ACF 867: Reminder - Ip Man 2 opens in U.S. today in twelve cities

Don't forget that the uncut, undubbed, English-subtitled version of Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster will be opening in the U.S. in twelve cities today. Veteran action actor Donnie Yen reprises his role as the titular character, the Wing Chun master who taught Bruce Lee and others. The film also stars the venerable Sammo Hung.

For info about screening times of Ip Man 2 in the twelve home cities, click here.

Make it to a screening this opening weekend if you can. You'll have a great viewing experience, and you'll be helping to insure that these kind of films get to be seen on big screens in theaters, and not just your on flat-screen TVs at home.

And do check out the film on Facebook.

ACF 861: U.S.theatrical opening of Ip Man 2 in 12 cities this weekend

The uncut, undubbed, English-subtitled version of Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster will be opening in the U.S. in selected cities this coming Friday, January 28th, 2011. Donnie Yen reprises his role as the titular character, the Wing Chun master who taught Bruce Lee and others. The film also stars the venerable Sammo Hung.

The original Ip Man, which was shown at the 2009 New York Asian Film Festival, was a terrific movie. (Click here to read my review of it.) Both it and Ip Man 2 (which I unfortunately was not able to catch) screened at last year's NYAFF. But I can't imagine the sequel not be highly entertaining, especially having watched some of the clips on Facebook and YouTube.

I've been advised that the distributor will be looking at the opening week-end take, hoping it'll be at least $100,000. Meeting this figure may prove important as to whether or not future films of this nature will get theatrical distribution in the United States.

So it's more important than usual to get out and see this film on the opening weekend. I'm doing my part and I hope you will do yours, because seeing Hong Kong martial arts films -- as well as Asian films in general -- in theaters, and not just on DVDs, is important to all us fans.

For info about screening times of Ip Man 2 in the twelve home cities, click here.

ACF 313: Ip Man - a NYAFF preview review

Ip Man
Directed by Wilson Yip
Starring Donnie Yen, Simon Yam
Hong Kong, 2008 , 106 min

North American Premiere

Got a screener of this very fine, old school martial arts actioner that'll be shown at the New York Asian Film Festival, which starts in just two weeks. (Yeah!!!)

Director Yip (SLP, Flashpoint) does a fine job telling the story of Ip Man (played with great dignity by action vet Donnie Yen). Ip Man was a master of Wing Chun and is probably best known for being Bruce Lee's teacher.

The movie opens in 1935 in the town of Fushan where Ip Man is happily married with one young son, obviously is financially secure, and is far and away the greatest martial arts master around. He demonstrates his skill against both an honorable teacher and a crude dude from the sticks who wants to set up shop in Fushan, but gets his come-uppance instead.

Then the Japanese move in , and life in Fushan goes all to hell. Ip Man ultimately has to perform menial labor so that he and his family can survive. And of course, there's the inevitable face-off with a Japanese officer.

Sammo Hung served as action director and Tony Leung Siu Hung was the martial arts coodinator. Both did terrific jobs. Kenneth Mak did the art direction, and I can only assume that he deserves the credit for the magnificent set designs and decoration. If not him, kudos to whoever was responsible.

Ip Man is not quite as virulently anti-Japanese as Bruce Lee's Jing wu men (Fist of Fury is its Hong Kong English title, although it was released in the U.S. as The Chinese Connection) or Jet Li's Jing wu ying xiong (Fist of Legend). The ranking Japanese officer,for example, is not particularly vilified, although the same cannot be said for his second-in-command or for the despicable way the Japanese occupiers treated the Chinese.

The bottom line is that Ip Man is a terrific action movie, one of Hong Kong's best in some time. It's definitely one you should see at the festival if you can. Check back here or at the Subway Cinema website for info about the festival schedule.

And if you can't see it at the NYAFF, keep the title in mind. Hopefully, someone will at least pick it up for distribution on DVD, if not wider theatrical release.

