FILMMAKER MOVIE REACTION!! IP Man (2008) FIRST TIME REACTION!! 

Remind me to never mess with Donnie Yen! Something new I'm excited to add to the mix here! Want to vote on what I should watch next? Click here! www.patreon.com/jamesvscinema Have a THE PUNISHER Episode on Friday and Band of Brothers on Saturday Enjoy the day!

interesting fact Donnie Yen's mom is martial arts grandmaster, her name is Bow-sim Mark

Ip Man taking on all those guys & decimating them left me with my jaw open for like a week after I watched it from how epic it was lol

Fun fact: Robert Downey Jr actually practices Wing Chun. You'll notice he has a Wooden dummy in Iron Man 3 and he also showcases this in Sherlock Holmes. A lot of fans don't notice that usually.

You need to watch jet Li’s “hero” it’s genuinely a beautiful movie even more so than crouching tiger hidden dragon, Donnie yen is in it too!

"He's literally breaking their bones... I don't even think that's how bones work!" 🤣🤣🤣

This was also a tribute to Bruce's "Fist of Fury" which was also about Chinese martial artists fighting the Japanese occupation. The scene where he takes on the ten guys is a direct reference to a similar scene in FOF One of Jet Li's early hits was "Fist of Legend" a remake about the same (fictional) character Chen Zhen, who was fighting the Japanese to avenge the death of his master Huo YuanJia (real guy from history). Li then later portrayed Huo YuanJia in "Fearless"

Jet Li’s Fearless is incredible. Martial arts movies are a hell of a rabbit hole

I absolutely love these films. Donnie Yen is amazing, especially whenever he rolls up his sleeves

If you want to be historically accurate, Japanese soldiers did train by beating prisoners to death. They didn't really "fight", they would just test out techniques like bayoneting people, to give the soldiers the sense of what it was like to kill.

This movie came out in a time before John Wick or The Raid, imagine being a martial arts movie layman and seeing that 1 v 10 scene, it would blow you mind!

"He's literally breaking their bones. I don't think that's how bones work!" Ip Man: "Well yeah... When I break them, they don't work." XD Sorry, I was laughing when you said that. That scene always blows everyone's minds.

12:07 The reason why Wing Chun is so good is because asides from a good center of gravity, as you pointed out, it focuses less on acrobatics and little to no kicks/spinning moves that flashier styles incorporate. Notice Ip Man always faces his front towards opponents and never takes his eyes off of them. It's basically keeping your enemies in your sights at all times. Even his kicks are mostly low and middle front kicks. When surrounded, he turns quickly to face the next person he's aiming for. He actually is flexible to do high kicks but rarely uses them.

Do a Sergio Leone next. My personal pick would be "Once upon a Time in the West", but I wouldn't mind some Good, Bad and Ugly love either.

Not sure if you noticed but the opening credits says that the "Chief Wing Chun Adviser" is Ip Chun Ip Man's eldest son. He is still alive at 96 years old and retired.

I don't know anything about film making but I'm learning to appreciate scenes I've already seen just by hearing the technicalities and thought that goes into them. We don't realize how much color and score manipulates emotion when we're caught in the moment.

If you liked that 1 v 10 scene, you'll absolutely love The Protector with Tony Jaa

Waiting for u to watch Ong Bak, Legend of the Drunken Master, Hero(Jackie Chan) , The Chinese Connection (Bruce Lee), FEARLESS (Jet Li) and countless more martial arts movies

Also if you didn’t know Robert Downey Jr is a black belt in Wing Chun. He may even be a double I’m not sure. If you ever react to Sherlock Holmes you get to him do some of it

The events are fictional in the movie. IRL, Ip Man fled to Hong Kong when the Japanese invaded. He opened up a school and started teaching Wing Chun there.

Captain Li's redemption is so good, they actually had to delete an scene where he gets beaten by the crowd right after he kills the japanese colonel, great characters for a great movie.

The protector???

You've earned that 50k bro. it's been so awesome to watch your reviews, kick back, and just relax. Thanks for creating a place for chill vibes.

OH HELL YES! Love your reactions btw dude (especially the Ocean's movies so far) and maaaaaaaaan are you in for a ride with this trilogy.

Bro seriously fire movie choices lately, even better than usual imo, loving the vids dude.

Donnie is soooo fast. This is the most satisfying movie to watch. The look on his face after his wife gives him the go ahead is priceless.

Love Ip Man. If you haven’t seen it, give “Flash Point” a spin. Donnie Yen, the same director... one of the best fight scenes ever!

