Ip Man 4: The Finale

Ip Man 4: The Finale is apparently going to be the last time Yen dons the familiar black cassock to play Ip Man, and Yip orchestrates a fittingly spectacular finish to the saga.

There is no mystery about who wins the movie’s final bout, but it is never less than thrilling to watch Yen’s fluttering limbs in action.

One of the unexpected pleasures of Ip Man 4 is a warm montage of highlights from the previous three films that plays at the close. Star Yen has said there are no more Ip films in his future, but no one would be upset if another one happened to come along.

While not as strong, or nuanced, an entry as any of the three that preceded it, Yen once again proves at 56 to be something of an ageless wonder.

The sturdy but shallow martial arts melodrama Ip Man 4: The Finale isn’t much more than what fans have already gotten from the popular action franchise.

The result is a film that feels like unfinished business. At the end, there’s a compendium of scenes from the previous “Ip Man” films, and it’s a sweetly nostalgic way to go out. If only what had come before it had been more satisfying.

Given that a fair amount of creative licence has been exercised here, it is strange that Bruce Lee has such a small part to play.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Classic Ip Man movie with great martial choregraphies, a good pace, visually great. Ip Man finally appears to be less strong than in the previous films. His character is way more developped since we witness him dealing with some kind of family issues. I found that the fact that the scenario joins the historical reality (with Ip Man being the master of Bruce Lee) was interesting. I like that fact that 'Ip Man' movies try to be some kind of romanced biopics instead of being a simple movie with over-powered characters. Futhermore Lee doesn't take much place in the movie. Treating racism was also meaningful even if the ways to do so sometimes seem awkward and/or irrelevant, leading to over-stereotyped characters. They could have added many more women to the cast though. Excepted Anita there are no significant woman all along. The plot is far from being original as we can clearly see this was copied and pasted from all aother 'Ip Man' movies. The caricature of American people is relevant but far too often falls into the pit of convention.

I have a been a huge fan of the Ip Man series ever since the first movie came out in 2008. I watched all of the films in the series including the spinoff “Master Z: Ip Man legacy”. So, of course, I was going to go see this movie as well, especially considering its the last one in the main Ip Man films. Unfortunately, I came out feeling very disappointed in this movie. Let’s start with the positives. The first and probably the reason most people come to watch this film is the fight scenes. They are still very well choreographed and this iteration features a variety of different type of martial arts including western Karate. Seeing how they choreographed different fighting styles. The fighting is also fast-paced and stylistic. The second has to be Donnie Yen’s marvellous performance as the titular character Ip Man. He continues to embody the character perfectly and give a convincing dialogue as a man with many wisdom. Likewise, I also have to praise Wu Yue as Wan Zong-Hua (chairman of the Chinese Benevolent Association) for providing a contrasting character to Ip Man belief but still give that aura of wisdom. Danny Chan returns as Bruce Lee from Ip Man 3 and he is still great and resembles him. The score from Kenji Kawai returns and is also still really good at elevating every scene albeit it is still kinda similar to that of all the previous entries. Now let’s get to all the negatives from this film. Firstly, while I did praise the fights and its choreography; it’s not very memorable. Each film tends to have one or multiple fights that stick in your mind: The first film had the fight against 10 Japanese karate fighters, the second with the fish market fight and the table fight and the fight against the boxer, the third film with the fight against Mike Tyson and the final fight. However, the fights in this film don’t come close to the memorable fights of previous films. The closest it gets is maybe the Ip man vs Wan Zong-Hua or the Ip Man vs Scott Adkins (can’t even remember his character’s name…). Even those fights feel short and underwhelming at points. Secondly, why is every character in this film also borderline cartooney? There have been some over the top characters in previous entries but it was usually just one for comic relief but in this film, it feels like apart from the three characters I listed above; everyone else is over the top. This blend of serious performances from some actors with the over the top from others is very jarring. For example, Scott Adkins plays this over the top racist general but he is so blatantly racist and acts like a stereotypical general that it makes you wonder how he was even employed. Thirdly, the story is atrocious and lacks any nuance or depth. The story is simply Ip Man goes to America to get his son a school there and some weird racist stuff happens with Bruce Lee doing just kind of being there. The message in this film is, of course, exploring racism and they do kind of try to make it subtle with Bruce Lee who trains western people despite criticism from the Chinese people. HOWEVER, they waste Bruce Lee in this film by not even remotely having him involved in the main plot! He could have been used to show that it was possible for acknowledgement between Chinese and western people but they don’t even utilise this. Instead, we got over the top racist people trying to get rid of all Chinese people and prove Kung fu **** so Ip Man has to stop him and convince some people otherwise. Due to them not utilising Bruce Lee more, the message of this film ends up feeling like western people are racist and bad even though this contrast Bruce Lee and even Ip Man point within this film. It doesn’t feel like a necessary story to tell for Ip Man with only a couple of things adding to his character like cancer and filming his training I guess? Also, this racist thing has already been done in Ip Man 2 so it is weird they are doing it again even if it explored slightly better. It just feels like similar ground and too much of a retread. Additionally, they decide to up the melodrama with all these family drama that really feels like they were trying to force some kind of character development. Overall, this film is a disappointing entry with its huge waste of story potential. However, the movie retains a lot of what makes IP Man a great martial art movie. The grounded, brutal yet fluid realistic fights are still there and are still great as always. The fluid interplay between contrasting martial arts are still great. Donnie Yen continues giving a wised yet graceful performance as the titular character with an elegant yet ferocious fighting style. Additionally, the last 15-20 minutes of this movie is very thrilling and also a very satisfying conclusion to the legacy of this franchise. In the end, this movie still provides fans with what made them fall in love with this franchise in the first place and sticking to its strengths still makes for a very good time.