ACF 104: "Flash Point" available on DVD

Flash Point / Dao huo xian

Directed by Wilson Yip
Hong Kong, 2007, 88 min

This fabulous Hong Kong action film, which enjoyed a limited theatrical release in the U.S. this past March, came out on DVD earlier this week. Flash Point again united director Wilson Yip and actor Donnie Yen, whose previous work together includes 2006's Dragon Tiger Gate and 2005's Kill Zone (a.k.a. SPL).

Yen (who also produced and served as Action Director) stars as Jun Ma, a "righteous" detective in the Serious Crimes Unit. He's a tough-as-nails type who has no problem laying a heavy dose of whoop-ass on the bad guys. His employment of excessive violence has resulted in numerous complaints. His department superiors are none too happy about his methods, though they can't deny the results achieved.

The film is set in 1997, just before the handover of Hong Kong to the Mainland. In my original review I speculated that this was done to avoid suggesting that police would use such techniques in Communist China. In the available commentary (more on that later), Donnie Yen pretty much confirms this, while adding that the film also wanted to avoid suggesting that such criminal activity could even exist in Hong Kong after the turnover.

Donnie Yen (left) and Louis Koo face off in a night club

Wilson (Louis Koo) is an undercover cop who has infiltrated a gang led by three vicious Vietnamese brothers. When eldest brother Archer Sin (Lui Leung-wai) is arrested, Tony (Collin Chou), the middle brother, and Tiger (Xing Yu), the youngest, go on a rampage of intimidation, kidnapping and murder to secure Archer's release.

The fighting scenes are terrific. The film culminates in over fifteen minutes of confrontation that starts out with weapons and ends with a one-on-one extended fight sequence between detective Ma (Yen) and Tony (Chou). If this doesn't satisfy your "jones" for action, I don't know what will.

Collin Chou (left) and Yen in the climactic fight scene

Flash Point is another outstanding "Two-Disc Ultimate Edition" release from Dragon Dynasty. I've listed all the special features at the end of this review, but want to draw your attention to some of them.

First off, the feature length commentary is terrific. It's like sitting in a screening room with Yen and Bey Logan, who's done numerous other commentaries on Dragon Dynasty releases and who is incredibly knowledgeable. You'll not only learn about the film, but also about the ongoing hardship of filming in Hong Kong, such as the difficulty of obtaining street permits and the need to shoot around actors' schedules on other projects that are filming simultaneously. You definitely should check this out when you're ready for a second viewing of the film.

The Behind-The-Scenes Gallery consists of three featurettes, not stills, about the film. They're quite good.

The Gladiators segment in The Ultimate Fighters section is a non-stop montage of intense action scenes from the film itself and from rehearsals. Crank it up for an adrenaline rush.

M.M.A. on Display features a young Asian woman learning some basic Ultimate Fighter moves. M.M.A. stands for Mixed Martial Arts, the fighting style that combines methods from different disciplines and which is the basis of Yen's action directing here. This segment takes place in the Hong Kong gym where the film's opening sequence was shot and is in English. (Aside from this and the commentary, the extras are in Chinese with English subtitles available).

There are two basic styles of fighting: striking and grappling. In M.M.A., fighters cross-train, so that a practitioner of one style learns how to employ, as well as defend against, the tactics of other styles. Muay Thai, which uses fists, elbows, knees, and feet (go watch Ong-Bak, if you haven't already), is the primary striking style utilized. Grappling usually consists of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or submission wrestling. While M.M.A. is addressed in the film commentary and some of the other special features, I found this segment particularly interesting and informative.

Flash Point is great entertainment, a real shot-in-the-arm for fans of Hong Kong action. The film gets a 3.5 out of 4 star rating, and the extras in the 2-Disc DVD package earn 4 out of 4 stars.

Special Features:

Disc 1

Feature length commentary with Donnie Yen and Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan

Disc 2

Behind-The-Scenes Gallery

- Collateral Damage: The Making Of Flash Point

- Flash Point Explored

- Perpetual Motion

The Ultimate Fighters

- Gladiators

- M.M.A. On Display

Promotional Gallery

- On Dangerous Ground (an interview with Donnie Yen)

- Gala Premiere

- Trailers, Teases, TV Spots

Deleted Scenes

My original review of the theatrical release of Flash Point, from which some of the above was taken, ran in ACF: 086.