The Grandmaster; Most Certainly Grand

The Grandmaster; Most Certainly Grand

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

People who know my stance on advertising will remember me saying that I don't feel like I notice advertising. However, proponents of advertising say this is exactly the idea; to catch your attention without you noticing. If that is the case, then I don't find myself acting on that attention which is the end goal of paying for the advertising. However, this time a YouTube ad got me of all things to check out a movie, as I don't even normally watch movies. And yes, there will be spoilers.

The movie is about (Y)Ip Man and if he sounds familiar it's because there has already been several movies depicting his history; mostly popularly starring one of my favorite martial artists Donnie Yen. The version starring Donnie Yen is definitely a must-see for fans of modern Chinese martial arts films because the action sequences are great and cinematography that allows you to see the action. The Grandmaster is not like that even though the trailer might make it seem so.

The movie begins with a rain fight scene. You can really see what's happening but watching how the water interacts with the props and actors is pretty. Then the story talks about Ip Man's superiority against other martial artists where he is undefeated until the daughter of a grandmaster challenges him and he loses on a technicality. From then on there's practically no other fight scene except for the train station (from what I remember). I don't count what happens in Hong Kong because the people he fights aren't even trained so he just beats everyone without a sweat. But after the train station fight I was excepting some final battle scene; there is none. It just talks about what happened to the daughter and how Bruce Lee was one of Ip Man's students. Don't get me wrong, the movie is beautiful and the cinematography is very grand but I came for the fistacuffs and I was disappointed.

Speaking of disappointment, I'd like to take this opportunity to mention that the AMC theater on 42nd Street in Times Square, Manhattan needs some new management. I wanted to see this movie directly after work and there are only 3 theaters that have it. The closest time to catch it was at the AMC at 6:15pm however, it was for the premium ETX tickets. The other theaters had show times over an hour and a half later, so I decided to fork over the extra money for the better time and perhaps better experience. I get to my seat right on time and wait for the movie to start. The screen was pitch-black for 15 minutes after that until a employee comes and tells us that there is a problem with the projector and to be patient for another 5 minutes. Sure enough 5 minutes later, the screen gets a picture... of previews... until 7pm when the movie actually starts. I'm sure this wouldn't have happened if the theater equipment was properly tested instead of having several employees hanging around the workplace doing nothing after the show was over. But alas, efficiency and accountability don't make the world go 'round.