Review of Wing Chun

Introduction

Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) stars as the eponymous Yim Wing Chun. Wing Chun, having nearly been forced into a marriage when she was younger, sought the tuition from a martial arts expert at the expense of her femininity. Now, fully grown, she helps to run a tofu stall and protect the village. But although her skills has earned her freedom, she realises she cannot be truly happy until she can find love.

When Wing Chun takes a young widow under her roof only to find her soon kidnapped by bandits, she, along with help from acid-breathed Auntie Fong and a mysterious stranger who claims to know her from her childhood days, determines to save her.

Video

The picture is again a testament to Hong Kong Legends`s ability to restore old and damaged prints. Although not the most outstanding of their efforts - the opening few scenes still has that `made in Hong Kong` feel about them, and the colours are solid but not truly vibrant - the level of detail, strength of the blacks during night time scenes and elimination of print damage are all successes.

Audio

The original Cantonese stereo track was, as regular readers of my reviews may figure out, the obvious choice for me over the 5.1 English remix. Although not one of the most successful tracks I`ve heard in employing the surrounds, there is a fair amount of action and the dialogue comes across clearly.

Features

Bey Logan`s skill in recording some of the best commentaries on DVD lies in his massive knowledge of the martial arts genre and his ability to get that across to the reader. When a film with obvious historical basis comes out - such as the Wong Fei Hong legends, or Wing Chun, he shines even brighter. never dull and always entertaining: if you have any interest in China history this track is great listening.

The first of two interviews is with Tsui Siu-Keung, villain of the piece, and is interesting without being insightful. Tsui talks about the film`s production, and brief snippets about the dynamic on set, but never really goes beyond small anecdotes.

Donnie Yen`s interview, however, is excellent, as he spends a lot more time going into detail about incidents on set. I wasn`t aware that Donnie helped out in the shooting of the movie at Yuen Woo Ping`s request, but Donnie talks at length about one scene he had to film and the difficulties involved. He also tells us about his background with Michelle Yeoh - they went to the same gym together before becoming famous, randomly - and does so with such enthusiasm you can`t help but wish the interview lasted for longer than 15 minutes.

Trailers and TV spots round up the extras.

Conclusion

Although Wing Chun has fairly typical plotting by Hong Kong standards - several romantic threads, martial arts showdowns ever increasing in difficulty, slapstick humour - this title is one of the few HKL releases I`ve been excited about in the past year. I`m more of a traditionalist: being a fan of the old school stuff and the 70`s/80`s revival, I have to admit I`ve been a little disappointed with HKL`s emphasis on `Gen-X` titles.

However, Wing Chun is a great release for me, and is nothing but enjoyable. The pace is frenetic, the humour mainly hits the mark and the characters and fights (Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen are obvious standouts) are fun, if not incredible. The DVD is again a little gem made by an excellent producer, and scores highly on all counts.