I've always been a sucker for martial arts movies. I generally don't like dubbed movies or movies I have to watch captions, but Ip Man is one of my favorite movies and I have watched it both English dubbed and with captioning.
Ip Man is the story about Bruce Lee's master, based on his life story. While some of the facts were embellished in the movie, it is fairly accurate to his life story.
Ip Man (also referred to by Yup Man) is played by Donnie Yen, the actor who played Chirrut Îmwe in Rogue One. He does a fantastic job playing an extremely likable character. I am a huge fan of his since originally seeing IP Man.
Ip Man takes place during the Sino-Japanese war and when the Chinese were overcome by the Japanese in the early 1900s. Ip Man studied and taught Wing Chun, a style focused on grappling, striking and trapping opponents. In the early 1900s Wing Chun was not very well known. Jackie Chan and Robert Downey Jr. as well known practitioners of the art and of course Bruce Lee and his son Brandon Lee.
Ip Man spends most of its time in the drama and action genres but has a few silly scenes that will make you laugh. The martial arts is some of the best I've seen and Donnie Yen is mesmerizing. Even if you are not a fan of martial arts, the story is powerful and emotional.
Ip Man was followed by two additional movies, not as strong as the first but definitely worth watching.
Ip Man is available on Netflix in the US
