I thought the fights scenes in Fist of Legend were overrated and the only part worth watching in Hero was the Jet vs Donnie fight, I still havent seen the entire film. I think I’d put My Father the Hero above Black mask, as for the rest, I find it hard to rank jets films because they dont really stand out from each other.
Just now watching ip man 
Really? I don’t see him say Dennis was better, he stated that the learning experience was different and that he had more chemistry with him (not to mention being his Grand desciple). I find it pretty laughable that you see no reason why someone who has spent many years training specifically in Wing Chun wouldn’t naturally be better at employing it than an actor who learned only specific parts for a movie. In terms of acting, Dennis is more wooden than his muk yan jong.
Donnie’s fans prefer Donnie’s movies, Legend is Born was a piece of shit and took more liberties than Wilson Yips movies did (the fucking made up evil brother?), but To is obviously more accomplished at Wing Chan than Donnie is.
How is #5 not #1? That’s it, I’m writing to Tsui Hark, he clearly needs to pump that same theme music into more movies to brain wash Western society.
the storyline was a closer portrayal to Ip Mans life, as stated by Ip Chun.
Considering a lot of the movie centered around his evil brother, I can’t see how it’s true to life when that part is pure fiction. The ‘legends’ become just that, Chinese love nothing if not to greatly embelish the stories of their martial arts heroes. Hell, even Robert Lee laced his story on Bruce with more fiction that a William Gibson novel. A close portrayal to Ip’s life would be if one of the movies told his time as an Opium addicted policeman. I did like that the Dennis To movie actually told the part where Ip was beaten in Hong Kong by Leung Bik and being taught by him, though the whole “anything is Wing Chun” is absolute crap.
It probably was pure fiction but do we really know if Wilson’s version was more accurate? the storyline may have seemed less far fetched but it probably had more inaccuracies than Legend is Born… Im sure Ip Chun would know more about that than we do.
Im a Donnie fan but I thought Ip Man 1 & 2 were disappointing, I expected more from him. Dont get me wrong, Donnie is a better martial artist (in general) than Dennis but his recent run of films havent been good.
Someone requested the video, i posted it for them…As for Dennis being wooden, guy is still new to acting, he’s a martial artist 1st actor 2nd…He’s still young, i mean look at your hero Donnie Yen, been following his ass since the 80s & he wasn’t exactly a good actor back then. It was only recently that he started to have decent acting roles…
As for Legend is Born, i really liked it. The fights were amazing & plentiful…Ip Man was overall better film but loses in the MA department…Ip Man 2 was just garbage, complete waste of a film.
As for the OUATIC theme song, that has been around since forever & Jackie Chan was actually the singer in the cantonese version of it…Gets me hype like Rocky songs…
Ip Man was the better film. Legend is Born looked like the type of film that would go straight to dvd, but it had the better fight scenes overall.
No no, that’s exactly the point, neither of them are, both embelish a great amount in order to glorify his life.
If you put it along side some of his other films where he actually knows the martial art, yes, you would probably expect more, though Wing Chun is a very grounded martial art, there aren’t really any flashy moves to it, there’s also only 2 main kicks.
I agree to an extent, the fight scenes in Legend were a better showcase for Wing Chun, but again, it helps that Dennis To is actually skilled in the martial art!
Hah! Donnie is not my hero, I work in the industry. Donnie was pretty wooden when he started and certain roles he didn’t even stand apart from any other side role (think Wing Chun with Michelle Yeoh) and a lot of people even now think he’s a bit of an arrogant fucker. His earlier roles almost made his Western breakthrough though, but like many ‘token’ martial arts actors he only made small parts (small = seconds), Blade II is a good example, what was the point of using Donnie Yen? He shows up, holds a sword, enters a sewer and dies off camera!
The brother thing really put me off the movie and the acting was terrible for most of it, I did think that Dennis’ Wing Chun was excellent though and we were certainly never short of fight scenes. Call me sentimental, but the biggest smile raised for me was the presence of Yuen Biao.
What annoyed me about Ip 2 was the big fight scene to induct him into becoming recognised as a Sifu, all the martial arts he went up against (aside from Hung Gar) were really quite silly, the second fight with the guy spinning all over the place just leaves himself open for shots pretty much every time he moves! The whole thing with Twister felt like a lengthened version of the scene in Fearless where Huo Yuanjia fights the wrestler. I also didn’t like how Jin went from being a badass martial artist to just a street punk either.
I love that tune (originally written by Wong Jim), though it’s like they can’t make anything else, it’s been in several other movies and the original music for Tai Chi Master is so very close! It was based on a song from the Ming Dynasty. Chan did the Mandarin version, I forget who sang the Cantonese one.
