I have watched martial arts films since I was tiny. My Dad had a good collection of them, and along with him being an enthusiast of Tai Chi, Wing Chun and other arts, he let me watch all these totally badass films that I really shouldn't have been watching at that age. Crazy brilliant films like Shaolin vs Ninja and the Fong Say Yuk series which were all brutally physical and had some proper gnarly shit occur on screen, especially those early Jet Li movies, which were beyond all others in the amount of blood used in generous sprays onscreen, and the amount of bones broken and shown sticking through skin! Those were the days, before the Americans took a liking to it and destroyed the genre, so other kids growing up heard "Kung - Fu movie" and had this image come to mind
"Gay? What on earth do you mean?"
Ok not to take anything away from Jackie Chan, I have a tremendous amount of respect for him, and some of his early films were absolutely brilliant, but not even I can forgive Rush Hour 3
"Chris! That was your cue to make a charming race relations joke!"
"Awww shit, my bad Jackie, I was just distracted by my career disappearing into the distance"
Lost were the films that were proud showcases of Chinese culture and tradition, also offering insights into the history of such a great country and the events that shaped the nation; instead we gained Americans and Jackie Chan running around jumping off buildings and getting in fights over women and stolen honour or some shit. Don't get me wrong, there are still some things that get on my nerves with martial arts films; the humour for one. The Chinese film industry spawned from, and still remains very close to, the Chinese theatre, and so all the humour in the films is ridiculously slapstick and pantomime.Think back, if you will, to the opening scene of Enter The Dragon, widely seen as Bruce Lee's best film, where Bruce is in the airport and can't read the menu, so he just points at everything on there. When the waiter turns up with 8 bowls of soupy goodness and Lee gives it that "what have I got myself into?" look, we were all meant to piss ourselves laughing, but we didn't, not that I can say the same for the Chinese audiences
"LOL...Soup...gets me every time"
Well all martial arts films are full of the same kind of cringe inducing "humour". I also hate the plague that has hung over martial arts films post Bruce Lee, and thats the use of wirework in all of them. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was a good film, but it really took the piss when it came to the wirework, and the early Jet Li films were peppered with the same floaty shit, although usually for more hardcore purposes, like Li would kick a guy through a tree and he would fly 30 ft backwards, more than Chow Yun Fat gracefully jogging up a bit of bamboo. But anyway, when i found Ip Man lying in my dads film collection, I was intrigues. Mostly because Ip Man is one of the overlooked heroes in the martial arts world, I mean the guy taught Bruce fucking Lee everything he knew when he was young, and he made the art of Wing Chun a worldwide practise. But what also got my attention was the casting of Donnie Yen, who I first noticed in Once Upon A Time In China 3 where he fights Jet Li with a big damp cloth (seriously) so this was already getting my testosterone running.
The film Ip Man, follows the legendary grandmaster in his early years before and throughout the Japanese occupation of China during the Second World War. Basically the story is this, Master Ip is living happily with his super hot wife and his wee lil son in the martial arts district of Fo Shan, he just relaxes all cool and duels random other masters who admire his mad talents. One day these asshats from the north come to town and are all like "Yo, we are better than youse lot, show me your main boss lad and il spark him proper, then set up a school and teach you southern fairies how to kick a man in the face!!" So this tool called Jin beats the shit out of some pansy ass teachers and think she is big man, until he hears he must beat Master Ip to truly beat the best. He turns up at Ip's gaff and starts talking real live shit about Wing Chun being created by women (which is true, it was thought up by a nun in the Mountains of ancient China) so after acting all peaceful and modest for a while Ip gets permission from his wife to tell this buttplug where he should take his northern monkey kung-fu. Ip Man proceeds to smash the dick faced Jin in the mouth with his fists...repeatedly. Then, after the dirty out of towners pissed off, he probably went and banged his super hot wife, because he is the man
The film Ip Man, follows the legendary grandmaster in his early years before and throughout the Japanese occupation of China during the Second World War. Basically the story is this, Master Ip is living happily with his super hot wife and his wee lil son in the martial arts district of Fo Shan, he just relaxes all cool and duels random other masters who admire his mad talents. One day these asshats from the north come to town and are all like "Yo, we are better than youse lot, show me your main boss lad and il spark him proper, then set up a school and teach you southern fairies how to kick a man in the face!!" So this tool called Jin beats the shit out of some pansy ass teachers and think she is big man, until he hears he must beat Master Ip to truly beat the best. He turns up at Ip's gaff and starts talking real live shit about Wing Chun being created by women (which is true, it was thought up by a nun in the Mountains of ancient China) so after acting all peaceful and modest for a while Ip gets permission from his wife to tell this buttplug where he should take his northern monkey kung-fu. Ip Man proceeds to smash the dick faced Jin in the mouth with his fists...repeatedly. Then, after the dirty out of towners pissed off, he probably went and banged his super hot wife, because he is the man
Warning ladies, after he punishes that guys face, he will punish your womb
The story gets more dark when the Japanese take over, and all the Chinese people are forced into homelessness and starvation. Master Ip still gets some perks, such as getting picked for work in the lines over others, mostly just by his local celebrity, but times are mad hard yo. Many of the workers at the coal mine Ip is working on are taking up offers from the Japanese general Miura, basically they go and fight generic Karate men and if they win they get a bag of rice. After some of Master Ip's mates don't come back from this tournament, he decides he should go along to see what in the world is up with this crazy Jap general. When he sees his old friend and fellow kung-fu master get shot in the face for taking rice when he lost his fight, Ip gets all like "hey, more like Japs eye!!! Am I right guys?" and then he goes and takes on 10 guys at one time to prove how balls out steel he is. This mad act of crazy heroics impresses Miura and the rest of the film is your general fare of Master Ip helping liberate his fellow Chinese and obviously taking part in a mad showdown with Miura towards the end.
