By Ed Fortune
Ip Man: The Awakening is a sort of prequel to the beloved IP Man martial arts action movies. Focusing on the legendary Ip Man (who in the real world was the Wing Chun master who taught Bruce Lee), this new movie feels like a pale imitation of a beloved movie.
Prequels can be tricky things. On the one hand, you want the whole thing to be its own original movie, and on the other hand, you want it to reflect the vibe and strength of the movie, so it feels like part of the series. It can be a tricky balance, made even more difficult in the case of action movies because it’s difficult to replicate good action sequences without feeling repetitive.
Ip Man: The Awakening avoids these issues by being set far enough back from the original movie that it barely registers and only shadows the broad emotional beats of 2008’s Ip Man. To call this a prequel is a little dishonest; it draws upon the same real-life inspirations as other Ip Man movies but has no real connection beyond sharing a name.
Set in early 1900s Hong Kong, the movie introduces us to the young Master Ip Man, a nice enough chap with legendary martial arts prowess. After a rather fine action sequence on an old-timey tram cart (which feels like we’ve seen it before), we are introduced to a broadcast of thugs and allies who aid Ip Man in ousting some fiendish British criminals from Hong Kong. This feels like a martial arts classic at points but is let down by being too slow.
There are some nice touches here; it’s fun that the English baddies bang on about Bartitsu, the precursor to mixed martial arts that was invented by Victorian gentleman EW Barton-Wright. That style stole many ideas from both boxing and Japanese martial arts and fits this story of Chinese martial arts in British Empire occupied Hong Kong very well. It also lets the movie have some fun action scenes (with a variety of props) but a lack of budget squanders this potential. The talented Tse Miu feels almost criminally underused as the titular Ip Man as the direction fails to focus on his natural talents. There is little charm or humour to the action scenes, alas.
It’s a perfect introduction to Hong Kong action movies in the sense that it has a gentle pace and plenty of action scenes, but if you’re familiar with the genre, you will find this a little bit boring. An unworthy pretender to a fine legacy of films.
Ip Man: The Awakening premieres on the Icon Film Channel on April 3rd and released in selected UK cinemas from May 5th.
