User reviews

Wing Chun surprises with its fast pace and excellent physical comedy. Fight scenes are also convincing. The entire setting is not very original, but amusing and that is what really counts. There were ultimately moments when the film feels a bit messy, but in all wire- and stunt-work has been done wonderfully and cleanly.

The characters are all rather likable. The bad guys are rather faceless, but not a big disappointment. The soundtrack has a classic 80s sound to it which makes the movie stand out in a nice campy way.

The film isn't really a drama or action film, but rather a fast-paced slapstick. A fun experience and an admirable Kung Fu flick.

Wing Chun is an entertaining combination of slapstick humour and amazing martial arts fights. It's a romantic comedy at heart, one with a feminist bent. The story, while simple, features several memorable characters. There are setpiece battles that move the story along. Most of these feature Michelle Yeoh as the charismatic and beautiful Yim Wing Chun. Yuen Woo-ping's fight choreography is as usual inventive. He included moves that are quick and fresh, many of these aren't featured in other films. Donnie Yen's unusual turn as Leung Pok To, a man who has come to town to wed Yim Wing Chun is also of note. All in all, there's enough character development, humour, fights, and good scenery here to make Wing Chun one of the best martial arts films ever. It's not quite as good as the director's other famous film Iron Monkey (1993), but it's still a delight. Where else can you find actresses this good-looking and fights this exciting? Come to think of it, Peking Opera Blues (1986) probably influenced Yuen Woo-ping's filmmaking. I easily recommend seeing Wing Chun.

Despite that fact that different plot ideas for Kung Fu movie has been fully exploited by now and no new ideas are coming, Wing Chun still stands out in its uniqueness mostly because Michelle Yeoh is its star. If this movie was done by anyone else, it probably would have ended up being a dud, but she brings class to this movie it otherwise would not have had. The movie has very different atmosphere from other Kung Fu movies. While silly things are happening, Michelle Yeoh's action is precise and eye opening. She's the only one playing strait, and it works.

There has been other Kung Fu movies done by female lead, but they are mostly gruesomely violent. While there're lot of action in this movie, none of its action is violent. You won't see any blood, no bones being crushed, and yet it's filled with great action.

Somewhat difficult to find these days, but you owe it to yourself to see this movie at least once.

Okay, so there are those out there who have not seen "Wing Chun." I understand ... it's not easy to get a hold of. But, if you can, you have to see it. It's the bomb of kung-fu films with female leads. Michelle Khan (Yeoh) is amazing. Doing all her own stunts (like Jackie Chan) really makes it all worthwhile. And this film, unlike so many kung-fu films, has an actual story ... and it's good, too. The cinematography is great and the humor intertwined throughout the film makes it lighter than would be expected. (And it's based on real events!!!!!)

Michelle Yeoh stars as the titular Yim Wing Chun, the spiritual mother of Wing Chun kung fu (the kind they teach in Prodigal Son, amongst others). As you would expect from Yeoh, she is vibrant on screen, kicking a lot of arse and showing us the sensitive side to a martial arts hero.

Wing Chun's village is constantly under threat by bandits led by the…erm… flying simian family (well two brothers, Flying Monkey and Flying Chimp). After she cracks some skulls, while rescuing the widow ‘Charmy', she makes enemies of the local martial artists, who lose face after Wing Chun shows them up, and the bandits, who want her dead and for Flying Monkey to marry Charmy. The scene where Wing Chun shows the local martial arts heros the ‘Art of fighting without fighting' in the soya shop is amazing. Anyway, after castrating flying monkey, flying chimp decides to challenge Wing Chun, for the honour of the bandit clan. With inevitable consequences.

When Wing Chun isn't giving us great fight sequences, it plays it like quite a lot of HK cinema. For laughs. And, like a lot of HK cinema, it can get pretty irritating. A lot of mugging and juvenile humour are the order of the day here. Concentrating on that old Kung Fu film staple, getting laid.

Wing Chun was one of the first great high flying new style kung fu films and stands the test of time, nine years on. I really liked it, and forgiving its faults is easy. Although Donnie Yen was criminally under used, but that's not such a big deal.

