Hong Kong is an incredible producer of movies and television. Considering that the population is only 7 million, the volume of output is quite extraordinary. The quality, on the other hand. Well, at least it's better than Bollywood, eh? (Ooohh, controversy!)
Anyway, one of the higher quality pieces of output we've watched since arriving here has been the three recent Ip Man (or Yip Man) movies. Ip Man, who I had never heard of before, was the martial arts teacher of the famous Bruce Lee (who I had heard of). It turns out that he is famous in his own right, as the person who opened up the kung fu style of Wing Chun. Given this, it's unsurprising that there are a number of movies about him -- what's surprising is how different and similar they are, how good they are, and how fictional they are.
Let's cover them in the order they were released.
Ip Man, the first movie
Directed by Wilson Yip and starring Donnie Yen as Ip Man.
I watched this on a DVD from the mainland (so it was probably pirated), with English subtitles that looked like they'd been generated by Google Translate. As a result, it took me a little while to get into the swing of the movie. (Who was this "Leaf master"? Turns out Leaf is a translation of Ip, which the translation software didn't recognise as a name. Much other mistranslation led to great confusion and occasional hilarity.)
Eventually, it becomes obvious that Ip Man is a highly skilled martial arts practitioner who is interdependently wealthy and thus not interested in running a school, but rather indulges the occasional student or master with demonstrations of his skills. Into this tranquil existence comes the Japanese invading forces, stripping Ip Man of his wealth, and the Chinese of their dignity. The rest of the story is about Ip Man struggling against these forces to maintain the dignity of his people. Kung Fu is presented as a moral way of living as much as a way of fighting (which, of course, is common to all Eastern martial arts), and eventually triumphs over the arrogance of Japanese Karate.
The storyline is fairly conventional, but what makes it all work is superb production values (the sets and costumes are gorgeous, as is the cinematography and the score), accomplished acting (Donnie Yen brings a real gravitas to Ip Man, showing him as a man of enormous integrity and responsibility, while still being able to dazzle in the impressive fight scenes), and a deft emotional touch. While the story is quite different from reality (Ip Man was actually a police man in this period), it works well as fiction. The emotions and travails of that period of history form a powerful backdrop to the conventional martial arts story framework, and make this a movie worth seeing.
Ip Man 2, a sequel to the first movie
Same cast and director.
Ip Man 2 starts with a jumble of images from the first movie, establishing the context for this one. The tone and character of the story are very similar. In this outing, though, the Japanese are replaced by the British as the aggressors. In order to achieve such animosity between the Chinese and the British (which didn't exist in reality at this time, at least in HK), it's necessary for a corrupt policeman to be invented, and a rabidly racist British boxer (called "The Twister") to challenge the ability of Chinese martial arts. While the corrupt cop comes across as one of those poorly acted Poms from an early Jackie Chan movie, the boxer is portrayed with such venom and arrogance that you can't help but hate the character and cheer for the Chinese (and, in particular, Ip Man).
Unlike the first movie, which had a well paced, well developed story and characters, this movie suddenly switches its trajectory half way through. The first half involves Ip Man struggling to carve out a living in HK (his first studio was actually located a ten minute walk from here on what used to be the waterfront), battling with the local vested interests (represented by Sammo Hung, a famous HK kung fu star, who choreographed the fights for all three movies). This represents Ip Man as the principled man against the opportunistic pragmatists as in the first movie, and Sammo Hung makes a convincing villain. Then, abruptly, Sammo Hung's character (Master Hong) is a good mate and the Poms are the villains. While, given the behavior of the Twister, it's understandable why the Poms become the villains, it's inexplicable why Master Hong is suddenly such a good guy, even when he lays down his life out of pride (patriotism, not personal pride). Perhaps the message is that his early corruption was driven by a strong sense of responsibility for his people -- a sense of responsibility shared by Ip Man.
Anyway, all this leads to a big battle between the boxer and Ip Man. This is a competent finale, and exchanges the feeling of doomed, dignified resistance that marked the final battle of the first film with a feeling of desperation to save face for the Chinese and Kung Fu.
Unfortunately, this second movie carries through some of the characters from the first movie, but doesn't give them anything to do. While Ip Man comes through the movie with his dignity unscathed, the same cannot be said for the rest of the characters, most of whom are diminished by this treatment. So while this is a well made movie, the script lets it down.
Ip Man: The Legend is Born
This third movie is set before the first two, when Ip Man was a teenager. It has a different director and star, with Ip Man played by Dennis To, a Kung Fu champion and one of the minor baddies in the second movie. To add to the confusion, one of the characters who was a baddie in the first movie and an irrelevant goodie in the second becomes a major character as Ip Man's fictional adopted brother. Nonetheless, Siu-Wong Fan, the actor who portrays this character does such a good job that he provides the emotional backbone to the movie. Finally, Sammo Hung returns both as the fight choreographer and the aging Kung Fu master who trains Ip Man (for a few years until he dies).
Unlike the first two movies, which relied on a basic plot of Ip Man defending Chinese dignity against foreign oppressors, this movie is more of a romance, with the classic love quadrangle forming a large part of the drama and humour. Fortunately this element is resolved in a way far more natural than is the norm for Hollywood productions, and is allowed to naturally end to make way for the surprise twist (which is well foreshadowed, if a bit hard to believe).
Since Ip Man is much younger in this movie, he doesn't have the gravitas of the first two movies and the script wisely adds more humour and vulnerability to the character to compensate. The gravitas instead belongs to Sammo Hung, Biao Yuen (as the master who replaces Sammo Hung's character) and Siu-Wong Fan (as Ip Chin -- Ip Man's brother). These three, along with Ip Chun (the real-life son of Ip Man, who plays Leung Bik, the estranged brother of Sammo Hung's character's master -- yes, relationships are complicated in Chinese dramas) present the meditation on Kung Fu, such as it's purpose, spirit and rigidity or openness. Fortunately, this forms a natural part of the story, and adds to the flavour of the piece (it also provides excuses for several short fight scenes, all but one rather humorous and that last one rather distressing, for emotional reasons).
Once again the Japanese end up as aggressors (inevitable, really, given the setting), and we get some Ninja vs. Kung Fu action, which has to be fun, right? Fortunately the movie has developed the characters sufficiently by this stage that the final fight scenes are not just eye-candy, but genuinely taut and engaging.
This was the only one of the three movies I saw in the cinema, and it benefited from this in two ways: 1) the subtitling was done by a human being that understood English, as opposed to a machine that was clueless (which meant I could focus more on the story and images and less on trying to decipher gibberish); 2) the sound was excellent, giving more oomph and power to the fights.
Summary
Reading the IMDB reviews of these three movies (follow the links on the movie names above), I was struck by how many of the reviewers were real Kung Fu fans, and how the Kung Fu was a big part of the experience for them. That is not the case for me. Also many found the formulaic stories tiring. I don't mind a formulaic story, so long as it's told well. All three of these movies have high production values (still not true for all HK movies, though it's increasingly common), and the first and third have universally good acting, with some outstanding performances. The music, sound, and cinematography of all three is excellent. The fight scenes are certainly well choreographed and performed, but for me these are not the core of the movies. Given that understanding, I would highly recommend the first movie, and give a lesser recommendation for the third. See the second only if you really enjoyed either of these.
Certainly, HK cinema is capable of making engaging, powerful stories that are worth seeking out.