The Grandmaster (2013)
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Reviews Counted: 98
Fresh: 73 | Rotten: 25
Though its storytelling is a tad muddled, Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster still exhibits the auteur's stylistic flourishes in gorgeous cinematography and explosive action set pieces.
Average Rating: 7/10
Critic Reviews: 31
Fresh: 25 | Rotten: 6
Though its storytelling is a tad muddled, Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster still exhibits the auteur's stylistic flourishes in gorgeous cinematography and explosive action set pieces.
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Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 9,947
Movie Info
Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Wong Kar Wai, THE GRANDMASTER is an epic action feature inspired by the life and times of the legendary kung fu master, Ip Man. The story spans the tumultuous Republican era that followed the fall of China's last dynasty, a time of chaos, division and war that was also the golden age of Chinese martial arts. Filmed in a range of stunning locations that include the snow-swept landscapes of Northeast China and the subtropical South, THE GRANDMASTER features virtuoso
Cast
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Tony Leung
Ip Man -
Ziyi Zhang
Gong Er -
Chen Chang
The Razor -
Zhao Benshan
Ding Lianshan -
Xiao Shen-Yang
San Jiang Shui -
Hye-kyo Song
Zhang Yongchen -
-
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All Critics (98) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (73) | Rotten (25)
The Grandmaster blends right in with Wong's body of work, a gorgeous meditation on the importance of sorrow and lament. This one just happens to have kung fu, too.
Top CriticYou leave this deeply flawed, deeply beautiful film with no doubt that you've seen an indisputable cinematic grandmaster in action.
Wong Kar Wai is an expressionist master. A master of character - deep, rich, truthful character - especially in The Grandmaster, he is not.
"The Grandmaster" can feel stiff at times, and something is doubtlessly lost in translation. But the precision and magic of Wong Kar Wai's camera is so captivating it doesn't matter.
Beautiful but troubled, achieving in stretches the director's signature dreamy mood but dragged down by narrative confusions.
Granted, "The Grandmaster" is not a primer on Chinese philosophy. Yet it may score as crossover cinema for Wong fans and Lee fans.
Moody melancholy martial-arts costume drama, five years in the making, that thrives on great fight scenes.
In the absence of genuine profundity, but with dazzling craft on frequent display, his most ardent devotees may summon enough loyalty to defend this one as a noble failure.
As commendable as Wong's film is at visualizing things, it's far less proficient at contextualizing them.
Each battle moves with such balletic grace they make Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon seem as if it's standing still.
The American version is beautiful and moody, and it is muddy in expression, but probably worth seeing anyway.
Wong Kar Wai has something slow, lush and precise in mind for this story of Ip Man (Tony Leung), the legendary martial arts master who trained Bruce Lee. He offers a chance to dream in kung fu.
A complete surprise. Not the strictly martial arts action film but also one of compelling beauty and romance.
The Grandmaster lacks focus or drive as director Wong Kar-wai flails among the elements of Ip Man's life for something to hold onto and comes up with little except that late in life he taught Bruce Lee.
...closer in tone to an art movie, an exercise in pure cinema, than it is a chopsocky extravaganza
emphasizes emotional restraint and understatement
[VIDEO ESSAY] Part action film, part romance novel, and part political diatribe, the film never forgets its purpose to entertain. The effect is elating.
...bears all the extravagant style perfectionist filmmaker Wai can muster, but suffers from a sketchy biography that lurches along.
"The Grandmaster" is just that --- grand --- and masterful. Wong Kar Wai's odyssey has paid off handsomely.
The cinema confusion that persists here would be acceptable, for this is after all chop-socky with pretentions, but the deadpan solemnity makes for too weighty a load.
The attention to period detail supplements the unique perspective, and should allow aficionados to gain a greater respect and appreciation for the origins of martial arts through the story of a legend.
An emotional moving, thrilling and provocative drama that's highly entertaining but at times loses itself with its lack of storytelling.
More impressive than its flurry of fists is its sleight of hand, the misdirection that perhaps conceals for some the truth that this is not primarily a decades-spanning historical drama but a romance of unrequited love.
[Wong Kar-wai] is a stylish filmmaker who has created an operatic story out of Ip Man's difficult life, and a ballet out of the many action sequences.
Visually beautiful Grandmaster will sweep you away
Audience Reviews for The Grandmaster
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Foreign Titles
- The Grandmaster (DE)
- The Grandmaster (Yi dai zong shi) (UK)
Zack Snyder could learn a million things for Wong Kar Wai's use of slo-mo and close-ups. The quick cuts to the feet and hands showcase the balance plus inertia used by martial artists in a way I haven't seen before. A real treat to take in. The slow movements across landscapes, Leung's and Zhang's faces are equally captivating.
The story, so-so.