# The Grandmaster (2013) Review: Kung Fu as a Fading Dream > The Grandmaster is Wong Kar-wai's rain-soaked martial arts elegy about Ip Man and a lost era of kung fu: ravishing to look at, frustrating as a story. Canonical: https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/the-grandmaster-2013-review/ Published: 2026-07-23 Last updated: 2026-09-24 Author: Kaiser Khan — Founder & Editor Language: English Review basis: direct-viewing Spoilers: none Rating: 3/5 ## Verdict It depends. Wong Kar-wai admirers and lovers of beautifully shot fight scenes will find plenty to savour; viewers wanting a clear Ip Man biopic may leave puzzled. ## Is The Grandmaster worth watching? **It depends on what you want from a kung fu film. The Grandmaster is one of the most beautiful martial arts films ever made, but it is also fragmented, elusive and oddly unfinished as drama.** Wong Kar-wai films combat as memory, all rain, slow motion and fur collars, and Zhang Ziyi gives the performance of her career. The catch is that the story drifts between characters and years so freely that its supposed hero, Ip Man, often feels like a guest in his own biography. ## What is The Grandmaster about? [The Grandmaster](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/the-grandmaster-2013/) begins in 1930s Foshan, in southern China, where Ip Man ([Tony Leung Chiu-wai](https://celluloidscore.com/stars/asia/hong-kong/tony-leung-chiu-wai/)) lives comfortably as a master of Wing Chun. His peaceful life changes when Gong Yutian (Wang Qingxiang), a revered grandmaster from the north, comes south looking for an heir to carry his legacy. Ip Man soon meets Gong's daughter, Gong Er ([Zhang Ziyi](https://celluloidscore.com/stars/asia/china/zhang-ziyi/)), a formidable fighter who challenges him to restore her family's honour. The Second Sino-Japanese War then scatters everyone, and the film follows Ip Man into a harder life in Hong Kong while keeping track of Gong Er's own path. Chang Chen, Song Hye-kyo and Max Zhang appear in supporting roles. Wong directs this Hong Kong and Chinese production, mostly in Mandarin with some Cantonese, and the cut reviewed here runs 130 minutes; other versions of the film were released in different territories. ## Fights filmed like love scenes The action, choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping, is not staged for impact so much as for texture. Wong and cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd break each encounter into close-ups of feet sliding on wet stone, sleeves snapping, drops of rain hanging in the air, and the result feels less like a brawl than a ritual. The opening fight in a flooded street at night is a showpiece, and a later duel set in an elegant brothel plays almost as courtship, with two fighters testing each other through precise, near-tender movement. The period design is equally seductive. Lacquered interiors, lamplit restaurants and snowy northern landscapes give the film the glow of an old photograph, and the score leans into the melancholy. As pure cinema, it is often breathtaking. ## Zhang Ziyi takes the film away from its hero Leung is dignified and graceful as Ip Man, but the screenplay gives him little conflict; he is a man of serene principle whom history happens to. Zhang's Gong Er is another matter. Proud, wounded and bound by a sense of duty that costs her dearly, she becomes the film's real protagonist, and Zhang plays her with a steely restraint that makes every glance feel loaded. Her scenes with Leung, full of unspoken feeling, are pure Wong Kar-wai, echoing the longing of his romantic dramas. ## A story that slips through its fingers The problem is shape. The Grandmaster was edited into several versions, and the one most viewers see still feels like a compression of a much longer film. Characters are introduced with fanfare and then vanish; Chang Chen's intriguing fighter, in particular, barely connects to the main story. Time jumps are handled with title cards and voice-over that explain rather than dramatise, and the second half's pace slackens. For admirers of Wong's elliptical style, those gaps are part of the mood. Everyone else may find it hard to care about a narrative that keeps withholding its centre. ## Who should watch The Grandmaster? It suits viewers who love Wong Kar-wai's visual poetry, fans of elegant [martial arts cinema](https://celluloidscore.com/genres/action/) and anyone interested in the history of Chinese kung fu schools. It is less satisfying for those expecting the brisk, crowd-pleasing structure of other Ip Man films. Set aside a little over two hours. The fighting is intense but rarely bloody, and the tone is contemplative throughout. Where to go next: - [Chungking Express](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/chungking-express-1994/), Wong's lighter, looser romance, for the same yearning without the history lesson. - [The 36th Chamber of Shaolin](https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/the-36th-chamber-of-shaolin-1978-review/), a classic on kung fu as discipline and tradition, told with far more directness. ## The verdict The Grandmaster is a gorgeous, melancholy meditation on martial arts and lost time, lifted by Zhang Ziyi and some of the most elegant fight scenes on film. Its scattered storytelling and underused hero keep it from greatness, so it is best approached as a mood piece rather than a biopic. **Rating: 3/5** ## Related title - [The Grandmaster (2013)](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/the-grandmaster-2013/) ## Editorial - [Editorial standards](https://celluloidscore.com/about/editorial-policy/) - [Report a correction](https://celluloidscore.com/about/corrections/)