"Martial Arts, there's only two words to summarize it: horizontal and vertical. Whoever remains standing in the end, wins." The movie started with IP Man reflecting on martial arts and then into the scene as he fights his way among dozen combatants under the rain. With him as the last man standing, the movie moves on to flashbacks of his life.
As martial arts grows more popular in the 30's, more people flock to Foshan Province in Southern China to learn from the masters. These experienced masters love to challenge their counterparts in underground battles that were held at a locked-up venues to prevent anyone from leaving halfway. No food and rest is allowed before the results are announced in order for them to stay focus.
At the age of 40, Ip Man (Tony Leung) is happily married to a beautiful wife (Korean actress Song Hye-Kyo). Having a healthy inheritance, he continued the family legacy of advocating Wing Chun, though extremely talented in martial arts, he choose to keep a low profile.
One day, North-eastern Grandmaster Gong (Wang Qingxiang) decided to challenge the best Southerner to a fight before he returns North. It was held at the Golden Pavilion, which is a local brothel patronized by many of the region's best martial artists. Ip Man make his first public debut there. He proves that intelligence and restraint can be as powerful as Kung Fu and insists that Northern and Southern martial arts can co-exist peacefully. Many were left very much impressed and amazed by his fighting abilities, especially Grandmaster Gong.
Master Gong's daughter, Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi) is not as satisfied and returns to challenge Ip Man herself. During the fight, they share a brief moment of attraction. Gong Er returned home and was shocked to discover that her father's best disciple, Ma Shan (Zhang Jin) has killed his father as he is not willing to accept his master's defeat. Master Gong dying wish is for Gong Er to get married but Gong Er vows to have her revenge and to get back the last remaining of Gong's revered 64 Hands technique.
After which, the movie shows the Sino-Japanese war which destroys everything.
The Grandmaster Trailer
Rating: 3/5
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| Picture Source : http://www.recentmovieposters.com/2012/12/debut-poster-for-scott-stewarts-dark.html |
Experience at the Cathay Platinum Movie Suite
Before I started on my review of the movie, I would like to share my experience at the Cathay Platinum Movie Suite as it was my first time there. Didn't know that I can collect the tickets at the lounge at level 5 itself so I still went to queue at level 1 ticketing collection counter. Wow, it was quite a thrill seeing 18 tickets coming out from the printing machine!
This movie treat was actually the prize for coming in Second over a friendly quiz session put up during the last district meeting. As staff, I got to attend both the winning team's treat which is a buffet lunch at the Hyatt hotel for the first team and this. Thankful for the people who make this possible.
Since I have to collect the tickets, I was the first to reach. The place is oh so grand. I just have to take photos and camwhore inside. Who knows when will be the next time I step in?
When majority has arrived, we ordered our food from the menu to be served inside. I ordered my all-time favourite Chocolate Lava cake. Heehee.
Chilled a while, took some group photos (which I will not post here as I'm not going to get everyone's approval for their face to appear on my blog) and we went in. There's only like 28 seats inside and we already took up 18 seats. The whole theater just felt so first class. The seats were all sofa seats and you can also adjust the back of the seat. There's a small lamp on the table shared by two person and they will even give you a blanket to cover your leg.
My movie partner is Ms Tay and this is my second time watching movie with her. Haha. Really comfortable so if it's a boring movie, I bet many will fall asleep there.
The Grandmaster Review
Before watching the movie, I was very much anticipating it after learning that Director Wong Kar Wai took almost a decade before it was officially release. Expecting it to be like a remake of Ip Man, another popular movie starring Donnie Yen is a big mistake. The whole movie of The Grandmaster is like a poem. It's neither a Kung Fu movie nor is it a love story. Every line is like a quote and the movie jumps frequently from scenes to scenes. Far too fragmented. Many a times, I find that I have absolutely no idea what's going on in the movie and so I had to read up a lot of reviews online about this movie before writing my own. Online report said that the movie had a four hour cut-off time and that explains why one character inside known as "The Razor" had only about ten minutes of screen time in three scenes. His existence seems almost pointless. I think the main gist of the movie is watching the characters ponder about their lives. The missed opportunities by keeping the honour is especially displayed in the part when Gong Er choose not to get married so that she can hold the honour and learn the last bit of his father's kung fu.
Great links for further read up
Song of the day
This is the song that was played in the movie during some of the scenes.
My Look Of The Day
Photo edited with app - Snapeee. Thanks for reading!
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