I love this movie, and yes it is loosely based on historical events though they are heavily romanticized. The stunts and combat are of course exceptional given that Yen is one of the greatest movie martial artist in activity. The only issue that I take with not just this movie, but actually a broader issue within chinese movies that came out in the past 15 years or so, is that they quite clearly became a propaganda tool; older one like this are still a tiny bit excusable and its themes are more a way to portray national pride (which is not a bad thing per se unless taken to the extreme), but the more the years went by and China rose in its prominence and importance (and strictiness of its regime) the more you notice how they barely try to hide it anymore. Nearly everything is a metaphor or an excuse to sow the seed of a nationalism that goes beyond the simpler national pride, and also every possible portrayal of what is either foreign or from the more rural parts of China, is done in a very derogatory way, all to promote a quite strong jingoism. It's too bad because I really like the movie, but it's nigh impossible to watch it without notiing that.

60 martial arts movies everyone should see, in the order you should see them if you haven’t. (Plus an honorable mention list.) Most famous, popular, influential and entertaining: 1 "THE MATRIX" 2-3“Kill Bill” 4 "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" 5 "Big Trouble in Little China" 6 "Kung Fu Hustle" 7 “The Karate Kid” (1984) 8 “You Only Live Twice” *The stars and their styles: 9"Enter The Dragon” 10"Dragons Forever" 11"Drunken Master II" 12 “City Hunter” 13-14 "Once Upon A Time in China I&II" 15"Fist of Fury" 16"Fist of Legend" 17 "The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk" 18 “Iron Monkey” 19 “SPL" 20 “Yes Madam” 21 "Hero" 22 "Yojimbo" 23 "Drive" (1997) 24 “The Crow” 25"Ong Bak" 26 "The Raid" 27"District B-13" 28 "Ninja Assassin" 29 “Undisputed 2” 30 “The Street Fighter” *You need to see all of Bruce’s movies because there’s only five, Including 31"The Big Boss" 32"Way of The Dragon" 33"Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey" (DON’T SEE “Game of Death” - see this instead. It has more of the extant footage and isn’t the cash-grab travesty that is "Game of Death") Which then segues nicely into: *Pre-Matrix Hollywood: 34"Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" 35"The Last Dragon" 36"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" 37 "Bloodsport" 38"Roadhouse" 39 “Mortal Kombat” *Shaw Bros: 40"The Five Deadly Venoms" 41"The 36th Chambers of the Shaolin" (AKA Shaolin Master Killer) *Fantasy and VFX: 42 "A Chinese Ghost Story" 43 "The Bride With White Hair" 44 "The Storm Riders" *Animation: 45 “Sword of The Stranger 46 “Kung Fu Panda” 47 “Street Fighter II” (1994) 48 “Ninja Scroll” 49 “Fist of The North Star” (1986) 50 “The Dagger of Kamui *Jackie Chan’s early-80’s to early 90’s streak cannot be over-hyped. At the bare minimum you should see: 52-55"Police Story" I-IV 55-57 "Project A" I&II 58-59"Armor of God" & "Armor of God II: Operation Condor 60 - “Jackie Chan: My Stunts” Honorable mentions: Just really entertaining: “Scott Pilgrim Vs The World “Romeo Must Die” “Tai Chi Zero”/”Tai Chi Hero” “Shaolin Soccer” “Kung Fu Panda” II&III “DOA: Dead or Alive” “Kung Fu Wing Chun” “Haywire” “Chinese Ghost Story” II&III “Butterfly and Sword” “Dragon Inn” Comic book heroes: “Blade I&II” “Deadpool I&II” “The Wolverine” “Lone Wolf & Cub” series “A Man Called Hero” “Dragon Tiger Gate” “Azumi” “Crying Freeman” “Atomic Blonde” “Bulletproof Monk” The rest of Jackie’s astonishing 80’s to 90’s streak: “Who Am I” “Miracles: The Canton Godfather” “Wheels on Meals” “Rumble in The Bronx” “My Lucky Stars”& “Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars” “Twin Dragons” “Mr Nice Guy” “Gorgeous” Not quite martial arts movies: “John Wick” trilogy “Bourne” I-III “Hard Target” “Charlie’s Angels” 2000 and “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” “The Transporter” trilogy “The Matrix Reloaded” “Cowboy Bebop” “Taken” “Kentucky Fried Movie” “Grosse Pointe Blank” “Undercover Brother” “I’m Gonna Git U Sucka” “Shogun” (American TV movie mini-series) Recent favorites: “The Foreigner” “The Man From Nowhere” “The Last Samurai” “13 Assassins” “Man of Tai Chi” “Ip Man” series “Flashpoint” “Fearless” “Monkey King” trilogy More history: Shaw Brothers: “The One Armed Swordsman” “Come Drink With Me “Five Fingers of Death” “Master of The Flying Guillotine” Kurosawa: “Seven Samurai” “Sanjuro” “Redbeard” “Hidden Fortress” “Throne of Blood” Not Kurosawa: “Sword of Doom” Hollywood: “Billy Jack” More Thai: “The Protector” “Chocolate” “Born To Fight” More stars: Mark Dacascos: “Brotherhood of The Wolf” “Only The Strong” Scott Adkins: “Boyka” Michael Jai White: “Black Dynamite” Jet Li: “Kiss of The Dragon” “The Tai Chi Master” “Danny The Dog” “Kids From Shaolin” “The Swordsman” I&II Van Damme: “No Retreat No Surrender” “Kickboxer” Sho Kosugi: “Revenge of The Ninja” Sonny Chiba: “Return of Street Fighter” “Sister Street Fighter” Brandon Lee: “Rapid Fire” “Showdown in Little Tokyo” *Everybody* “The Expendables” trilogy Documentaries: “The Black Kung Fu Experience” “The Real Miyagi” “Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks” “Rubble Kings” F*cking weird: “Ninja III: The Domination” “Zu Warriors”(Both versions) “Heroic Trio” “Green Snake” 1993 “Swordsman III: The East is Red” “Gymkata” “So Close” “Double Team” “Knock Off” “New Legend of Shaolin” “Last Hero in China”

