I have seen and enjoyed many, many martial arts film. However, I am not blind to the problems that have often plagued the genre. For every exceptional film (such as most of the Shaw Brothers films or the better films of Sonny Chiba) there are the god-awful ones--movies that are embarrassingly bad. In these bad films, you see horrible martial arts where blows barely come near their opponents or kicks that look like my grandmother was fighting! Heck, I even remember one film with gorillas doing kung fu--and they obviously were two guys wearing VERY cheap Halloween costumes! Because of the many bad films, it's a pleasure to see "Ip Man"--a film where the fighting is the most realistic you'll ever see. There is no 'wire fu' here--just fast and amazingly talented people making it look authentic.

The film covers only a portion of Master Ip Man's life--mostly the 1930s--both before and during the Japanese occupation of his homeland. I read that MUCH liberty was taken with his life in the film--and I doubt if the guy really did half the things they show the actor (Donny Yen) playing him did! But, it is constantly entertaining and even uplifting. I am very sure that in China this film must have been a great source of pride--seeing Ip Man standing up to the murderous Japanese occupiers. A simply terrific film--and I challenge you to find one better! Because it is so good, I couldn't help but give this one a well-earned 10.

Donnie Yen headlines this excellent biopic of Ip Man, a real-life historical figure who taught Bruce Lee wing chun and overcame Japanese oppression on the eve of WW2. Straight away I was reminded of the Jet Li film FEARLESS, another biopic about a real-life martial artist, but from the first fight scene I knew that IP MAN was going to be better: the wirework isn't as obvious and there are none of the cheesy CGI effects that spoiled some of the fights in the Li film.

In actual fact, this turns out to be a brilliant piece of filmmaking that ranks as one of the best kung fu flicks I've seen in many years. It kicks off in typical fashion, with a fight master forced to battle a couple of up-themselves rivals, but then the story gets serious as the Japanese army arrives. As the enemy devise a tournament competition in which Chinese fighters take on Japanese soldiers, I realised I was watching a great, edge-of-your-seat film in which the story is just as good as the action sequences. And what action! It comes thick and fast, is never repetitive, and utilises Sammo Hung as action choreographer; is it just me, or is Hung getting better and better as time goes on? Here he delivers all kinds of brutal battles, from the bloody tournament bouts to a full-scale warehouse brawl and plenty of other decent stand-offs.

Donnie Yen underplays his leading role while at the same time getting across a measure of the man's gravitas and dignity – no hissy fits or show-off moments here, just a quiet dedication to his cause. Simon Yam appears in a minor role, but he doesn't make much of an impact and nor does he need to: this is a film all about the leading figure and the historical backdrop in which his story unfolds. Brilliant action and a brilliant storyline equals a classic movie.

In FoShan, southern China, Master Liu challenges Ip Man (Donnie Yen) and gets beaten. Ip Man promises to keep it private but loudmouthed Yuan tells everyone. Jin from the north challenges every master in FoShan. He wins in every match except for Ip Man. In 1937, war starts between Japan and China. Ip Man loses everything. Japanese General Miura has organized fight tournaments. Yuan's older brother Lin is killed. Ip Man fights to avenge his death. Meanwhile, Jin leads his bandits including Yuan. They steal from Ip Man's friend Zhou Qingquan.

The start is well-done kung fu movie and a good solid story. Donnie Yen has great dignity. The movie is essentially extended into two parts. The war scrambles everybody and everything. The second part is also good. It introduces whole new villains. I would have preferred having two separate movies. The fight action is fun, and energetic. This is a solid kung fu action movie.