Some old Kung Fu movies I’ve watched recently…how I miss old school flicks.
Furious Slaughter
Drunken Master
Eagle’s Claw
The Unbeaten 28
Hitman of the Buddha
Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow
I still felt he should’ve been the main bad guy in Highlander: Endgame. His fight with Duncan was the most entertaining out of that movie.
As for him being arrogant? He doesn’t really come off like that.
I’ll have to take your word for it, I didn’t watch any of them after Highlander II, I may have to google the fight scene though. I don’t think he is arrogant either, but a lot of people get that from him.
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I dont understand why you’d hate one more than the other for not being a realistic portrayal of Ip Mans life if they both had historical inaccuracies.
Bad excuse considering that Legend Is Born had plenty of flashy looking fights. doesnt matter if Donnie knows as much Wing chun as Dennis, its the choreography that counts. Sammo chorographed the Ip Man fight scenes and lets not forget that he also choreographed The Prodigal Son.
During late 80s & 90s Donnie known for having a huge ego…Led to the falling out between his mentor Yuen Woo Ping…Even disagreement w/ Jet Li in OUATIC 2…His big break was Iron Monkey but after that film, his career kind of faltered, he ended doing a couple of TV show i think Kung fu Master & Fist of Fury series, although they were a bit of success he wasn’t able to get any good movie roles. He decided to try directing & ended w/ Legend of the Wolf…His style of film making was non traditional & turned off the old school fans. I myself enjoyed them as it as different & pretty much the HK films were more into Pop singers w/ long hair doing kung fu w/ special effects genre at the time…Ekin Cheng
After his failure in the US he got his big break again in the movie Hero, which everyone was hype for Jet Li vs Yen rematch, & that shit did not disappoint…Then SPL came out which pretty much rejuvenated the HK film industry, now he’s probably the most popular HK actor right now…
lol, this is true, apparently he had public feud with Yuen Woo-Ping years back, and one of the main actresses in Legend Of The Fist (i’ve forgotten her name) said she didnt like working with him.
My bad… i didnt see rcaido’s post
Jet li said him and Donnie had disagreements because they were both very competetive and young at the time.
The brother thing was a huge put-off for me. Out of all of them, I prefer Ip 1, fiction or not, it had a good enough story and pacing and I thought the fight scenes were great.
Funny thing is, Sammo won awards for the choreography in Ip Man 2, Tony Leung Siu-Hung didn’t get jack for Legend is Born. I wouldn’t really compare Prodigal Son (one of the best movies of all time!) with Ip Man though, we’re talking about a movie filmed in the traditional style back when the Shaw Brothers were tossing out movies like they were going out of fashion, against a film pushing more towards realism in the martial art. There’s a massive difference in how the older movies displayed martial arts, a lot of the time it looked more like a choreographed slow-dance than an actual real fight, it was very theatrical.
Qu Shi?
I need to find more movies with Wu Jing, of all the ones I’ve seen, he’s only ever survived one so far! (Tai Chi 2)
I personally loved Ip Man and thought Ip Man 2 was an enjoyable enough popcorn flick. I didn’t expect a realistic portrayal of Yip Man’s life or his art (this is a movie after all) and was perfectly happy with what I consider to be one of the better “re-imaginings” of Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury, and much better than Donnie’s later Legend of the Fist.
Ip Man 2 is a pretty dumb movie, and it does rip off Rocky 4 somewhat (hardly an original film itself) but I fucking love Rocky 4. I know when I approach a modern martial arts film that it probably won’t live up to the standard of the best old school titles, but they can still be enjoyable films with good/imaginative choreography. I liked True Legend, Shaolin and Detective Dee despite their flaws.
IMO, one of the very best modern MA movies is Gallants, it’s really funny and has great performances from Bruce Leung and Chen Kuan-tai. The fights are great and meaningful to the story and it has this really cool nostalgic feel that stays with you after its over.
My all time favourite martial arts film wavers constantly between Legend of a Fighter and The Victim. I love a lot of Shaws too, especially Heroes of the East, 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, Bastard Swordsman, Opium and the Kung Fu Master, Crippled Avengers and Hong Kong Godfather. There’s loads more too but I don’t want to just list movies all day.
I’ll weigh in on the Once Upon a Time in China debate too. I rate them by the quality of the fights and I reckon number 2 is the high point, with Wong Jing’s Last Hero in China shortly behind it for utter lunacy (chicken VS giant centipede shenanigans). The first one is great and the 3rd one I thought was kinda meh.
^You sir got great taste…no homo