You should react to Jet Li's Fearless, it's probably my favourite martial arts film, along with Ip Man.

The other style was “Karate” I believe

You are providing some great content and help open my eyes to new ways of watching and appriciating films or shows. But more than anything you have a nice vibe that I dont mind spending time with, keep up the great work!

In Hong Kong cinema, you're expected to take actual shots during fights. The extras get the crap kicked out of them for sure haha

Wing Chun can definitely be effective, it's very fast, compact, and centered. In a modern context, when you're fighting with mma gloves the strikes lose a lot of power, and if it's all you're practicing then you aren't learning how to defend against grappling, so in the ring you're not gonna see much of it

Randomly watching this movie and the sequel in my dorm 10 years ago was one of the best decisions lol. Especially because I don't typically watch a lot of movies like this but I loved this series. 💕

This is definitely one of my favorite martial arts movies I had to subscribe just because your reaction to the fight scenes was just like mines the first time I watched it gonna go on a binge watching ya vids bro also liked your analysis of certain scenes from a filmmaker's point of view good shit bro

Ip Man 3 probably remains my favorite movie in the franchise, the story, the choreography, the music, everything's on top

What makes these movies so great is their dedication to the characters and story (with some historical weight thrown in) combined with the amazing fight choreography, editing and stunt work!

I believe that the fights Ip Man had with the Japanese soldier were not historically accurate - which makes sense, because Chinese people were kinda powerless under the Japanese rule, it's hard to believe that anyone who stood up to them survived afterwards. But it is true that when the Japanese took over China, many Chinese people suffered and many war crimes were committed and well-documented, which I guess is the sentiment in these movies - the feelings of humiliation and disrespect felt by civilians. The scene where the Japanese soldier wanted to take away Ip Man's wife, no doubt that would have happened to many Chinese females during that time, getting taken away and sexually assaulted (as I said before, war crimes). Also, the guy who was somewhat on the Japanese's side, there were many Chinese people who betrayed China during that time and helped the Japanese - some for greed, some to stay alive...of course a lot of Chinese people look back and despise them for their betrayal, but in face of death, I can understand that some chose to be selfish (not saying that it was right).

Thanks for making this video. I love your reactions and insights, and have loved this movie since it was released. Ip Man 2 is also definitely worth watching.

Congrats on the growth! Your insight into cinematography is definitely interesting to watch. The scene where he fights 10 dudes is prolly my favorite fight scene of any movie

Dude, congrats on hitting 50k. I’ve been here with you for a little while, been a hell of a ride ma man. Keep it up and can’t wait to see you meet and breach 100k!

A little backstory about Ip Man which you can see in the film Ip Man: A Legend is Born. At 15 years old, Ip Man attended school at St. Stephen's College in Hong Kong. He learned and actually understands and speaks english. It was also one of the places he was familiar with too to escape with his family. That, or a lot of refugees knew Hong Kong was a safe haven.

In regards to your intro: honestly you deserve more than 50k subs, man. You're a super cool dude with a lot of insight to movies that I would otherwise miss, so thank you. Keep doing you and you'll be surprised with how many more people will sub to your channel.