I forgot I had taped most of this off TNT a while back. I watched it again and am really beginning to enjoy how good Donnie Yen is. Easily as good as Jet Li and seems to have a greater acting range ( Jet seems always so serious and intense). But I need to see more of each. Anyway the fight scenes are good, good and varied techniques, though not looking like really wing chun. Unnecessarily speeded up (these guys are fast enough) and too much wire fu - typical Yuen Woo Ping it seems. It would be good to see Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen together in a modern film.

I rented "Wing Chun" on VHS several years ago, after watching "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." I was impressed with Michelle Yeoh and the whole wuxia/martial arts fantasy genre. I'm glad I did because this is one of my favorites.

In addition to Michelle Yeoh (who plays the Wing Chun character), the movie stars Donnie Yen ("Iron Monkey"; "Hero") as well as Waise Lee, Norman Chu, King-Tan Yuen, and Catherine Hung Yan. Pei-pei Chang has a cameo.

The story is light and comic. Much of the plot will seem familiar to those who have seen a number of Shakespearian comedies--girl dressed as guy, mistaken identities, love triangles, suiters sneaking in and out of bedrooms just in the nick of time, plays on words, sexual innuendo, etc. You've even got a den of thieves with comically bumbling ne'er-do-wells.

The "plot" as it were is an excuse to hold the story together for the fight scenes. The martial arts in the movie are not brutal death-matches, but of the spin-through-the-air, prop-using, wonderfully choreographed, skilled ballets that are indicative of the film's action choreographer Woo-ping Yuen (who also choreographed "The Matrix," "Crouching Tiger," "Kill Bill," and many more). Donnie Yen contributed a lot to the choreogrpahy and action directing also.

And what great fight scenes they are! There are at least 8 or 9, so you certainly get your money's worth. They are so much fun to watch. Michelle is simply wonderful, especially in the last third of the movie when she stops dressing in men's clothes and goes into cute and perky mode.

Perhaps the most famous scene from the film is one where one of the local bandits has come to challenge Wing Chun in her place of business (a tofu store). No problem, says Wing Chun. All you have to do is smash this pan of tofu sitting on the table and you will be the winner.

How hard could that be, right? Well, it's damn nigh impossible when what prevents you from putting your fist into a plate of tofu is Michelle Yeoh and all her skills. An amazingly choreographed scene that brings big smiles all around. Michelle's facial expressions are priceless as she goads the hapless bandit into just "one more try" before slamming him back to the ground yet again.

Anyone remotely interested in martial arts romantic comedies should rush to pick this film up.

This is a great showcase for Michelle Yeoh, playing the legendary first practitioner of the wing chun style, Yim Wing-Chun. Trouble is, there's not much of the wing chun style shown in the film. The problem is that though the wing chun system is a very effective style in real life, it's not very visually engaging, so Yuen Woo Ping had to throw in some high kicks just to spice up the action a little ... but then, we don't watch kung fu films for historical or technical accuracy.

Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen are both pretty good here. Certainly, Yeoh turns in a starry performance, though Yen could have been given more to do ...

Overall, entertaining enough, but not primo YWP fare.

Wing Chun is a memorable film because Michelle Yoeh epitomizes the female heroine at a time when it was not allowed for women to be as strong or in this case, stronger and smarter and more skilled than men. But Michelle Yeoh creates a memorable and competent impression while maintaining a masterful grace and precision that will blow your mind.

Michelle Yeoh has the posture and grace of Bruce Lee, now if only they had done a movie together... now that would be something, like Salvador Dali's short animation collaboration with Walt Disney, what a treat that would be.* I saw this movie years ago and finally discovered it again after long searching and am I glad I did rediscover this little gem.

This movie truly takes me back in time to a simpler time, like finding a diamond in between the millions of grains of sand on the endlessness of beach.

Much of the acting is really silly, but that's just the way these movies were back then. The martial arts are terrific, the sex appeal is palpable, Tofu is gorgeous, drop dead, and the story is very enjoyable.

*Dali and Disney started a project in 1946 but it was never finished in their lifetimes, recently completed in 2003, many of us are long awaiting a DVD release slated for 2004, and still waiting in 2007.

