REVIEW: Ip Man: The Awakening
Ip Man:The Awakening takes audience far back into the early days of the legendary master of Wing Chun.
The Official Synopsis:
“While visiting Hong Kong, a young Master Ip intervenes in a kidnapping attempt, unintentionally igniting a turf war with a ruthless human trafficking ring. In retaliation, the gang kidnaps one of Ip Man’s close friends, leaving him with no choice but to challenge the group’s notoriously brutal boxing champion head-on”
(This official synopsis is wildly far off from what actually happens in the movie.)
The Squeedar Synopsis:
What actually happens is that the story begins when a young Ip Man (played by Miu Tse) arrives to town for some reason that only he knows . After he stops a bus robbery, it leads him to meeting up with a past friend. He and his friend have a grand time reconnecting over bowls of noodles and working together as rickshaw drivers. Everything is peachy until IP Man discovers completely blatant trafficking of women. When the first attempt to stop the criminals goes wrong and his friend’s sister goes missing, Ip Man has to figure out how to save everyone.
The Review
The only historical information I know about Ip Man was that Bruce Lee was his student. That information was enough to enjoy the cinematic universe of Ip Man. The Ip Mans has indeed been a long franchise since 2010 of watching the cinematic hero that is Ip Man doing what we all love seeing him do. There is an expectation for insane scenarios of martial arts playing on screen. The movies are very formulaic; the formula has been Ip Man versus [Insert power villain here]. Yet audiences cannot get enough the cool, collected style of Wing Chun even as the most violent chaos erupts around. He knows how to keep it real cool.
There is a difference between what is expected and how that expectation is delivered. Ip Man: The Awakening hits all the key points of an Ip Man but it falls steeply short on substance. The fights are visually fun to watch but the it’s shallow in its intent. There isn’t really a moment of suspense or wonder if Ip man will come through. He does. Ip Man is not really in danger in this movie. It’s more like his young pride is scarred and it’s the first lesson of many in humility and common sense.
The Hero Arrives
We are introduced to a smiling Ip Man with a head of hair and full of youthful swagger. The smile is a stark contract between Miu Tsu and the other actors who previously played the role of Ip Man. Those actors played an older, seasoned, and wiser Ip Man. Miu Tse’s version is raw energy. His version of Ip Man is barely understanding the world and is still full of clear thoughts of what is right and wrong. That is not horrible but running purely energy creates tunnel fision and can cause more chaos than good. For in Ip Man: the Awakening, Ip Man is not quite at that state of mind yet. He is eager and sincere but fatally reckless.
The fight scene within the bus really sets up who Ip Man is in this stage. During the scene, a pair of women (a mother and a daughter pair) are being harassed by a trio of thugs. None of the passengers move to help and the bus driver continues on. Already we can tell that this town is so used to these acts that they don’t even blink when it’s happening right in front them. Most likely it’s due to fear as we later find that there is a very scary character in the neighborhood.
Once the fight starts, that’s when the bus driver pulls on the brakes and piles out along with most of the passengers. Everyone is now watching as Ip Man playfully schools the thug. He is immediately a hero, willing to come to the defense of the weak.
At the same time, we can see that he does not take the same consideration of protecting the women to the the damage that he has just physically caused. The heroic act is performed at the expense of the other passengers safety before they exited, the three broken windows on the bus, and the waiting passengers at the next bus stops wondering at the delay.
Was It A Kidnapping?
The young woman that Ip Man rescue is the sister of the friend that he reconnected with. During the fight there is a moment that makes it obvious that the sister has doe eyes on Ip Man. So how can she gets his attention?
The driving point for Ip Man on the hero’s journey is the moment of the friend’s sisters disappearance. It wasn't an intentional kidnapping! Or, it really didn’t seem so. There is a not so secret underground gang yanking women from the streets. The kidnapping itself is pretty traumatic. We get the sense that the women are being tortured for a significant set of time. It’s not clear if this was to break down the women’s mind, relishing the sheer act of torture or both.
Knowing that there’s danger lurking on the street, the friend’s sister still trusts the words of complete strangers and falls for the most facepalmed dupe of all time. From the words of a “talent scout,” She willingly goes into a “talent” agency to become a star so Ip Man can pay attention to her. She is abruptly whisked away to be tortured. The way the “talent scout” approached her, it’s not clear if she was abducted as a move against the friend or if it was because she was just easily trapped. It just seemed that she was the perfect mark for the them: alone, wistful, and young. .
The Villain
For a great hero like Ip Man, there should be a great villain to counter all that greatness. For Ip Man: The Awakening the villain is a white man who loves quoting Chinese proverbs and delivering violent orders to create control.
It is hinted that he is a character who seems to have a very thin grasp on control and is delusional. Yet when it comes down to a boss level showdown, he buckles down quickly into defeat. The more intense fights that Ip Man has against protagonists are between the nameless henchmen. The henchmen pair are closet to Ip Man’s fighting level and strength and do offer a more challenge for him. We just have no idea who they are or why they are the henchmen. Thanks to an exposition from a gawking bystander, the henchmen are boxers.
Which leads to the main question: why do so many people follow the villain’s order? He doesn’t have great physical power and he handles the trafficking business in a sloppy manner (which works in the victims favor thankfully). Do the rest of the gang recognize what the villain lacks but deals with it because he makes a great figurehead to conduct business? Was there some sort of connection that only he had with the other head powers of the trafficking business? Is it because of money? Reasonable enough. But why torture and kill? If this gang has no qualms about violence, why follow this one person who has not lifted a finger to do most of the dirty work? Or even show proof of the violent acts that he can performe.
Main Question
What happened to the cat?!
Technical Notes
There are some sub-titling errors. They were not distracting or took away from understanding the movie. It is an incredibly amusing moment when you read that lines about the "dock and evil forces.".
The fight scenes are very fast and can be dizzying to those sensitive to motion on screen .
Overall thoughts:
It was a disappointing addition compared to the main four preceding Ip Man movies that. At least we know that If this movie was watched in consequential order, it would be seen as a rise in story substance and quality. However, it’s not the best introduction to the series or to know the character based off of the legendary figure. .
What the movie does provides is another adventure in seeing Ip Man do what he is expected to do. Protect, fight, and defend for what is right. He is the lone, ordinary man with the exceptional martial skills that inspire people to rise up. That energy to fight for what is right comes through at the end of the movie. It may be the same movie formula we have seen before but it still elicits the same cozy feeling of doing what's right.
Ip Man: The Awakening debuted exclusively on the martial arts streaming service Hi-YAH! on May 20, and will hit Digital, Blu-ray™ and DVD June 21 from Well Go USA.
ABOUT WELL GO USA ENTERTAINMENT
Well Go USA Entertainment (www.wellgousa.com) is an Oscar®-nominated theatrical and home entertainment distribution label that specializes in bringing the best in action, genre and independent films from the U.S. and around the world to North America. Well Go titles can be seen across a variety of platforms, including in theaters, on-demand, via DVD and Blu-ray and on television, as well as on mobile and connected devices through martial arts action channel Hi-YAH! (www.hiyahtv.com). Well Go USA Entertainment’s corporate headquarters is in Plano, Texas, with an additional office in Taiwan.