Oh hell yes, so happy to see you take this one on!

dude you deserve way more subs. you're incite is awesome and videos are dope keep it up man.

omg, as a student of wing chun, i LOVE this movie, and seeing my favorite film reactor watch it was amazing!! PLZ react to the other ip man films, especially THE GRANDMASTER

One thing you should know about ip man, if he rolls up his sleeves, you’re dead.

Congratulations on nearing the 50k mark! I can't speak for everyone who has subscribed to your channel, but I know why I did. Your commentary is often thoughtful and informative and brings things that would normally go unnoticed to my attention. I love the craft of movie making but sometimes get caught up in the story and miss some of the details. I really enjoy when you mention a particular camera angle or an edit or the pacing of a scene. Thanks for doing what you do. peace ✌️

MFW you realize the dude that got the 20 punch combo to the face got off the easiest in that 10 man fight

Ip Man is legendary!!!! Glad you reacted to this masterpiece man!!!!

That fight against the Japanese karate fighters is one of the most brutal. Loved watching your reaction to it.

LOVE this film! I’m excited for you to see the other films in the series! Donnie Yen is awesome! I’m glad Hollywood took notice of him, I hope you also watch his other classic films such as Iron Monkey, Flashpoint, In the Line of Duty 4, and even his role as the villain against Jet Li in Once Upon a Time in China 2 was epic!

Donnie Yen’s real life style is MMA but he mainly shows that in films that’s based in modern day and in period films he uses more traditional martial arts

The IP Man movies, which I love, are some of China's most successful propaganda films. It's comparable to Top Gun. China v. Japan is a thing in the same way that US vs. Russia is a thing. IP Man was a real guy, but the movies are all heavily stylized fictions about him. I hope you watch the sequels. The one where he fights Mike Tyson is a lot of fun.

50K ! congrats Bro . You will hit 1mil in no time

Your observation is impressive- it is about center of gravity surprised anybody who hasn’t done Wing Chun could notice so quickly

James you deserve 750 thousand subs. For starters. 50 is just the beginning for you dude.

Yo man, congrats on getting 50,000 subs, but then again you and your channel deserve it! Also much love for reacting to Ip Man, Donnie Yen is amazing!:)

He’s using a form of Karate. Shows the difference between Chinese and Japanese Martial Arts

Ip Man was the founder of modern wing chun and taught Bruce Lee. This film is more a homage to him and his legacy than factual. Also Sammo Hung was the lead fight choreographer who is a living legend, choreographed for enter the dragon with bruce lee and who also starred in late 90's cop series Martial Law.

You should really watch "The devil all the time"

I never got this noti. Happy I found it 3 days later after going through yiur channel again

Ive watched the 10 black belts fight so many times. Its on parr with straight up anime like Madara vs the shinobi alliance. Also congrats on 50k. I'll still be here when you hit 100k 🤘

i like how every one of those feather duster hits would have been a strike with a blade. that fight would have been over 10 times had he not shown restraint.

One of my fave movies of all time. And one of the hardest to watch.

Those punch combos was so unreal it's almost like I'm watching an anime lmao.

Congrats on your subs, including mine! Keep doing a good job James! Between you and Brandon, your channel is a great discovery on YT x

@James VS Cinema You just hit one of my top 3 all time favorite movies. Yes, this is extremely historically accurate. Obviously there were some liberties taken with the actual dialogue and interactions, but the events are true. This actually inspired me to take Wing Chun for a while. While by no means would I consider myself a practitioner, I learned a lot about the history. Wing Chun (or Wing Tsun) is a fighting style that was originally designed for women, which is why you heard a few references regarding a "woman's fighting style". Basically, it's designed for a smaller defender to defeat a larger attacker, which is usually the case with a man attacking a woman. In addition, it's designed for extremely close quarters fighting, where styles like Tae Kwon Do focus on powerful kicks and attacks from more medium range. Wing Chun is no joke. When you saw Master Ip fighting the 10 Japanese, you saw how fast he dispatched them. That's the entire point of Wing Chun, incapacitate your enemy as quickly as possible. Those bicycle punch combos are also a key basic technique to Wing Chun that you will see often used. The General was using Karate, which is the Japanese developed martial art. That's also what the 10 opponents were using when Master Ip fought in the arena. Pulling all this from memory, so if anyone sees something I missed or was incorrect on, please chime in. I love this story and want to make sure I'm representing it correctly! :)

10:25 "When all the boys go out and have fun and your mother keeps you at home."

Great breakdown as always

Good work James, keep going. Nice reaction to IP Man.

