on other people's strengths, then simply adjust the time line forward and tell the growth path of young Ye Wen, and the novelty of the plot to the audience is guaranteed.
The plot focus of the "Ip Man" series is mainly on the affection scenes of Ip Man and his family and the action scenes of hurting foreigners, while the "Ip Man Prequel" focuses on the emotional scenes on brotherhood and love, letting a group of young actors Interpreting the childhood friendship between Ye Wen and his brother Ye Tianci and the little junior sister, and then joined Zhang Yongcheng played by Huang Yi after growing up, which evolved into a "four-cornered love" relationship. Ye Tianci fell in love with the younger sister, especially the younger sister's ways to please Ye Wen and jealous of Zhang Yongcheng are the usual routines of Hong Kong films. The taste of first love is something that the "Ip Man" series does not have. And the brotherhood of Ye Wen and Ye Tianci showing each other's sincerity and sharing weal and woe also makes people feel warm.
The battle between Wing Chun schools is the biggest creativity of "Ip Man Prequel" in the action drama plot. The design in the film is that Ip Man belongs to Chen Huashun's lineage of Wing Chun. The Wing Chun faction has added new moves such as the elbow method, high legs, and index finger. The Yongchun disciples of Liang Zan's lineage naturally regard Liang Bi as a heresy, but at a young age, there is no chance that Ip Man between the door and Liang Bixiu is a coincidence. Xi Yongchun turned out to be unacceptable to the master of the sect played by Yuan Biao. The disputes between the sects are full of strong rivers and lakes and human feelings. The historical origin of the entanglement of grievances and indistinguishable right and wrong is very attractive. The conflict between the brothers who had a good relationship was also very tense because of the views of the sect. The two schools of Wing Chun are different. The moves allow the fighting drama to be fully developed, which highlights the uniqueness of this film, compared with the "Ip Man" series, with more prominent moves and more distinctive action features in Wing Chun.
The "Ip Man" series proves that Chinese audiences like to vent their nationalist sentiments in the plots of insulting foreigners. "Ip Man Prequel" naturally also uses a lot of scheming in this regard. First, Ip Man taught the British who insulted the Chinese when he was studying in Hong Kong. The classmates became famous in one fell swoop, and later entered the series of battles against the Japanese. However, the design of the conflict between China and Japan seems to have not been carefully considered. In order to arouse the audience's national emotions like "Ip Man", the plot is full of loopholes. Tianci suddenly changed from good to evil, and there was no convincing for the character change of his close friends, relatives and friends to be a killer. In the end, I can only use Ye Tianci, a Japanese agent who went to China to "hidden" when he was young. Fortunately, he was adopted by Ye Wen's father when he was about to starve. The Japanese businessman in the film has been smuggling Japanese children to China for decades. Such a reluctant explanation of the act of performing the "hidden" task is too "striking". If you think about it a little, you will find that there is no logic and rationality at all. These "hidden" children are thrown into China like this, how to survive It's all a problem, let alone what "mission" to perform, and even if these children can take root in China, how can Japanese businessmen let them recognize their ancestors and sacrifice their lives for it? With Ye Tianci's brother Eren Qiang, the conflict between the Chinese and Japanese nationalities is not only lacking in credibility, but also greatly reduced in the sense of excitement. The final battle shows that both of them are unbearable, and it is not necessarily a desperate fight. The contradiction is not like "Ye Wen" The series is rendered to the extreme of life and death, and no matter how lively it is, it cannot push the audience's emotions to a climax. In fact, as long as the director of the film does not stick to the leading theme of "China-Japan conflict", following the usual routine of Hong Kong film brothers and the wall should make the plot and characters more reasonable and smooth. The first half of the plot does not make Ye Tianci so perfect and his relationship with Ye Wen is so harmonious, but highlights his unbalanced psychology as an adopted son and his gradually degenerate character greed for fame and fortune, and was eventually seduced by the Japanese. Taking advantage of it and completely turning it into a sinister and sinister villain, isn't this a hundred times better than forcibly installing a Japanese identity on him? "Ip Man Prequel" here wants to learn from the successful experience of the "Ip Man" series, but the result is the shocking effect of "East Man", which is really worth the loss.
The most enjoyable part of "The Prequel of Ip Man" has to be said to be the uninterrupted and intensive fighting from beginning to end. Although there are many fight scenes in the "Ip Man" series, the amount of fight scenes in "The Prequel of Ip Man" It has obviously improved to a higher level, and the characteristics of the various movements of Wing Chun are more clearly expressed, which is very impressive. After Ye Wen practiced Wing Chun from Liang Bi's lineage, he used new moves to compete with Ye Tianci and his senior brother from his own Wing Chun. It is quite exciting. The new moves are full of freshness, which has never been shown in the "Ip Man" series. At the same time, the restraint of the new move on the Wing Chun of the door is also vividly displayed, and the fight is really wonderful and beautiful.
Although the climactic battle at the end includes a wonderful fight between Ye Wen and a Japanese killer, from one long stick to two short sticks, smashing the samurai sword; the duel with the two of Ye Tianci, there are also Wing Chun versus Wing Chun, Wing Chun versus Karate, Judo's rich style of play, Ye Tianci played by Fan Shaohuang also used a technique similar to Donnie Yen's usual mixed-fighting double-leg lock-up. However, as mentioned above, the film director's design for the relationship between Ye Wen and Ye Tianci is too strong, and the hostility is not strong enough, so no matter how exciting the game is, it's just a lively show, and it can't tease the audience's emotions to a climax . As for the ending of Ye Wen’s death of a Japanese businessman, and because the Japanese businessman’s skills were too bad, he could only entangle with Ye Wen by using the trick of throwing lime. The effect of this scene was to complete Ye Wen’s actions It's just a wonderful action to kill the enemy with an elbow.
The cast of "The Prequel of Ip Man" has excellent performances that do not belong to the "Ip Man" series. Du Yuhang's Ip Man continues the introverted and low-key characteristics of Donnie Yen's version of Ip Man, and his demeanor makes people feel that he has five points with Donnie Yen. Similar, not to mention kung fu skills, as an authentic Wing Chun practitioner and the action guide of the "Ip Man" series, he interprets Wing Chun boxing and stick techniques in a variety of ways and is full of energy. and. Huang Yi's Zhang Yongcheng is also a bit more feminine than Xiong Dailin. This charming and tender rich girl is actually the most suitable for Huang Yi's play, adding a lot of sweet and flexible adjustments to the plot. The Ye Tianci played by Fan Shaohuang is also very different from the Jinshan look he played in the "Ip Man" series. The Wing Chun master Chen Huashun played by Sammo Hung and the senior brother played by Yuan Biao are full of strictness and arrogance, and they are quite able to hold the scene. interesting. Ye Zhun, the 86-year-old son of Ip Man, also made a cameo appearance as Liang Bi in the film. Personally, I think the role of Little Junior Sister is a highlight of many roles. When I was a child, it was played by Xu Jiao, the best acting child star. Needless to say, when I grew up, the actor Chen Jiahuan was only 17 years old. She was selected after having studied Wing Chun for two years. This is her first time acting, but she played the role quite vividly and naturally, and she grasped the emotions such as jealousy and sadness well. There is a lot of audience connection, and there is no need for a substitute to play Wing Chun. The moves are full of skills. Like this new generation of actresses who have a good image, can act, and can play, the entire Chinese film industry can't find a second one. I hope Chen Jiahuan can do it in the future. Have a bright future! (Text / Levin)
——The abridged version of the film review was published in Beijing Youth Daily
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