Ip Man again! - The Grandmasters

"The Grandmasters", yet another movie about Ip Man. But this time no more Donnie Yen but Tony Leung. Less focus on Ip Man his own life, but great kung fu masters he met during his life time. The style also different. It takes an artsy and philosophic angle. I say philosophic, because everything said in the movie is so deep, so deep I can't see them anymore :P

But seriously, I think the movie is well filmed. If you pause at any moment during the film, the shot can be a painting on it's own. Recently I have been learning a little bit about art, somehow I want to say the movie is so baroque-styled. Everything is so exaggerated. Raindrops and snowflakes were used to make this happen. And of course dust, just like any other kung fu movie, their clothes are always so dusty.

A lot of close-up shots and slow-mo too. I think the close-ups were partly to cover up the fact Tony Leung doesn't have much kung fu basis. Because whole-body shot can reveal how good his stance is. For me, from what I know, the most important things in kung fu is the stance, the posture, and the power of core. The stance and the posture can easily differentiate a noob from a pro.

Exaggerated kung fu fighting scenes, including those defying-gravity-without-any-particular-reason scenes, have became a trend since "The Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" by Ang Lee. I don't know what Ang Lee wanted to achieve in his movie, but I personally don't really like it. In "The Grandmasters", there are still some get-kicked-and-fly-10metres-away scene, but more realistic, which I prefer.

In the end, I like "The Grandmasters" but not as much as the first "Ip Man". Among all movies about Ip Man, the first, Donnie Yen's Ip Man is the best, the sequel is not even as good either. I wonder why Donnie Yen didn't get picked as Ip Man again in this movie. No doubt, Tony Leung is a great actor and can totally convey the role. However I expected more Cung Le in this movie though. The first time I saw him in action was in the movie "Bodyguards and Assassins", fighting with Donnie Yen. He was tailored as an unstoppable force and a perfect match-up against Donnie, and looked like Batman's Bane but with even more movement speed. After this movie, and some google time, surprisingly, Cung Le is a real life MMA fighter, competing in UFC. 

I have to say though, the scene is so unrealistic but still fun to watch.