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In 2008, a movie appeared on my Netflix suggestions called Ip Man starring Donnie Yen, one of the best martial artist actors alive. He’s been stellar in such films as Iron Monkey, Hero, and even the meh Shanghai Knights — remember that? It was the sequel to Shanghai Noon. That was a long time ago. But Ip Man was a kind of semi-biographical film about a man named Ip Man, who lived in China in the early part of the 20th century, had some adventures and famous fights, and eventually went on to become the teacher of Bruce Lee himself. I say “semi” because the films take many liberties.
In the first Ip Man movie, Ip Man faces local and foreign (Japanese in this case) adversaries. He is a reluctant hero throughout. I watched the movie, and I loved it. So I found out that Ip Man 2 was on the way, and I watched that one when it arrived here in the US. In Ip Man 2, Ip Man works to build a new school in Hong Kong and fight against British racists. Literally. In some ways, I liked it better than the first one, but I assumed that was it. Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster about Ip Man came out in 2013, but that was a very different style of movie. And now we’ve got the third one.
Ip Man 3 once again stars Donnie Yen as the famous martial artist, and continues his adventures. The movie almost immediately teases us with a Bruce Lee appearance, before Ip Man tells him “not yet” — what a tease. Our primary begins with a few focuses. Ip Man gets a new sort of rival when his young son Ip Ching has been fighting with friend/rival/other kid Cheung Fung. This rival kid has an interesting father who is raising his son by himself — a man named Cheung Tin-chi (Max Zhang) who is a formidable student of Wing Chun (Ip’s school) himself.
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A few subplots all combine to an explosive finish. Cheung Tin-chi is working hard to provide for his son but also to prove himself, leading down potentially dangerous paths. The local gangster leader Ma King-sang (Patrick Tam) is causing trouble and trying to take over the children’s school with illegal tactics until the kids get caught up in the drama. In a bit of classic Ip Man xenophobia, the gangsters are working for Frank (Mike Tyson — yes, you read that right) who is a land developer who’s also paying off local officials.
Classic American.
All while Ip must deal with drama within his own family as his wife Cheung Wing-sing (Lynn Xiong) faces her own problems. So it’s all about two things: Philosophy and ass kicking. As per usual, the choreography is dynamite, with a supremely effective series of escalating fights. Of course, Donnie Yen and Mike Tyson have a fight, but no spoilers how it goes. It’s easy when Ip faces the evil, cartoonish gangsters and foreign devils, but when he faces a rival there’s actual complexity, which is a very nice touch.
Donnie Yen shows how, even at age 53, he still remains one of the preeminent fighting stars in cinema. The other cast ranges from very silly (like Fat Ball, the local policeman) to legitimately great; the new guy Max Zhang, who is a mere 41 years old. Yeesh. You know, I actually thought Mike Tyson wasn’t bad here, even if some of his dubs in Mandarin aren’t always quite synced up right.
Naturally the action is consistently great, clear and dynamic, no shaky cam here. But it’s the depth that elevates this movie, as Ip Man and Cheung Tin-hi must grapple with how to deal with complicated situations. Sure, there’s some simple black and white good versus evil here, but not entirely. I really liked this movie, but it is a particular sort of thing — a good litmus test is the original Ip Man. If that works for you, you’d like this.
But if you’re aren’t that into kung fu movies, well … this probably isn’t the movie for you.
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