叶问前传
Movie talk!
The last movie I saw was 叶问前传 and I was very much pleasantly surprised by it.
I did not expect to appreciate it at all.
Being a Donnie Yen fan who considers the Yip Man movies one of his best works, I was never able to get on board with doing a prequel with a new actor. I first saw the trailer when I went to watch Yip Man 2, and felt that the timing was totally ridiculous.
It's like giving people lobster, then immediately throwing prawns at them hoping that the lobster is delicious enough to make them also want to catch the prawns. I don't mind a prequel with another actor, especially since the actor is a bona fide martial artist who was also involved in the Yip Man movies, but not so soon after Yip Man 2 and definitely don't show me the preview when I was all psyched up to watch Yip Man 2. I don't even want to go into the other Yip Man film with Tony Leung, although I will still catch it especially if Brigitte Lin really participates.
Therefore, I was more or less prepared to forgo watching the prequel, but last week I was out with Mumsies and she asked if I wanted to watch it. I half suspect that she thought it was also by Donnie Yen, because she knows who he is and rather like his action films.
So we went, we watched, and we liked it. And like I said I was really not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did.
My feelings can best be summarised by this quote from a Chinese news article:
"饰演叶问的新人杜宇航刚出场时表现平平，但观众觉得，“看着看着，觉得他还蛮顺眼的。"
Which is rather true. He was rather lackluster at first, but as the movie progresses, he turned out to be rather pleasant. Which is a surprise to me because he was really annoying in Yip Man 2. Must be the crazy moustache and weird haircut.
Considering the two very different characters he managed to perform rather convincingly, I would say he would just get better in time to come. And I think he was able to achieve believability in his portrayal of Yip Man without taking away anything from the character that Donnie Yen has already set a precedence for.
Okay, I just wrote a bunch of words that I think I know what I mean but I am not really sure if it means what I really mean. So hopefully someone out there will get it.
Bedtime! Good night!
PS: Like I told my friend, SYL, I really hope they will do a Chen Hua Shun movie with Donnie Yen as the lead. That would really mess with people's heads. And it would be really cool.
PSS: But I guess Donnie will be busy playing Guan Yu...
The last movie I saw was 叶问前传 and I was very much pleasantly surprised by it.
I did not expect to appreciate it at all.
Being a Donnie Yen fan who considers the Yip Man movies one of his best works, I was never able to get on board with doing a prequel with a new actor. I first saw the trailer when I went to watch Yip Man 2, and felt that the timing was totally ridiculous.
It's like giving people lobster, then immediately throwing prawns at them hoping that the lobster is delicious enough to make them also want to catch the prawns. I don't mind a prequel with another actor, especially since the actor is a bona fide martial artist who was also involved in the Yip Man movies, but not so soon after Yip Man 2 and definitely don't show me the preview when I was all psyched up to watch Yip Man 2. I don't even want to go into the other Yip Man film with Tony Leung, although I will still catch it especially if Brigitte Lin really participates.
Therefore, I was more or less prepared to forgo watching the prequel, but last week I was out with Mumsies and she asked if I wanted to watch it. I half suspect that she thought it was also by Donnie Yen, because she knows who he is and rather like his action films.
So we went, we watched, and we liked it. And like I said I was really not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did.
My feelings can best be summarised by this quote from a Chinese news article:
"饰演叶问的新人杜宇航刚出场时表现平平，但观众觉得，“看着看着，觉得他还蛮顺眼的。"
Which is rather true. He was rather lackluster at first, but as the movie progresses, he turned out to be rather pleasant. Which is a surprise to me because he was really annoying in Yip Man 2. Must be the crazy moustache and weird haircut.
Considering the two very different characters he managed to perform rather convincingly, I would say he would just get better in time to come. And I think he was able to achieve believability in his portrayal of Yip Man without taking away anything from the character that Donnie Yen has already set a precedence for.
Okay, I just wrote a bunch of words that I think I know what I mean but I am not really sure if it means what I really mean. So hopefully someone out there will get it.
Bedtime! Good night!
PS: Like I told my friend, SYL, I really hope they will do a Chen Hua Shun movie with Donnie Yen as the lead. That would really mess with people's heads. And it would be really cool.
PSS: But I guess Donnie will be busy playing Guan Yu...
posted by Keiia at 2:09 AM
