A Chinese village is menaced by bandits; the only resident to stand up to them is Wing Chun. This doesn't please everybody in the village; Wing Chun is a woman and the men feel they are making them look bad. One day young woman, Cheery, comes to town hoping to get medical treatment for her husband; she is kidnapped by bandit Flying Monkey but Wing Chun rescues her. Soon after her husband dies so Wing Chun and her sister offer her a job at their tofu shop where she is immediately known as the 'Tofu Beauty' and attracts lots of male customers. One day a man, Leung Pok, To, returns to the village after ten years away hoping to be reunited with his sweetheart; Wing Chun. Unfortunately he mistakes Cheery for Wing Chun, and to make matters worse thinks Wing Chun, who wears male clothes, is her lover! If that weren't enough Flying Monkey's brother, Flying Chimp, has Cheery kidnapped and challenges Wing Chun to a fight; if she loses she must marry him.If you are looking for a film that isn't too long, is packing with brilliantly choreographed martial arts fights and plenty of laughs then this is probably the film for you. Much of the comedy feels almost Shakespearian with lots of mistaken identity and even gender confusion, there are also plenty of laughs during the fights. These fights are all exciting without being particularly brutal. Michelle Yeoh does a really fine job as Wing Chun; she is great in the fight scenes and convincing in the 'acting' scenes. She is ably supported by Donnie Yen as Pok To; Kingdom Yuen as Wing Chun's sister; Catherine Hung as Charmy; Norman Chu as Flying Chimpanzee and Waise Lee as Scholar Wong, a man who keen on Wing Chun. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to anybody who enjoys their martial arts delivered with plenty of laughs.These comments are based on watching the film in Cantonese with English subtitles.

I saw Michelle Yeoh first in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), next in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), then in Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) before I saw her in the film under review, Wing Chun (1994).In the first three films, hers was a strong, polished presence, showing an accomplished actor capable of nuance as well as swift direct action. The 1997 and 2000 films showed her physical prowess as well, but by the 2005 film, her acting alone was impressive.Wing Chun was a bit of a pleasant surprise. The screenplay, the direction, and the production values clearly did not make full use Yeoh's abilities. On the other hand, it was funny, sweet, and moved along to a pleasant conclusion. The screenplay and the other actors were just good enough to carry the film to the next part where Yeoh was present.Wing Chun the character was a woman who had moved away from her early home to study kung fu in seclusion. Later in life, she was fine with helping protect from bandits the town where Aunty Fong did business. She expected to live out her life with her dignity, but not have a husband.Life changed for her when her childhood sweetheart Pok To rolled into town; she recognized him, but he did not recognize her, which started a sequence of misadventures.The leader of the bandits (Flying Chimpanzee) gets discouraged with being thwarted by Wing Chun, and decided to make a cause of her. This involved lots of choreographed kung fu fighting, fighting with weapons, fighting on horseback, and so on.The fighting and the romantic entanglements resolve in ways that were happy for almost everyone.----Scores----Cinematography: 9/10 Very good in most of the film.Sound: 8/10 Fine, except for the over the top Foley for the fighting sequences.Acting: 8/10 The main players were fine, but many of the supporting cast not as much.Screenplay: 8/10 This is the best comedy I've seen in many years.

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.

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.