4 of the century’s finest motion films are leaving Netflix quickly

I really like martial arts cinema. It’s been a giant a part of my beat since I joined the Polygon crew. However that hasn’t at all times been true.

The motion films I grew up with had been extra of the James Bond selection — lots of spy films, some superhero fare, with the occasional Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon snuck in. About 10 years in the past, I occurred to return throughout a flurry of wonderful fashionable martial arts films all in the middle of per week. Undisputed 2: Final Man Standing, Common Soldier: Day of Reckoning, and Blood and Bone opened my eyes to what was doable within the direct-to-video area. However it was Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen’s Ip Man sequence that cemented my curiosity within the style and pushed me to find extra.

Loosely primarily based on the lifetime of well-known Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man, the flicks reunite Yip and Yen after the pair delivered consecutive bangers with SPL and Flash Level. The Ip Man films mix terrific struggle choreography with transferring period-piece storytelling, all revolving across the distinctive skills of their main man, a film star working on the absolute top of his powers.

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Donnie Yen is among the many most charismatic and proficient film stars working right this moment. Western audiences could also be most accustomed to him from his current roles in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and John Wick: Chapter 4, or from Shanghai Knights and Blade II. (He additionally served as Blade II’s motion choreographer). However he has a protracted, lengthy historical past of utilizing his star energy to propel glorious Hong Kong motion films, and the Ip Man sequence is simply one of many newest examples.

Yen’s unimaginable martial arts talent mixed with the sequence’ choreography is the showiest a part of the flicks. However what elevates them to genuinely nice filmmaking is the way in which they lean on his deep soulfulness to inform a transferring story. The Ip Man films cowl tragedies on each the private and nationwide degree, confronting oppression, cruelty, and the numerous methods individuals harm one another — not simply via bone-crushing blows.

And Yen is as much as the duty, imbuing Ip with a deep melancholy. He begins out as somebody who fights as a result of he desires to, partaking in pleasant competitions with fellow martial arts masters, however he finally fights as a result of he has to, defending the individuals and values he holds most expensive. The films’ narratives and Yen’s efficiency do a terrific job of constructing out this readability of goal, making it simple for audiences to turn out to be deeply invested in his fights.

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There’s lots extra to love concerning the Ip Man films, however the standout factor is the franchise’s glorious motion, helmed by the 2 most influential and achieved martial arts administrators and choreographers of the trendy period. Ip Man and Ip Man 2 have motion directed by Sammo Hung (finest identified for his collaborations along with his childhood good friend Jackie Chan), whereas Ip Man 3 and Ip Man 4: The Finale have motion directed by Yuen Woo-ping (who helped launch Chan as a star with Drunken Grasp, and is thought internationally for his work on the Matrix films; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; and Kill Invoice). Of their palms (and Yen’s), the franchise’s struggle scenes sing, matching Ip towards among the premier display screen fighters working right this moment, together with Max Zhang, Louis Fan, Scott Adkins, and Hung himself.

The standout struggle from Ip Man sees an enraged Ip demanding to struggle 10 Japanese troopers (all black belts) after he sees them mistreat a fellow grasp. Till this level, Ip has been comparatively quiet and reserved, hesitant to deploy his prowess towards the Japanese troops occupying his residence in the course of the Second Sino-Japanese Battle. However after he witnesses this merciless act towards a good friend and colleague, a swap is flipped, and Ip brutally dispatches all 10 fighters in a ruthless show of Yen’s unthinkable pace and martial arts talent.

Not content material to simply replay the hits, the later films add thrilling wrinkles to a few of their larger set-pieces. In Ip Man 2, Yen fights Sammo Held on high of a barely balanced desk. In Ip Man 3, he fights former Tony Jaa stunt double Simon Kook in a tightly packed elevator whereas taking his spouse residence from the hospital.

In every of those struggle scenes, the Ip Man films use spectacular choreography in service of the bigger story and character beats. Sure, they’re spectacular moments of spectacle, however they aren’t simply that. The most effective motion films use the fantastic thing about our bodies in movement to point out the methods we will specific anger, regret, pleasure, redemption, and a litany of different feelings not simply via phrases or facial expressions. There are few higher autos for that than Yen, an unbelievably expert martial artist with the performing chops to match.

Together with Undisputed 2 (out there for digital rental or buy), Common Soldier: Day of Reckoning (free with advertisements on Crackle), and Blood and Bone (free with advertisements on Crackle), the Ip Man films had been welcoming gateways for me into the world of martial arts cinema, and now they are often for you, too. Simply make certain to catch them earlier than they go away Netflix on July 21.

For those who’re studying this after the flicks have left the platform, you possibly can nonetheless watch the primary three Ip Man films on Peacock, Hello-Yah!, totally free with a library card on Hoopla or Kanopy, or totally free with advertisements on Tubi, Crackle, and Pluto TV. You may watch Ip Man 4: The Finale on Hello-Yah! or totally free with a library card on Hoopla and Kanopy. For extra Ip Man goodness, I extremely advocate additionally trying out Yuen Woo-ping’s Ip Man 3 spinoff Grasp Z: Ip Man Legacy (Peacock, Hello-Yah, totally free with a library card on Hoopla and Kanopy, or totally free with advertisements on Crackle, Pluto, and Freevee), and Wong Kar-wai’s very totally different tackle the Ip Man story, The Grandmaster (streaming on Prime, or totally free with advertisements on Tubi).

For extra Donnie Yen excellence, take a look at Within the Line of Obligation 4 (free with advertisements on Tubi, Crackle, and Freevee), Wing Chun (out there for digital rental or buy on Amazon), and his earlier collaborations with Wilson Yip, SPL (free with advertisements on Tubi) and Flash Level (streaming on Peacock and Hello-Yah!, totally free with a library card on Hoopla, or totally free with advertisements on Tubi, Pluto, and Freevee).