Over the holidays, I had the opportunity to watch Ip Man 3 the movie with my family, Sifu and students in Hong Kong. We enjoyed it!
OPENS IN THE U.S. 01.22.16
THE PLOT (courtesy of IMDB.com)
When a band of brutal gangsters led by a crooked property developer make a play to take over the city, Master Ip (played by Donnie Yen) is forced to take a stand.
THE IP MAN SAGA
Ip Man 1 is about surviving; Ip Man 2 is about living; Ip Man 3 is about love, passion and life. As a martial arts teacher, I am able to closely relate to the main character this time, from finding balance between martial arts and family to teacher/student relationships and accepting social responsibilities, etc. Students should know that their teachers are also human beings. They have emotions and problems like any other people.
CHOREOGRAPHY
The action choreography of Ip Man 3 is great! It is as good as the first two if not better. It demonstrates the main features of Wing Chun (forms, chi sau and weapons) to the mainstream audiences. The demonstrations of Wing Chun kicks in different scenes are unexpectedly good. Still, a movie is a movie. It is unfair to criticize the Wing Chun techniques as it is a not a documentary.
SPECIAL BONUS
Ip Man features former heavyweight boxing champion “Iron” Mike Tyson in the role of “Frank.”
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Kwok-Kwan Chan is CG-enhanced to play the role of Bruce Lee. And as many of you know, Bruce Lee was once the student of the real Ip Man (pictured on the left).
THE MESSAGE
In addition to the action scenes, we can also pay attention to the messages in Ip Man 3. In addition to the unfairness in the society and the unfortunate events in the main character’s family, the fight between the Wing Chun masters is sad. We may say that it is just a plot of a movie that leads to the Wing Chun fight scenes, but it somewhat reflects the reality. A fight or argument due to one’s envy and pride is meaningless, especially among people in the same martial art family. Like the main character says at the end of the movie,
“Nothing is more important than the people close to us.”
As I said before, battles inside the family will become jokes to others. In our long martial arts journey, there is always someone better than us. As long as we can be better than our old selves, we are already a winner!
THE RATING
Overall, the crew of Ip Man 3 has done an excellent job although the story line is predictable. As a fan of martial arts movies, I rate this sequel
8 out of 10.
Enjoy the show!
ADDITIONAL MOVIE DETAILS (courtesy of IMDB.com)
Director:
Writers:
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