3 out of 5

Directed by: Herman Yau

For the first hour of ‘beginning,’ I was wondering where this Herman Yau was – this patient, grounded, flowing director – during followup ‘Final Fight,’ which shared some nice choreography (though Dennis To’s execution is much smoother and more entertaining than Fight’s Anthony Wong’s) but was otherwise a cluttered mess of incomplete plotlines and empty characters.  And then we round the corner to the final third of the movie, and there we meet Yau again, incapable of mapping a sense of consequence to scenes or actions and summarizing sweeping character moments in dramatic flashbacks.  Of course, some of this can be lain upon scripter Erica Li, who wrote both films and lumped left-field battles at the ends because boss fights are required, but the way the last third of the movie is presented, in general, give off the same confused and rushed vibe as much of ‘fight.’  But there’s your difference: a larger chunk of the movie feels well constructed.  Dennis To as Ip is on par with Donnie Yen’s performance: capturing a range of emotions through minor variations on a grin, or a glower, and his fighting skills are just a thrill to watch, lightning fast and smooth, supporting some fantastic choreography.  The movie’s telling of Ip’s raising at a Wing Chun school with his adopted brother and their female friend actually gives you some different shades of the character, investing you in his progress as he goes to college, and returns, shamed for showing off some additions he’d learned to the “classic” style of Wing Chun.  Similarly, his long brewing romance with the mayor’s daughter, Cheung Wing-shing, is fun, and sweet, the movie giving us just enough background on Cheung and taking its time to bring the characters together to make the relationship work in the historical-lite vibe of the film.

While their are certainly fight scenes during the primary chunk of the movie, they’re generally training montages; the creators almost seem comfortable giving us a fairly laid back movie about a kung fu legend, which is cool, as that syncs up with Ip’s whole zen thing.

And then that final third.  Drama!  Kidnapping!  Bad guys!  …It’s really silly.  If not for the charming leads and Beginning solid start putting us in a pleasant mood, there’s no way the finale would hold our butts in our seats.  …But we’re already here, so on it goes.  (And on Yau went with his exhaustive 1-2 movies a year pace.)