73
Metascore
37 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83IndieWireEric KohnIndieWireEric KohnIntermittently action-packed and lethargic, the movie dances around formula. By delivering an expressionistic character study with bursts of intensity unlike anything else in his oeuvre and yet stylistically representative of its entirety, Wong practically has it both ways.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterClarence TsuiThe Hollywood ReporterClarence TsuiTrue to Wong’s style, The Grandmaster is infused with melancholy and a near-existentialist resignation to the uncertainties of fate.
- 80Film.comStephanie ZacharekFilm.comStephanie ZacharekThis is a story told in shards; Wong is so obsessed with visual details – faces refracted as if in a broken mirror, or fragile arcs of blood being traced out on the pavement by the feet of two feuding kung fu masters – that the story he’s trying to tell is partly obscured by them.
- 67The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangAll of Wong's undeniable visual flair can't conceal the haphazard nature of the story.
- 63Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenThe film, more likely to invite comparisons to the writings of Marcel Proust than the previous Ip Man films, is a gorgeous folly that never entirely emerges from its creator's head.
- 63McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMcClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreA regal, majestic and downright arty take on this teacher, champion and philosopher whose life spanned much of the twentieth century.
- 60Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfThe Grandmaster, five years in the making, feels like a waste of Wong’s talents.
- 58Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanTony 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.