IP Man 3 (2015) [Blu-ray]
Action | Biography | Drama | History

In this action thriller set in 1959 Hong Kong, martial-arts master Ip Man (Donnie Yen) is forced to protect his hometown when a crooked property developer and his gangster cohorts attempt to seize control of local real estate. Mike Tyson co-stars. Directed by Wilson Yip. Written by Daniel Gelb, Rovi

Storyline: When a band of brutal gangsters led by a crooked property developer make a play to take over the city, Master Ip is forced to take a stand.

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, April 12, 2016 You know, someone really ought to make a movie about venerable martial artist Ip Man (sometimes also transliterated as Yip Man) training the acolyte who became arguably his most famous protégé, Bruce Lee. At this point there have been no fewer than six feature films devoted to Ip Man, including two starring Donnie Yen as Ip Man which are linked with this particular outing, Ip Man and Ip Man 2, as well as three other non-linked features, The Legend Is Born: Ip Man, Ip Man: The Final Fight and The Grandmaster. As anyone who has seen at least some of these films (especially the ones starring Yen) can avow, the character of Bruce Lee does appear, albeit pretty fitfully at times, as he in fact once again does in Ip Man 3. What's a little odd about all of this is that evidently the whole idea for an Ip Man film was sparked by the desire to depict the relationship between a relatively less known teacher and his ultimately globally renowned student. A bit of online sleuthing turned up a whole host of rights issues which have apparently thrown at least a few obstacles in the way of some of these filmmakers, with various people and/or entities claiming possession of Lee's image and/or representation as a character, and that may account at least in part for the lack of a really in depth portrayal of this historical and probably quite fascinating interaction. What's a little annoying about the continuing glut of Ip Man cinematic vehicles, though, is their outright fictionalization of various elements of Ip Man's remarkable life and achievements. Part of this may be due to the near mythologizing accrual of supposed aspects of Ip Man's life which admittedly arose even before the first film came out, but some cynical types may be prone to thinking that truth might not only be stranger than fiction, but ultimately more satisfying as well.

While Bruce Lee (played by Danny Chan, though evidently CGI rendering was at one point considered) does waft in and out of this particular story, Ip Man 3 goes the fictionalized route with a fairly silly story involving a gangster type who also is a real estate developer. The fact that this character, who goes by the name Frank, is played by Mike Tyson may give some indication of the general tenor of this particular outing. Frank has several irons in various fires, including tangential relationships to a kind of black market "fight club" that involves Cheung Tin-chi (Zhang Jin), another highly skilled martial artist whose son attends school with Ip Man's younger son. The two boys get into a scuffle trying to prove they have superior fighting skills, a conflict which is then mirrored in a competition between their fathers as the film progresses.

While that set of relationships is unfolding, Frank's nefarious efforts to gain control of the very property where the boys' school is provides sufficient conflict for some of the film's set pieces, when Ip Man decides to protect the location from the threats Frank's triad forces regularly make. A number of patently melodramatic subplots begin accruing, one of which predictably pits Cheung Tin-chi against Ip Man. In one of the film's passing flirtations with actual history, Ip Man's home life with his wife Cheung Ying-sing (Lynn Hung) encounters potential tragedy, an element which is utilized to generate some emotion which is otherwise largely lacking from this entry in the ever expanding Ip Man franchise.

If Ip Man 3 is accepted on its own kind of chop socky B-movie merits, it provides more than enough bone crunching action to satisfy most martial arts aficionados. Yen, who famously stated he would never play Ip Man again after Ip Man 2, has again indicated that not only will this time be his "honest to goodness" last crack (so to speak) at the role, it may be his last action film generally. Yen acquits himself as remarkably as ever in the film's big set pieces, which see him battling not just with his fists and feet but with a variety of accoutrements, especially in the hyperbolic climactic showdown with Cheung Tin- chi. The various representatives claiming control of Bruce Lee's likeness may have successfully prevented a decent depiction of the relationship between master and student, necessitating several trips to a fictional well as various Ip Man films have been released, but the fact remains that there is still a compelling tale to be told in this regard. Perhaps the genesis needs to come from the Lee side of the equation (so to speak), at which point the representatives of Ip Man's legacy will probably raise their own objections to the potential project.

As a wise man, or at least I, was saying, there's a great film waiting to be made about Ip Man and Bruce Lee. All three of the Yen Ip Man outings have at least hinted at this relationship, but evidently rights issues have prevented a further exploration. Maybe Ip Man 4 or at least Bruce Lee 1 can get this thorny problem solved. As it stands, Ip Man 3 presents a needlessly melodramatic tale that is a bit on the campy side at times (at least when Mike Tyson lumbers into view), but which provides Yen ample opportunity to flex his martial arts charisma for what may be the last time. Technical merits are very strong and help raise this otherwise somewhat predictable entry's rating to Recommended.

[CSW] -3.8- The main focus of Ip Man 3 is human emotion and melodrama. Instead of just realistic fight scenes, Yuen Woo Ping(Iron Monkey, Matrix, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) was brought in to add "beauty" and "detail" into every fight scene? So what is the result? A beautiful film in its own right, which may spark differences in opinion between people who understand the film, and people who don't. Ip Man 3 is the excellent and perhaps perfect ending to the Ip Man trilogy. But one needs to use his/her heart to understand, and use their eyes to observe... not just the fight scenes, but every emotional scene. While many may claim that Ip Man 3 is the best of the trilogy, I will not go so far as that. I personally felt that Ip Man 3 is definitely better than Ip Man 2, and is definitely on par with Ip Man (2008). Ip Man 3 goes for the heart as much as the jugular in an exciting and unexpectedly moving finish.
[V4.5-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.


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