"The Final Master" (or just 'Master', as the 'Shīfu' of the original title means) is an interesting martial arts movie, with great atmosphere, camera work and music, but not so good action.
The story is simple. Here we have a Wing Chun master (must all kung fu masters have to be Wing Chun masters?; oh, well...) that wants to open a school in Tianjin. He just can't do it, so he decides to choose a random guy from the streets, and teach him his art. The plan is that the apprentice may go and fight masters from other schools, and when he defeats over 8, the master can open his own school. However, then the apprentice will have to be sacrificed so the other schools don't lose face...
The story is not very complicated, but Haofeng Xu's direction goes for moody and atmospheric, a very specific camera work and edit, with short cuts and a little bit tongue-in-cheek style, not so common on martial arts movies. It perfectly suits the movie, and makes it have a very interesting tinge.
Sadly, the action doesn't deliver as it should. It may be realistic (I am not an expert on this kind of knife fighting), but it doesn't grip the viewer as it could. It just looks a little bit fake, and the fights lack some energy. There is not much originality in the movements, the locations or the pace of the fights, and they don't have as much tension as they should. That lack of tension becomes more and more clear as the ending gets closer.
"The Final Master" will be enjoyed by martial arts fans, but it feels like a half-baked effort.
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