What I loved about this film is that it took the martial art film back to the style that I used to watch and love as a kid. Obviously the process has been helped along with the emergence of stars like Tony Ja, who is incredible, but im pretty sure The Warrior King was just him walking into rooms screaming "WHERES MY ELEPHANT" and then kicking everyone square in the teeth whether they were involved or not, lets just say it wasn't the most intelligent of plots. But Ip Man stays true to all the classic themes of good martial arts films, they all have this feeling of tradition to them, like the Chinese are always glorified over an oppressive regime, be it the Japanese in Ip Man, or the British in Once Upon A Time In China. It is like a small shout out for us not to forget the great history of China, and the traditions and importance of their culture. As such all the films used to have a lil scene where kung-fu would trump a firearm, guns and munitions being the acid that dissolved Chinese culture towards kung-fu when foreigners decided they would colonise the Chinese, proving to everyone that these ancient arts were a little out dated, but still effective, and important in the storied culture the Chinese possess. Donnie Yen gives a very stoic but powerful performance as Master Ip Man, which was nice to see, as I didn't want the film to be let down buy awful acting. The fight scenes are all fucking brutal, not over the top, just to the point; direct and real, much like the art of Wing Chun itself. I mean, Ip Man does not fuck about, don't get me wrong, but he isn't jumping all over the place doing it, he just stands there and waits for you to try and hit him, then he proceeds to remove your teeth with his knuckles.
I urge you all to go and buy this DVD right bloody now, and enjoy a bit of cinema that doesn't always crash the box office, but is great film making all the same. Who knows, maybe you can get to love these films as much as I did as a kid, and as I still do, with Ip Man giving me renewed confidence that martial arts films havn't totally lost their way
Till next time
Peace
What I loved about this film is that it took the martial art film back to the style that I used to watch and love as a kid. Obviously the process has been helped along with the emergence of stars like Tony Ja, who is incredible, but im pretty sure The Warrior King was just him walking into rooms screaming "WHERES MY ELEPHANT" and then kicking everyone square in the teeth whether they were involved or not, lets just say it wasn't the most intelligent of plots. But Ip Man stays true to all the classic themes of good martial arts films, they all have this feeling of tradition to them, like the Chinese are always glorified over an oppressive regime, be it the Japanese in Ip Man, or the British in Once Upon A Time In China. It is like a small shout out for us not to forget the great history of China, and the traditions and importance of their culture. As such all the films used to have a lil scene where kung-fu would trump a firearm, guns and munitions being the acid that dissolved Chinese culture towards kung-fu when foreigners decided they would colonise the Chinese, proving to everyone that these ancient arts were a little out dated, but still effective, and important in the storied culture the Chinese possess. Donnie Yen gives a very stoic but powerful performance as Master Ip Man, which was nice to see, as I didn't want the film to be let down buy awful acting. The fight scenes are all fucking brutal, not over the top, just to the point; direct and real, much like the art of Wing Chun itself. I mean, Ip Man does not fuck about, don't get me wrong, but he isn't jumping all over the place doing it, he just stands there and waits for you to try and hit him, then he proceeds to remove your teeth with his knuckles.
Pictured: Ip Man dentistry - tooth removal with a twist (The twist is he punches you in the mouth)
I urge you all to go and buy this DVD right bloody now, and enjoy a bit of cinema that doesn't always crash the box office, but is great film making all the same. Who knows, maybe you can get to love these films as much as I did as a kid, and as I still do, with Ip Man giving me renewed confidence that martial arts films havn't totally lost their way
Till next time
Peace
Well done spot on!
ReplyDeleteyeah I knew you would like this one pops!
ReplyDelete