Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

greyfith Poor writing, pretentious, lack of resolution. The only worthwhile scene from this film is the alley fight. Reviewers lauding t his film as some sort of modern martial arts rebirth are grasping at straws.

Alison Tianjin in 1932 is full of martial arts schools, and there are strict rules for bringing in new ones. So when Master Chen (Liao Fan) comes to town with the aim of starting his own school, he finds that he must first recruit one or more apprentices, train them for three years and then have them defeat no less than 8 of the established schools before getting one of his own. But the person defeating those schools might be exiled from Tianjin forever, and there are more forces than the school masters who have a stake in the outcome…. About halfway through this film, I realized I had completely lost the plot, but as a friend of mine pointed out, by the halfway point plot is kind of meaningless anyway; one watches this film for the beautifully choreographed fight scenes and admiration for how sophisticated martial arts can be. I've not seen a million of these films, but have seen more than a few, and what most intrigued me about this one was its setting; most martial arts films that I've seen are set in the distant or at least centuries'- ago past, whereas this is 1932, relatively modern and complete with Caucasian extras throughout the story-line. And of course, short years before complete mayhem erupted there. Interesting!

doomedforth I would say I like Xu haofeng's story,and those act in the movie.Because it's more like real. We have a saying that "martial when rich,literal when poor".As a Chinese I can feel why there is an agreement that they won't teach the student the real kungfu in the wuhang(the martial school industry) .Thouth leaders in wuhang takes it a business, the military is still not satisfied with it if it's not in its control.Only obvious with those things you can be aware of the pressing atmosphere.And for our main character,his story is be about the regular one.Aging,self-awareness,smriti,career,sort of things.Point is though got those fancy martial arts Shi is a new-comer, you cannot just break into the business.The dramatic thing is when he just be about to get into the wuhang circle Shi found out the circle is going to rot itself,then Shi began to realise what (his fake wife and apprentice) he planed to sacrifice in the first place to began his own business is what he was seeking to nurture his hollow heart.Sounds just like Aristocracy,thing of that sort. The plot is kind of cliché,but the way it develop makes it attractive.The main characters are allattractive though the dialogues are a little bit attitudinize,I think maybe the director want those for humor reasons.Well,I really like this movie, the actions are cool and chilly,the emotions touch me deeply. I don't like Bruce lee's movies and IP man.Given the idea those movies were meaning to break the stereotype of Chinese being humble and weak,I still don't like the arrogance those movies carried out.Xu Haofeng's movie gives a new feeling, it's just a story, no defending things,no mustering courage,I'm just telling you a good story.This movie makes me feel more adult things,something that more mature.I don't know ,though Bruce Lee have those water theory, mixed kungfu theory,still,in his movie, the only thing we can see is punch and kick,not bad, but we need more. This movie tells a lot things like how a master takes his apprentice a son,how a aging leader feels his weakness,and the underclass-folks' loyalty,those things are kind of peripheral in this movie but they are what this movie gradiant.

awallenwein-47391 I could not disagree more with the reviewer who calls this a "laughable" movie. I did not see the whole movie, only the fight scene where the main character uses his Bart Cham Dao to defeat his challengers. Of course the movie is "choreographed". All martial arts movies are, and especially this one where nothing but real blades are used could not be filmed otherwise.The choreography is probably the best I have seen in the entire series of "Ip Man" movies. I have never seen a fight scene involving the Wing Chun double blades that had better timing and more realistic techniques and exchanges than this one. Over-dramatized? Of course. That's what martial arts movies are all about. But here it was done in a credible way that leaves you with the impression that the actors actually know what they are doing and have practiced for a long time in real life.