Wing Chun is a silly romantic king fu comedy. It's campy but it's entertaining. Full of kung fu with well choreographed combat, the movie has plenty of action. It remains light hearted and gets pretty silly at times (fairly typical of Chinese kung fu movies). Michelle Yeoh and Donny Yen give strong performances. Unfortunately Wing Chun isn't really used in the movie. Although in close fighting becomes a focus in the final battle. There are quite a few of unrealistic wire stunts which add to the silliness of the movie. For a 1990s Chinese kung fu film it is fairly well constructed and thought through. If you like kung fu movies this is worth the watch.

Yuen Woo Ping, the choreographer for The Matrix, brilliantly directs this piece starring martial arts delight Michelle Yeoh. The story is classically clever with Yeoh in the role of butched-up Yim Wing Chun, the woman who was famous for the Wing Chun style of Kung Fu, taught by her Buddhist Nun, Ng Mui. The movie is very sensitive to feminist issues and is a very smart commentary on the like. The action scenes are sweeeet! Michelle Yeoh is very fast and very sharp in her movements against the big hoodlum who keeps insisting she's getting a whiff of his "Chi". Great movie! Great fighting!

The lovely Michelle Yeoh plays Wing Chun, a brilliant martial artist who lives in a tofu shop in a small village, with her aunt, Abacas Fong (King-Tan Yuen). Wing rescues a beautiful woman, Charmy (Catherine Hung), and her sick husband from a gang of bandits that plague the locals. Unfortunately, the husband dies, so the young widow goes to work in the tofu shop, where she attracts many new customers, including local scholar Wong (Waise Lee).

Enter Leung Pok-To (Donnie Yen), a fighter who has returned to the village after many years in order to marry his sweetheart, Wing Chun. He believes Charmy to be his wife-to-be and Wing Chun to be a man (because of the clothes she wears—a common plot device in Eastern movies) and this sets the scene for several farcical moments involving mistaken identities and sexual innuendo (including one in which Wong is tricked into bedding Abacus).

After much lame smutty comedy, the film returns to the action, with nasty bandit, Flying Monkey (who also has a thing for Charmy) attempting to abduct the pretty tofu girl. However, Wing Chun foils his plot, burning off his tallywhacker in the process!

When bandit leader Flying Chimp sees what Wing Chun has done, he kidnaps Charmy and challenges Wing to a duel. Wing wins and Charmy is released, but Wing must return three days later for another bout. If she loses, she must stay in the bandit lair where Flying Chimp hopes to 'tame' the beautiful fighter.

With its talented cast and proficient director (Yuen Woo-Ping), I had high hopes for Wing Chun. Unfortunately, the film didn't live up to my expectations, ending up as a pretty average mix of silly comedy and over-the-top martial arts sequences that rely far to heavily on clever editing and Woo-Ping's trademark wire-fu trickery.

I do not deny that Wing Chun is pretty inoffensive fun and there are worse ways to spend your time, but with a film starring two of my favourite HK stars, Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen, I was really hoping for something special.

Can't tell anything worth any compliment in such an industrial product of HongKong Banal character, stereotyped script and humor. You can't see any performance in this movie. I was cheated by the rating at IMDb, otherwise I would have never watched this kind of "fast food" movie. The only thing I recognized is that this is another HongKong entertaining picture which was already old-fashioned by that time. Swordsmen film can be extremely touching or thought-provoking, but not in this way, adding some romantic plots as spice in a bowl of plain rice. However, it has a happy ending. The head of thieves decided to change their living all of a sudden. I just can't accept it especially the decision was made rightly after the lose of fight, and before which, they robbed a pretty girl. What a drama!

One of the best movies in the careers of Michelle Yeoh and Yuen Woo Ping. Their talents for lighthearted comedy and pulse pounding action are well represented here. Certainly, Michelle's greatest solo film. The only minor complaint is that the film is bookended, like so many HK action films, with superb fight sequences, but drags for 30 mins, or so, in the middle. Still, ranks as one of the better kung fu films made in the past ten years. Highly recommended.

Michelle Yeoh was forced into marriage at an early age. She ran away to study the martial arts and became a master. Unfortunately, she will never get a man. Instead she runs a bean curd shop with spinster King-Tan Yuen and has rescued beautiful Catherine Yan Hung. She also protects the village from the bandits, which neither the bandits nor the villagers appreciate. But the head bandit, Waise Lee, wants Miss Hung, and failing that, will make Miss Yeoh his wife unless she defeats him three times in personal combat.

