eric-18268 I saw this movie disappear from theaters in less than a week . it was advertised as a martial art action movie . actually it is a draggy love story of a man spending his life chasing his love . not what action movie goers expect .

Paul Magne Haakonsen Wong Kar Wai usually make really great movies, typically some very offbeat dramas that sink into your conscious and then sticks with you. And while there are some great moments here and there in "The Grandmaster" (aka "Yi dai zong shi"), then the movie was nowhere near the usual complex and unique movies that Wong Kar Wai has previously directed.The story that Wong Kar Wai sets out to tell in "The Grandmaster" is about legendary Kung Fu master Ip Man, the man who trained Bruce Lee in the martial arts.If you expect a grand martial arts movie, then you will be sorely disappointed. "The Grandmaster" is sort of a very pointless mixture of martial arts and drama, that ultimately failed to deliver on both accounts. The martial arts sequences were visually impressive, but they didn't really help the movie's storyline to progress. And the drama was just too long-dragged and became too much and somewhat of a hindrance to the movie. And in overall, the movie is just kept in too dark hues and tones.What made this movie semi-watchable was a great performance by Tony Leung, one of the better actors of the Hong Kong cinema. Oddly enough, then it was as if Ziyi Zhang didn't fully put everything she had into her performance in this movie.Wong Kar Wai sets out to accomplish something grand with this movie, but swung and missed far, unfortunately. "The Grandmaster" is not really a memorable moment in Chinese cinema. And there are far better and more enjoyable movies about Ip Man available.

Robin Turner I can see why some people might not like "The Grandmaster". Martial artists who want an accurate biopic of Ip Man will be as disappointed by this as by the earlier film "Ip Man"; on the other hand, such a film would probably be deadly boring to anyone else. On the other hand, people wanting a straightforward kung fu flick will also be disappointed. This is a kung fu art film, and as such, it excels. Every shot is a picture, and the film should be watched accordingly. If you don't like the kind of film where the camera pans away from a fight to zoom in on some raindrops, don't watch it.The story is a little confusing, not least because it is as much about Gong Er as Ip Man - in fact it should have been called "The Grandmasters" (a title Wong Kar-Wai briefly considered). The understated flirtation between the two of them is a rather thin device to keep the two story-lines together and the main reason I'm not giving this film a ten. Having a real person fall in love with a fictional character just seems pointless. The other thing I knocked off a point for is that the stories of the other masters - Ma San and The Razor - seem to have been mostly left on the cutting room floor. Ma Sen thus comes across as a cardboard "bad student" and The Razor seems superfluous.From a martial arts point of view, it's fun watching the different styles and the disputes between them. Again, nothing actually happened like it did in the film, and the fights are stylised representations of what a fight between masters of different styles would look like, but the moves are recognisable as Wing Chun, Hong Gar, Bagua and so forth. Zhang Ziyi studied a lot of Bagua while preparing for the film, and it shows. A martial arts (or even a martial arts film) background is not necessary to enjoy the film, though; the cinematography alone carries it.

Beginthebeguine This is a beautiful film to watch full of grace and pathos. Tony Chiu Wai Leung does a fine job as the central character Ip Man, although most of his story is told with voice overs in the English version. Through this character we experience the conflict of Martial Arts politics in the 1920's, the ruthlessness of the Japanese occupation and his life in exile. Starring beside him is the always beautiful and graceful Ziyi Zhang as Gong Er, a young woman forbidden to train, yet trained anyway by her father a master of the arts. The battle scene between Gong Er and her enemy, at a train station, was like a ballet. I was quite taken by the movements, the way the scene is lit, and the wonderful way it was cut together; showing great insight into cadence and rhythm.I am not a fan of martial arts films, but like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon this is a film to be enjoyed not only for its action scenes but for its undeniable beauty.