Starring Tse Miu. Ip Man: The Awakening tells the story of a young Ip Man as he battles against a British kingpin who’s kidnapping and selling Chinese citizens into slavery.
Another year, another Ip Man movie. When Donnie Yens Ip Man movie first came onto the scene, people were completely blown away. Don’t forget it was a big movie all over the world and was a lot of people’s first experience of a great kung fu movie. Obviously to us Kung Fu fans, yes it was good but nothing we hadn’t seen before , of course with the exception of it showcasing the power of Wing Chun.
Since then it seems to have opened the flood gates for Ip Man movies. Not counting the original series of Ip Man 1-4 and the spin-off Master Z: Ip Man Legacy. We have The Legend is Born: Ip Man, Ip Man: The Final Fight, The Grandmaster, Ip Man and Four Kings, Ip Man: Kung Fu Master. And now Ip Man: The Awakening. The 11th movie to my knowledge featuring the legendary master who let’s face it. If he didn’t have a world-famous student in Bruce Lee, would he even be known?
So, Ip Man: The Awakening as you might have guessed by the name features Tse Miu as a young Ip Man before he had his own Wing Chun school. Naturally, Ip Man having a heart of gold the movie starts with Master Ip defending an innocent mother and daughter from local thugs who are trying to steal their belongings on a tram.
We are introduced to an evil brit played by a very sinister-sounding Sergio Deieso simply known as Mr Stark. He is paying Chinese crooks to kidnap young Chinese women to sell into slavery.
Of Course, Ip Man and the friend witness a kidnapping at the docks and step in to stop it, freeing the women. This is where all the trouble starts and puts Master Ip on a collision course with the brits who also have the local police force in their pockets.
A welcome turn of events is all the British crooks in the movie specialise in Bartitsu. Bartitsu is an almost forgotten British martial art created by the upper class to defend against would-be attackers and muggers. It was developed in 1898 by Edward William Barton-Wright, a British engineer who spent 3 years in Japan. Already quite an adept fighter, Barton had previously studied boxing, wrestling, fencing, savate and was trained in using the Stiletto (A long narrow dagger) He returned to England with a new style of fighting which he tested on the street in street fights. Once satisfied he named his style Bartitsu which is a combination of his surname and Jujitsu. Bartitsu combines elements of boxing, Jujitsu, French kickboxing and cane fighting. Pretty much making it the first mixed martial art. Being designed for the upper class there is a lot of focus on fighting with a cane. Ip Man: The Awakening is the first martial arts movie I’ve seen to feature Bartitsu in this way. I believe Robert Downey jr’s Sherlock homes, he utilised Bartitsu as his fighting style.
With the introduction of this new style and Ip Mans Wing Chun causing trouble for the British and being printed in local news saying Wing Chun is stronger. This doesn’t sit well with Mr Stark so, like clockwork in most Ip Man movies, he organises a public fight with Ip Mans Wing Chun vs the British Bartitsu. Mr Starks right-hand man and his best Bartitsu fighter to take on Ip Man.
The fights are about what you expect if you have seen any Ip Man movies. Well-choreographed with Wing Chun’s fast and straight punches taking on all-comers. Good fight scenes but nothing you haven’t seen in previous Ip Man movies.
In conclusion. Naturally, this will get compared with the Donnie Yens Ip Man movies and even Master Z. Is it as good, no of course not. Quite a short affair, the whole movie clocks in at under 80 minutes. The end finale I thought was quite a let-down and was over far too quick. The final fight had Ip Man completely demolish his rival. This isn’t Scott Adkins vs Donnie Yen. If you’re a huge Ip Man fan, I’d say give it a go, otherwise, you can probably skip it.
Ip Man: The Awakening can be purchased from Amazon now.
Rating 2.5/5 belts
