The Grandmaster Movie

The Grandmaster sounds like a kick-ass banquet. It’s the story of Ip Man, the Wing Chun martial-arts legend who trained Bruce Lee, and it was directed by the heady sensualist Wong Kar-wai. Tony Leung plays Ip Man with his old-movie charisma and reserve, but the film, despite a few splendid fights, is a biohistorical muddle that never finds its center. Maybe that’s because — big mistake! — it never gets to Bruce Lee. C+