If this is indeed the last chapter, as announced, these fans should be more than satisfied.
The “Ip Man” series has a legion of loyal fans, many of whom voted the original “Ip Man” into imDB’s top 250 (it’s number 227). The battle for the true representative of Wing Chun is treated with a gravitas that manifests itself in the mutual respect the competitors have for each other. The Tyson subplot could have easily been excised, but even at its most extraneous, it still provides entertainment value. Lest the audience get too antsy with all this emotion, “Ip Man 3” offers up a kidnapping, arson, evil English money men hellbent on enforcing their foreign influences and battles with knives, poles, fists and feet. When “Ip Man 3” stages its climactic battle, the film works Cheung Wing-sing into the scene as an extra measure of reassurance for the audience. Master Ip may be able to take on dozens of pole-waving adversaries, but his resistance is no match for the lovely way his wife looks at him.
“Ip Man 3” allows the bittersweet notes of their tragedy to play in the foreground, stopping the action for scenes where the couple reveal the depth of their relationship. After “ Creed”, this real-life plot twist suffers a bit with its familiarity, but Yen and Hung make it work with a sweet, romantic chemistry that spans the entire series. The match does not unfold as we expect, however.Īlso unexpected is the sudden cancer diagnosis of Cheung Wing-sing. An early scuffle between the young sons of the two men foreshadows a battle between the adults. Cheng Tin-Chi’s allegiances are shaky he appears to be playing both sides of the real estate scheme, working for Tyson but never failing to show heroics when Tyson’s hordes appear to get the better of Ip Man.
When not fighting for Tyson’s amusement and cash, rickshaw driver Cheng Tin-Chi (Zhang Jin) plans on opening a competing school for Wing Chun. When not dealing with Tyson’s land grabbing, Master Ip must deal with a challenger for the throne of Wing Chun grandmaster. In fact, Lee, his contemporaries and his successors haunt “Ip Man 3” as it finalizes a series that honors and embraces its martial arts disciplines. Both Ip Man’s fight scene with a prominent American sports legend and the film’s most melodramatic plot development conjure up memories of Lee’s “Game of Death”. He’s here to bring new fans to the series, but indirectly, he plays a small part in the film’s evocation of Master Yip’s most famous student. He’s intimidating in his few scenes, executes a satisfying 3-minute rumble with Yen and utters in Cantonese the profanity that earns this film a PG-13 rating. Yip takes a similar approach to shooting Yuen Woo-Ping’s fight sequences, whether Ip Man is taking on the standard-issue horde of attackers or Tyson’s one man wrecking crew.įar be it from me to throw shade on Tyson’s performance. As the grandmaster throws cigarettes and water at Lee, director Wilson Yip shoots the inanimate object carnage with fan-pleasing gusto. In this brief sequence, Kwok-Kwan Chan nicely captures Lee’s essence.
So “Ip Man 3” begins in 1959, with Lee showing his impressive skills to Ip Man. Still mostly about martial arts, but has more romance than the Ip Man series.The real Master Yip Man is well known for being Bruce Lee’s teacher. However, if you want a kung fu series that has a little more romance, might I suggest the Once Upon a Time in China series with Jet Li and Rosamund Kwan, that one definitely has a lot more romance, especially since it is a more forbidden romance between an Aunt and Nephew.
In the movie it prompts Ip Man to visit Bruce Lee in America for Ip Man 4. Both events are never shown in the film.Īlthough they do show Cheung being sick and eventually dying, which did actually happen. By the 1950's Ip Man and Cheung got separated due to closed borders and never saw each other again. It should be noted that the real life Ip Man's romantic life was way more complicated than in the movies. The Ip Man films are more about Ip Man vs other people, like the Japanese or Mike Tyson. But they obviously do stuff off screen since they have kids. Their relationship is pretty reserved, not too much PDA. There's very little moments between him and his wife played by Lynn Hung in all four films.