There's lots of ribaldry in this movie, and some actual subtext in that every choice, no matter how good it is, cuts off some other, desirable end. On the other hand, the final battle between Lee and Miss Yeoh is one of the best I've seen, with a gradual shift in power that makes it look like an even match, rather than the usual inevitable victory for the good guy.

When I'm browsing through Netflix martial arts movies it's difficult to tell from the ratings whether the movie is any good, because so many martial arts fans judge a movie entirely by its fight sequences. This I think is the case with Wing Chung, a rather poor movie with excellent combat.

With an absurd mistaken identity plot and a lot of low, broad comedy often centered around sex, Wing Chung puts very little effort into its story and goes for only the cheapest laughs, where even if you laugh, you feel bad about it. While King-Tan Yuen makes the most of her shrewish, lustful character, and Michelle Yeoh is likable and assured as the one non-slapstick character in the film, the other actors range from forgettable (even Donnie Yen!) to painfully bad (notably Waise Lee as the scholar).

On the other hand, some of the wire-fu fights are great, particular a brief opening number in which Wing Chung uses a man as a puppet to fight while she sits in a chair and a terrifically entertaining battle over a dish of tofu.

The movie has only a semblance of a story, and what is there is idiotic, but this is a movie that really is worth watching entirely for the fight scenes. Recommended.

Yuen Woo-Ping's rapid-fire style, plus the acting/physical chops of Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen made Wing Chun pretty great overall. It has a plot revolving around comedic/semi-romantic mistaken identities and a group of bandits who don't want to stop attacking a village, and are similarly annoyed that they keep being bested in combat by Yeoh's character.

From there, it's 90 minutes of okayish comedy and plenty of really inventively shot action and impressive stuntwork. Like a good many comedic martial arts movies, I liked the action much more than the comedy, which was maybe lost a bit in translation... but I've also seen more male-dominated action-comedies where the humor feels really uncomfortable as well as not particularly funny, so it's good that Wing Chun didn't fall victim to that.

I'm definitely going to be watching more Yuen Woo-Ping films very soon. The action here is dynamite, and I just want more. It's been a while since I went on a martial arts movie binge, and I think it's time again...

Yong Chun/Whing Chun(1994) contains action scenes which are brilliantly Staged and amazingly depicted. Many of the scenes with Michelle Yeoh are examples of why she is the Queen of Hong Kong action films. She is an action star to which many aspiring action heroines looks up to her. Michelle Yeoh combines earthiness beauty with physical endurance as Yim Wing Chun. I show Wing Chun(1994) at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge and became a big fan of the film and the career of Michelle Yeoh.

This is not "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" with its subtlety, lyricism, and views about love, freedom and the consequences of one's allegiances.

Wing Chun (Yong Chun) is a light-hearted comedic martial arts movie, and it is a very good one, too.

Michelle Yeoh is amazing, she kicks butt and does so in her trademark elegance. She is never strident, or out-of-control. There is discipline in her acting as well as in her martial arts. The dialogue leaves something to be desired, and is a bit tacky at some points, but again, it's a comedy, so it's pretty easy to take into stride.

The tofu scene, where Wing Chun (Yeoh's character) schools her opponent, is probably one of the best in this film genre.

I absolutely love this movie and have watched it more than once already! It is so fun and it has that slapstick humor style partnered with action sequences. Donnie Yen is fantastic as always and so charmingly adorable in this movie. Michelle Yeoh does a great job of convincing you she really knows Wing Chun and utilizes her dancing abilities to bring that to life.

I absolutely love the characters, that is what really makes this movie shine apart from the action. Character development. The characters are so likable, I love the Aunt she is hilarious actually even the bad guys are likable! The action scenes are really well done and the slapstick element makes them both fun and funny.

It's such a unique combination of action/martial arts, humor and romantic comedy I don't see how this movie does not have higher ratings! This has become one of my favorite movies!

I don't have much to add to others' comments, but just wanted to mention I just saw it for the first time this evening on the big screen and found it to be charming and entertaining. Yes, the plot is absurd but what do you expect! It's great and highly recommended.