Wing Chun (1994) - A Review

 

Another classic Michelle Yeoh movie.

Wing Chun (also known as The Beautiful Secret Agent and Bandit Queen) is a martial arts comedy movie released in Hong Kong in 1994 and stars Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen, Kingdom Yuen King-Tan, Waise Lee Chi-Hung, Catherine Hung Yan, Norman Tsui Siu-Keung, Chui A-Fai, and Cheng Pei-Pei. Wing Chun was directed by Yuen Woo-Ping, with action choreographed by Yuen Woo-Ping, Donnie Yen, and Yuen Shun-Yi.

Michelle Yeoh as Yim Wing Chun. Do not mess with her!

In Wing Chun, Michelle Yeoh plays Yim Wing Chun, a master martial artist and owner of a tofu shop in a mountain village. Since Yim is a woman martial artist, she has given up hope of meeting a man and getting married. She even dresses like a man, with many people mistaking her for a man. One day a beautiful young woman, Charmy (played by Catherine Hung Yan) comes to town with her sick and dying husband, looking for a way to help him. After he dies, Charmy needs money for the funeral. Her only option is to sell herself to the highest bidder in town. Yim "buys" her, and hires her to work at the tofu shop.

A group of bandits want Charmy (and revenge on Yim Wing Chun for stopping them) for their own "personal pleasure". After Wing Chun defeats the brother (played by Chui A-Fai) of the leader, Flying Chimpanzee (played by Norman Tsui Siu-Keung), challenges her to a duel; if Wing Chun loses, she must become Flying Chimpanzee's woman.

During all this, Wing Chun's childhood friend, Leung Pok To (played by Donnie Yen), comes into town looking for her. He wants to marry her, but he mistakes Charmy for Wing Chun, and Wing Chun for a man! As you can imagine, a lot of mistaken identity shenanigans ensue. Can Yim Wing Chun defeat Flying Chimpanzee and avoid forcibly becoming his wife, and will she ever find love (particularly with  Leung Pok To)?

Donnie Yen is looking for the love of his life... and kicking butt.

I first watched Wing Chun in the late 90s on cable TV channel TNT late at night. I loved it back then, as it was the first time I watched a Michelle Yeoh movie where she was the top star, and it was the first movie I ever saw Donnie Yen in (I had heard of him before that, though). I recorded it on VHS off the TV so I could watch it whenever I wanted, but as you can imagine, when DVDs became the popular format, I wanted to buy the DVD version. Of course, I could never find it on sale anywhere (in-store or online) for years. The last time I watched Wing Chun was probably in the early 2000s. (There is a rumor that Miramax bought the rights for Wing Chun, just so nobody else could release it in America. Not sure how true that is, but it seems to be true in my experience.)

So how does Wing Chun hold up? I think it holds up great! Reading other reviews of this movie, it seems like everybody gives it negative points for not being about the creation of the Wing Chun style, or about the creator of the style, Ng Mui (who does appear in this movie, played by Cheng Pei-Pei), or a more truthful profile of Yim Wing Chun, who was Ng Mui's first student and who the style is named after. This movie is a silly comedy, basically. I hate to call it a romantic comedy, but there is a lot of comedy based on romantic situations. I actually enjoyed the comedy, for the most part (unlike a majority of the reviews I read), but as I always say: comedy is subjective. You may not find the movie funny, but maybe you will.

Michelle Yeoh plays Yim Wing Chun as a stoic, martial arts master who kind of regrets not finding love, but does not regret becoming a martial artist. She has great chemistry with Kingdom Yuen King-Tan, who plays her aunt Abascus Fong, a very smelly and desperately amorous woman. Donnie Yen plays Leung Pok To as a heroic young man with honorable intentions. He is also kind of a goof in this movie (which impacted how I though of him as an actor for a little while... until I saw Legend Of The Wolf, 1997. I gained a whole new appreciation for him after that movie!) It was great to see Norman Tsui Siu-Keung as the main villain, Flying Chimpanzee. I can't believe I didn't recognize it was him until now. He plays Flying Chimpanzee as a cocky, chauvinist jerk. All the performances in this movie are great, as are the characters.

A lot of creative fights in Wing Chun, as expected in a Yuen Woo-Ping movie!

 The fight scenes in Wing Chun are really, really good. I will say, though Yim Wing Chun is a Wing Chun master, the way she fights in this movie is not totally Wing Chun-based. Still, there are some Wing Chun strikes in there, and the fights are entertaining. Donnie Yen gets in on the action, and he does some of his great kicks in this. Norman Tsui Siu-Keung is a formidable final boss, who is an expert with a spear and a master of the cotton belly. The most famous fight in this movie is when Yim Wing Chun challenges a bandit to hit a tray of tofu. Wing Chun blocks all of his strikes, uses the tofu as a weapon, and even does some fancy tofu dodging as well. Probably the most creative fight in the movie. Since this movie was made in the 90s, the fights have that really sped up look to it. Not as bad as other movies during that time period, but it's still noticeable. I don't like fight scenes that are sped up like that, but in Wing Chun it's tolerable.

So, should you watch Wing Chun? I say yes! It's a fun, funny, action-packed movie. Michelle Yeoh is great in this, playing the unselfish hero to perfection, and Donnie Yen is a goofy butt kicker. Though this movie may not be historically accurate, it's a fun way to find out about the originators of the Wing Chun kung fu style. Michelle Yeoh is just the best!

Reviewed by David Williams