This must be the most disappointing Ip Man movie out of all 4. Ip Man 1 and 2 were clearly on another level and were perfect Kung Fu movies. Despite the controversial perception of the 3 movie one could still find joy in the fighting scenes and the production. Ip Man 4 did not manage to capture any of the excitement of its predecessors in any way. Donnie Yens acting was still great and so was the acting of most of the actors involved but the production and the way it was written was terrible. There were many started side stories that never lived up to their potential. Such as the story revolving around Ip's son. There was so much lost potential here even so that you do not get as emotional as you would like to be as a long time Ip Man fan, towards the end. Especially considering that He Ye who played Ip Ching was in fact a good actor and I am sure he could have played a bigger role. They should have focused much more on Ip Ching and Ip Man rather then bring up the manufactured fight between the INS and the CBA. This dispute took over half of the movie and meant nothing at all. The story between father and son could have meant everything and more for this title.

“Ip Man 4” is more than a film about Ip Man, it’s a ridiculous and repetitive slogan of the Chinese: we Chinese are an oppressed people and the Americans are always bothering us. The film is not anti-racism. It’s a film against racism, against the Chinese. A film that (like the previous part) has to introduce a Hollywood action star as a villain to attract the audience, but even he can’t save him. The fight scenes in the film are not particularly creative compared to the previous parts and are even much smaller and more compressed this time. Instead of focusing on the relationship between Ip Man and his son in a way that makes us feel his death and the son’s pain more, the film focuses on ridiculous themes of support for the Chinese and repetitive fight scenes. What happens if we remove the ridiculous Bruce Lee scenes from the movie? Nothing. The most pointless moments in the movie are the moments when Bruce Lee fights. Completely decorative and ridiculous. Why doesn't the movie use these moments to deepen the Ip Man character in the final episode of the series? Because the movie's purpose is something else. Film uses Scott Adkins and a fake Bruce Lee to attract the audience and has nothing of its own. An extremely predictable, clichéd, and repetitive film that makes no difference whether you watch it or not.