The Grandmaster (2013)

The Grandmaster: Directed by Kar-Wai Wong. With Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Cung Le, Qingxiang Wang, Elvis Tsui. The story of martial-arts master Ip Man, the man who trained Bruce Lee.

“u0026#39;THE GRANDMASTERu0026#39;: Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCritically acclaimed Kung Fu epic about legendary Chinese martial-arts master Ip Man. Ip Man was the Wing Chun grandmaster and his most famous student was Bruce Lee. This film chronicles the years leading up to his success as a martial arts teacher. It stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as Ip Man and Zhang Ziyi as Gong Er, his main love interest. Kar Wai Wong directed and co-wrote the movie (with Jingzhi Zou and Haofeng Xu). Wong is famous for directing and writing other popular Hong Kong period piece dramas like u0026#39;2046u0026#39; and u0026#39;IN THE MOOD FOR LOVEu0026#39;. Iu0026#39;d rate this flick about the same as Wongu0026#39;s others; I thought it was extremely beautiful to look at but itu0026#39;s also a tad too hard to follow and uninvolving.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe story focuses as much on Gong Er (Ziyi) as it does Ip Man and follows a love story between the two as they keep in contact for many years following a fight for Gongu0026#39;s familyu0026#39;s honor. Ip Man had defeated her father, Gong Yutian (Wang Qingxiang) in a battle that was as much about philosophical ideas as combat. The film follows Ip Manu0026#39;s years during the Second Sino-Japanese War, in 1938, struggling through poverty with his family. It also focuses on Gong Eru0026#39;s attempt at vengeance against the man who murdered her father, Ma San (Zhang Jin).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe story is told in a very disjointed way and it was really hard for me to keep up with what was going on in it. I often find these epic Hong Kong Kung Fu flicks to be dull anyway and wasnu0026#39;t too interested in seeing this one. It did get mostly good reviews from critics though and itu0026#39;s nominated for two 2014 Oscars (in Cinematography and Costume Design). It definitely deserves those award nominations and is very breathtaking to look at. I also think Zhang Ziyi is one of the more beautiful and sexy women in cinema today and she gives a great performance here. Iu0026#39;m not sure how I feel about Leung Chiu-Wai as an actor, heu0026#39;s not bad in this movie but I didnu0026#39;t really learn to care for his character much at all. The martial-arts scenes are grand and epic though and Iu0026#39;m sure fans of the genre will be more than pleased.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWatch our movie review show u0026#39;MOVIE TALKu0026#39; at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTUUB4nMD6M”