Wong Kar-Wai hasn’t released a new film in six years. I was a defender and proponent of his previous film, My Blueberry Nights (almost universally trashed), loved the film before that, the brilliant sci-fi-esque 2046, and highly appreciated his earlier critically acclaimed films such as In The Mood For Love and Chung King Express. So it was with much anticipation that I approached his new film, a biopic of Ip Man (Tony Leung, in a white hat), an influential teacher of Bruce Lee (Lee makes no appearance here).
Despite the lead actors spending years in training to do their own martial arts fight scenes, despite the excellent fight-scene choreography from Yuen Wo Ping (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Kill Bill; The Matrix), and despite the usual exquisite craftsmanship from Wong and master cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd, unfortunately the result leaves more than a little to be desired. Ziyi Zhang, whose fictional character eventually takes over the film, is her usual mesmerizing self, but once she put up her sleeves and got rolling in a fight, I kept wishing for the vastly more exciting kung fu scenes in Zhang Yimou’s excellent 2004 film, House of Flying Daggers.
Maybe I need to take a course in Mid-20th Century Chinese politics to get more jazzed about The Grandmaster, or maybe the missing large chunks that were cut out from the film will somehow turn on the light switch once the director’s cut hits, but I have to admit I probably won’t be waiting around for it.
The criticism on Wong has been that he can be superficial–all amazing and gorgeous surface, little depth.
Here, in telling the story of how Ip Man, in the 1930s, decided to end the bickering between the Northern and Southern Chinese styles of kung fu, and bring together the two styles, I reluctantly couldn’t agree more. Lifeless characters seem to be looking around for some air as the scene shifts to Hong Kong after the Japanese Army invades.
While Wong’s images often evoke feeling, here it’s far too hit and miss. Although the scene where Ip Man wards off a razor with a set of chopsticks is pretty cool.
2 1/2 Maybe The Director’s Cut Will Save The Day But I Doubt It (out of 5 stars)