CinemaNerdz

Movie Review: Ip Man 3

Dane Jackson

To the uninitiated, Donnie Yen is a cast member in the upcoming Rogue One Star Wars spin-off, but for those in the know, he’s one of the great martial artists of Asian cinema. It’s safe to say that he’s on the Mt. Rushmore of martial arts superstars, and based on his body of work, Donnie Yen is more consistent then counterparts Jet Li and Jackie Ip Man 3 PosterChan. With Ip Man 3, Yen gets to say goodbye to the character he’s been playing for the last eight years.

The Ip Man Trilogy follows Grand Master Ip (Donnie Yen) from his life in China to his move to Hong Kong, to meeting someone named Bruce Lee. The films are biographical in nature, so while sensationalized for the big screen, it was interesting to become more familiar with the life of the Wing Chun Master who was responsible for arguably one of the most famous people in Martial Arts today. Ip Man 3 offers a satisfying, albeit a bit disjointed, finale on Donnie Yen’s portrayal of the Grand Master.

Unlike other films in the trilogy, Ip Man 3 focuses more on telling a story and less on martial arts. While it was nice to get more story this time around, I missed seeing Donnie Yen in action – especially with how director Wilson Yip has learned to work with Yen over the years. In his own regard, Donnie Yen is one of the best, but Yip just has a knack for making him look that much more special. This time around, there’s less focus on wire tricks and CGI. Instead, we get some more natural action – including a few scenes of very close quarters combat. The camerawork and cinematography in those instances were perfect.

Focusing on narrative is a great idea in principle. The problem with Ip Man 3 is that the plot is just not as intriguing and compelling as the fight scenes. In fact, the way the movie is split up, it feels like a two-part mini-series – with the first half of the movie being focused on Mike Tyson’s evil real estate developmental desire to take over a local school and the second half focusing on an internal struggle within the Wing Chun Martial Arts School.

These two separate plots make the film feel a bit disjointed – especially after the inclusion of Mike Tyson in the cast. Speaking of Tyson, he was fine with what they needed him for, but the decision to dub him in Cantonese at times was laughable.

Despite the flaws with story structure, Ip Man 3 is a visually compelling and satisfying conclusion of Donnie Yen’s turn as Grand Master Ip Man. With all of the different movies on the market focusing on his life now, Donnie Yen’s films are far and beyond the best around.

Dane Jackson

Dane Jackson has been writing about movies since high school when he had a monthly column in the school paper about cult movies. His cinematic tastes have matured (slightly) since then.
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