Released: December 2019(Hong Kong)
Director: Wilson Yip
Not Rated
Run Time: 106 Minutes
Distributor: Well Go USA
Genre: Action
Cast:
Donnie Yen: Ip Man
Scott Adkins: Barton Geddes
Danny Kwok-Kwan Chen: Bruce Lee
Vanness Wu: Hartman Wu
Yue Wu: Wan Zong Hua
Chris Collins: Colin Frater
Vanda Margraf: Wan Yonah
I’ve been watching Kung-Fu movies for as long as I can remember. If I remember correctly, but this was a long time ago, my first Kung-Fu movie was Bruce Lee’s Enter The Dragon. It was absolutely one of the most influential films of the 20th century. Unfortunately, it was also Bruce Lee’s last completed film before he died in 1973. Yet, because of Bruce Lee, we have legends like Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan to pick up where Lee left off and the rest is history. The genre saw a huge explosion not just in the East, but the West as well. Drunken Master, A Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow, Millionaire’s Express and even modern martial arts films like Ong-Bak might not have happened if it weren’t for Bruce Lee. Yet, behind every legendary martial artist throughout history, there’s a master that taught them everything they knew. For Bruce Lee, that man was the equally legendary grandmaster of Wing Chun, Ip Man. The movie I bring to you today is the final film for Donnie Yen’s interpretation of the grandmaster, Ip Man 4: The Finale.
Following the death of his wife, Grandmaster Ip Man himself has come down with cancer and is struggling to try and support his son, Ip Ching. After learning that Ip Ching got kicked out of school, Ip Man decides to travel to San Francisco to find a suitable school for his son. While there, he learns that a former student, Bruce Lee, has been accused of causing tension with Chinatown’s Kung-Fu masters. At the same time, another of Ip Man’s students, Hartman Wu, has been butting heads with a racist Marine platoon commander, Gunnery Sergeant Barton Geddes. While I’m not saying that the story in Ip Man 4 is bad, far from it, but there’s a lot going on here. You’ve got the tension between Bruce Lee and the Kung-Fu masters, which was a real issue back then. You’ve got Ip Man trying to find a new school for his son, but he also has to deal with a racist Marine sergeant. There’s a lot being juggled here, and not all of it is handled properly. The issue with Bruce Lee and the Kung-Fu masters gets pushed to the side pretty quickly and throwing Ip Man into the mix didn’t really make a lot of sense, since he wasn’t actually a part of that issue. I think that each of the film’s plot-points could have been enough for a single movie. Narratively, the film felt kind of jumbled, but the focus was still on Ip Man and what he’s been dealing with. From a story-telling standpoint, I feel that Ip Man 3 was a better film.
In terms of performances, it’s pretty solid across the board. The guy that plays Bruce Lee, Danny Kwok-Kwan Chan, is pretty good and there are moments where he really looks like Bruce. It makes sense, the resemblance is striking and Chan was trained in Jeet Kune Do, so it made sense for him to be cast as the character. Some of the side characters are an absolute hoot to watch. You’ve got Chris Collins as Karate Instructor Colin Frater and he’s basically a blunt instrument, which is odd, because Collins is also trained in Wing Chun. Seeing Scott Adkins in an Ip Man film is amazing. Not only is Adkins an amazing martial artist in his own right, but he’s really been knocking it out of the park over the past couple years with outstanding performances in movies like Accident Man and Avengement. He’s gotten a lot better as an actor over the years. Here, he gets the chance to really ham it up as Gunnery Sergeant Geddes. As despicable as the character, you really can’t take your eyes off him because he’s so much fun to watch. It’s clear that Scott is having a blast playing this character. Donnie Yen, who is pushing 60 at this point, still remains the best actor to play Ip Man. There have been others over the years, but nobody has done it quite the way Donnie has. Again, Donnie Yen is a world-class martial artist, but he’s also a fantastic actor. His portrayal of the grandmaster has always been amazing. He gives the character a very human and surprisingly optimistic performance and you just can’t help but root for the character to win.
When it comes to Kung-Fu movies, you would expect some fight scenes, right? Well, let me tell you: Ip Man 4 delivers the goods. Legendary(I keep using that word, but it’s true)action director Yuen Woo-Ping returns to choreograph the fight sequences in this film, and surprisingly it’s mostly grounded. There is some wire-work here and there, but it’s mostly been kept to a minimum. There’s a street fight between Bruce Lee and a handful of Karate practitioners that was pretty solid. There’s also an amazing sequence between Ip Man and the local Tai Chi master which was really cool, but the real showstopper here and one that a lot of fans having been waiting for is the final battle between Donnie Yen’s Ip Man and Scott Adkins’ Sergeant Geddes. This final battle is almost as good as the one from the previous film. Scott Adkins and Donnie Yen absolutely match each other beat for beat and it’s just exciting to watch.
I’ve seen a lot of film series come to a close over the past couple of years and not all of them stuck their landings. Star Wars is the most recent one and it didn’t stick the landing. Ip Man 4, for all the issues that it may have, it gives the series and the character a fitting and heroic send-off. I think the film could have been better served by tightening up some of the narrative threads, but what we ended up getting was still very solid and compelling and Donnie Yen gives his best performance as Ip Man yet. Scott Adkins always makes for an entertaining villain and his fight with Donnie Yen is one for the ages. I’ve been a huge fan of the Ip Man films since the first one appeared in 2009. I think fans of the series are going to be pleased with this one. For the most part, I know I was. Ip Man 4 isn’t perfect, and I don’t think it’s the strongest entry in the series, but it’s still a hell of a Kung-Fu movie and it’s one that I highly recommend.
My Final Recommendation: 8.5/10