At 19:39, when Ip Man slaps the translator, in the movie he starts throwing a fit (the translator), and in his anger he yells after Ip Man "I'm a Chinese man!", but in that last sentence, in his anger, he reverts to speaking Japanese, so he shouts "I'm a Chinese man!" in Japanese, not Chinese. An interesting little detail.

What you said about the color contrast, I really like how it seems to gradually change as the film goes on.

18:57 i was not expecting this anger…. IM WITH IT. 😂😂😂

The core of actual wing chun is not the kicks or punches, it’s actually the legs being a solid center of gravity like rooted to the ground

Now you got to react to the rest of them, keep up the great work James!

My older brother took Wing Chun for a number of years. He has the wooden dummy at his house which he still uses...shit is brutal.

Try Jackie Chan Drunken Master

WIng Chun is a martial art (used by IP Man) developed by a woman, the principle is to keep your opponents very near so that he can't pull a full punch or kick due to the close distance (therefore minimising the impact). Then using speed to strike at the weakest parts of the body of your opponent to bring him down and at the same time using the hardest part of your body such as elbow for defence. On the surface it looks like a defensive martial art, but in actual it is combination of both a attack and defence martial art.

Yes, they really did this kind of thing. My first Kali instructor's father was part of the Bataan Death March. When they found out he was a Kali instructor, the kept sending Japanese knife fighters to fight him. He fought, to the death, over 40 times before they were freed.

I trained Shotokan Karate for 7 years, and the stances and forms check out. In the Dojo scenes that is. Love that movie btw 😎

This movie has that oldie feel to it. as you said about the colours. Makes a certain feel to it.

If you really enjoy this film James, you'll probably enjoy films like One-Bak: May Thai Warrior, Jet Li's Fearless, and The Grandmaster (Which has best Cinematography Visuals).

I appreciate your reaction to this movie 😂😭👍🏽🙌🏼 funny asf

James, yes it is Ip Man, before they changed Chinese translation it used to be spelled Yip Man as his son's name is Ip Chun, that's how I knew it when I lived in Taiwan in the early 70s.

It's about whose academy gets the students and their money, not power.

Loosely based on real life. ip man was real, he really did become homeless, and he did flee to Hong Kong after the war. But the circumstances are much different. The goal here was to create a kung fu legend and have him go on adventures. Kinda like how Disney made Davy Crockett into a legend back in the 50’s and 60’s.

I haven't watched this movie yet. Now just from watching the first 30 seconds of your reaction video, I have to find it.

I think the 10 black belt scene is more of an homage to Bruce Lee’s fight scene in Fist of Fury where he also fights Japanese soldiers in a dojo. It’s kind of like poetry in a weird sense since Ip Man taught Bruce Lee wing chun in his youth.

Wing chun from what gathered is a form about direct movments and attacks. You defeat your opponent from multiple hits in usually quick succession. Think Death by a thousand cuts. It minimizes movements and keeps the center of gravity strong so that even when you have to move and dodge your still centered. It is said it was designed for women, and as you see it is designed for foe people that don't have incredible strength. When you face someone that does have it, taht is when you have to have strong technique, and become mobile. Wing chun either wins through overwhelming the person's body with attacks, or through out lasting your opponent because you not wasting energy. Martial arts are also about distraction, and so that is why you see alot of the other forms used have the elogated attack sequences, or strikes. Its suppose to draw you attention away from the actual strike leaving not only open for the strike, but confused.

One of my favorite martial arts films.. I would recommend Fist of Legend, legend of drunken master, the protector, and chocolate.

The first Ip man, although not entirely historically actuate (ip man didnt fight 10 black belts, nor did he have leave his home when Japan invaded China) is still great to watch . Awesome set of films .

That 1 vs 10 is one of the best fights ever filmed, not sure if you noticed but all of the japanese fighters were Black Belts.

I know people will call me cheesy and childish for this but try: "The Forbidden Kingdom" - next. (Jackie Chan and Jet Li alone are reason enough I think xD and I could appreciate the fantasy vibe too)

Ip Man and Fearless are exceptional movies. Great reaction man - that 1v10 gets me every time.

Great to mention the centre gravity.. this is one of the key principles in Wing Chun style... to keep your centreline defended all the way... that's why Wing Chun is a bit different from many other styles in Chinese Kung Fu... Wing Chun masters do not move crazily. They stay firm and adjust their body movements and postures constantly to fit their enemies.

I absolutely love all of these movies. Even Master Z. That dude is a badass too.

Bro!! You had me dying there at 29:22!! Did not expect that! 😅

i will keep recommending you watch THE RAID, you have no idea what you are missing man