The Grandmaster - Movie Rant/Review

Spoiler alert, read at your own risk.

Tonight we rented 'The Grandmaster'. It received good tomato ratings and I enjoyed the other Ip Man movies so why not give it a try.

As a very brief summary, the film is about martial arts grandmaster Ip Man, his life in Foshan China and his journey to Hong Kong.

The movie starts off when Ip Man is already 40 years old. It explains how he came from a wealthy family which allowed him to focus on mastering Wing Chun. By this time Ip Man also has a family, a wife and children. It is a happy period in his life and he goes on to explain that if life has seasons this part of his life would be spring.

This is one of those martial arts films where every sentence spoken feels like a lesson. The philosophy behind the words hold a lot of meaning.

As far as action is concerned we don't have to wait long until the screen is filled with fight sequences. A popular brothel also served as a sort of fight club for all the surrounding areas martial arts masters. In a flurry of fights it is eventually  decided that Ip Man will represent the South. Ip Man goes against the Norths Gong Yutian in a philosophical sparring match. Gong decides that Ip Man wins the match.

We soon are introduced to Gong Yutian daughter Gong Er who challenges Ip Man to a fight in order for her to regain her family honor. Gong Er has mastered the 64 hands technique from her father. In the end, Gong Er wins the fight but the two part on friendly terms. It is immediately implied that Ip Man and Gong Er have a fascination with each other and at some point that fascination turns romantic.

As a woman and a lover of romantic dramas, the underlying love aspect of the film was a strong dislike for me. When Ip Man and Gong Er would exchange letters, in the back of my mind I couldn't not think back to how he already has a wife and children. Flirting with another woman and implying romantic intentions when your already married is something I cannot be ok with.

Before Ip Man gets a chance to reunite with Gong Er, Foshan gets invaded by Japan. Ip Man is driven into poverty and as a result loses his two daughters to starvation. Ip Man is eventually forced to flee Foshan to Hong Kong where he works on creating a new beginning teaching at a martial arts school. Eventually Ip Man by fate is reunited with Gong Er who has become a doctor. Ip Man in essence confesses that he's happy to be reunited with her as he has always wondered what would have become of them. Gong Er immediately shuts him down saying it is not possible for them to be together.

We get a flashback of what happens to Gong Er. Her father is murdered by Ma San and she has vowed to Buddha to never marry, have children or teach martial arts and vows vengeance.

Excluding all the romantic nonsense of the film, Gong Er was my favorite character. She's sort of an extreme daddy's girl. Her father taught her the art of martial arts and she has mastered the 64 hands technique. During the movie when they did a flashback of when she was little watching her fathers art through the window and her practicing as a young child was very touching. When her father gets murdered she vows revenge and eventually wins a match against Ma San and takes back her families legacy. Shes loyal to her family and loyal to her vow. The match with Ma San drives her to an opium addiction which eventually kills her. She held her loyalty to her vow and her family honor through to the end and there is something to be respected about that.

In the end Ip Man continues to teach martial arts and spreads the art of Wing Chun worldwide.  Maybe its the wife/mother part of me but I can't help but keep asking, what happened to his family? Were they ever reunited, did his wife die and his kids?

As a lover of action movies I enjoyed this film. Was it the best Ip Man movie I have ever seen? Probably not. My big likes were the action sequences and the cinematography.