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Ip Man

  • 20082008
  • RR
  • 1h 46m
IMDb RATING
8.0/10
227K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,341
61
Donnie Yen in Ip Man (2008)
Plenty of martial arts action in this trailer for the period drama
Play trailer1:50
2 Videos
99+ Photos
ActionBiographyDrama
During the Japanese invasion of China, a wealthy martial artist is forced to leave his home when his city is occupied. With little means of providing for themselves, Ip Man and the remaining... Read allDuring the Japanese invasion of China, a wealthy martial artist is forced to leave his home when his city is occupied. With little means of providing for themselves, Ip Man and the remaining members of the city must find a way to survive.During the Japanese invasion of China, a wealthy martial artist is forced to leave his home when his city is occupied. With little means of providing for themselves, Ip Man and the remaining members of the city must find a way to survive.
IMDb RATING
8.0/10
227K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,341
61
  • Director
    • Wilson Yip
  • Writers
    • Edmond Wong(screenplay)
    • Tai-lee Chan
  • Stars
    • Donnie Yen
    • Simon Yam
    • Siu-Wong Fan
  • Director
    • Wilson Yip
  • Writers
    • Edmond Wong(screenplay)
    • Tai-lee Chan
  • Stars
    • Donnie Yen
    • Simon Yam
    • Siu-Wong Fan
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 250User reviews
    • 117Critic reviews
    • 59Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 12 wins & 19 nominations

    Videos2

    Ip Man
    Trailer 1:50
    Watch Ip Man
    Ip Man
    Trailer 1:48
    Watch Ip Man

    Photos114

    Siu-Wong Fan, Donnie Yen, and Calvin Ka-Sing Cheng in Ip Man (2008)
    Donnie Yen in Ip Man (2008)
    Hiroyuki Ikeuchi and Donnie Yen in Ip Man (2008)
    Donnie Yen in Ip Man (2008)
    Ip Man (2008)
    Siu-Wong Fan in Ip Man (2008)
    Donnie Yen in Ip Man (2008)
    Donnie Yen in Ip Man (2008)
    Donnie Yen in Ip Man (2008)
    Donnie Yen in Ip Man (2008)
    Donnie Yen in Ip Man (2008)
    Donnie Yen in Ip Man (2008)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Donnie Yen
    Donnie Yen
    • Ip Man
    Simon Yam
    Simon Yam
    • Quan
    Siu-Wong Fan
    Siu-Wong Fan
    • Jin
    • (as Fan Sui Wong)
    Ka-Tung Lam
    Ka-Tung Lam
    • Li
    • (as Lam Ka Tung)
    Lynn Xiong
    Lynn Xiong
    • Cheung
    • (as Xiong Dai Lin)
    Hiroyuki Ikeuchi
    Hiroyuki Ikeuchi
    • Miura
    Xing Yu
    Xing Yu
    • Lin
    Wong You-nam
    • Yuan
    • (as Wong You Nam)
    Yu-Hang To
    Yu-Hang To
    • Wei
    • (as To Yue Hong)
    Calvin Ka-Sing Cheng
    • Yao
    • (as Calvin Cheng)
    Zhihui Chen
    • Master Liu
    • (as Chen Zhi Hui)
    Tenma Shibuya
    Tenma Shibuya
    • Colonel Sato
    • (as Shibuya Tenma)
    Li Chak
    • Zhun
    • (as Li Ze)
    Deqiang Shi
    • Southern Master
    Zhong Zhou
    • Southern Master
    Bo Zhang
    Bo Zhang
    • Jin's Underling
    • (as Zhang Bo)
    Kong Kam
    Kong Kam
    • Jin's Underling
    • (as Jin Gang)
    Lu Kai
    • Jin's Underling
    • Director
      • Wilson Yip
    • Writers
      • Edmond Wong(screenplay)
      • Tai-lee Chan
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Although it is not mentioned in the film, Grandmaster Yip Man was actually employed as a police officer during the Japanese invasion.
    • Goofs
      At the end of Ip Man's duel with Master Liao, Ip is shown to be flipping Liao to the ground at a position very close to the door. As soon as Liao is on the ground, the next shot shows both fighters having moved several feet away from the door when no such horizontal movement was made.
    • Quotes

      Miura: [after witnessing Ip Man single-handedly defeat ten Japanese fighters at once] What's your name?

      Ip Man: I'm just a Chinese man.

    • Connections
      Edited into Ip Man 4: The Finale (2019)

    User reviews250

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    Awesome choreography, intense scenes and a great story
    Directed by Wilson Yip (Killzone, Flashpoint) This movie is a "portrayal" of the famous Wing Chun master Yip Man, credited as being the guy that taught Bruce Lee kung fu.

    The movie starts of a bit slow, and seems a bit awkward imo. The dialogue didn't really work on me, and I didn't quite feel the comedy or drama the dialogue was supposed to invoke. However, troublemakers enter the city and the fighting shall begin. When that part began, the movie immediately started to grow on me. The fighting is very well choreographed, and the stunts are really amazing. I am very interested in martial arts and fighting, and thus many movies loses me when I have to see a 300 pound muscular guy supposedly gets knocked out for 10 minutes by 1 jab from e.g. Jackie Chan or choked out by Angelina Jolie. However, in this movie the fight scenes are so amazing that I easily accept that a knee to the body can send a guy a flying across the room. The fighting is of course unrealistic (though not extremely so), but they somehow make it seem legit in this movie, and you actually start believing for the duration of the movie that Ip Man is capable of this stuff.

    As for the cast, Donnie Yen is the one that stands out. He is a really great choice for Ip Man, with a very calm and intelligent charisma, and he shows in this movie that he is capable of being a diverse actor. The other actors did a fine job as well, most notably his wife (Lynn Hung) and General Miura (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi), considering their acting experience. The cinematography, soundtrack, costumes and art direction are all well done. They got some fairly experienced people for that, but not anyone "really" famous (except for the movie buffs perhaps), most notably Kenji Kawai and Kenneth Mak.

    My main critique lies in the fact that this movie markets itself as a historical portrait, while this is clearly not so. Apart from the fight scenes that has probably never gone down in reality, we also have the portrayal of the Japanese. While they definitely did invade China and committed some atrocities there, I somehow doubt they had karate tournaments with Japanese vs Chinese. The movie also claims that the city population was reduced from 300k to 72k, which I somehow doubt, but I am unable to find any source that either disprove or confirms that statement. But since the movie is from China I guess a non-biased portrayal of the Japanese invasion is too much to ask. But the thing that bugged me the most was the final part of the movie, which show a fight scene with following events that I am 100% positive has never happened, but the movie actually try to claim that it did (obviously I can't explain the scene to you without spoiling).

    So all in all a great movie. The plot meets the required amount of relevancy that is needed to keep you interested, but what really stands out is the fight scenes which is what lift this movie to great heights, and what I assume has secured it a place on the IMDb top 250 list. I greatly enjoyed the movie, but the fact that the movie tries to sell itself as being a historic portrayal really bugs me the wrong way and drags it down a point.
    helpful•15
    2
    • AThames
    • Jul 24, 2013

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 12, 2008 (China)
    • Countries of origin
      • Hong Kong
      • China
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official site
    • Languages
      • Cantonese
      • Mandarin
      • Japanese
      • Chinese
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Yip Man
    • Filming locations
      • Foshan, Guangdong, China(Town)
    • Production companies
      • Golden Harvest Company
      • Beijing ShengShi HuaRei Film Investment & Management Co.
      • China Film Co-Production Corporation
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $11,715,578 (estimated)
    • Gross worldwide
      • $22,108,789
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 46 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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