2015 Movie Review: #2 Ip Man 3

Never did I think at the beginning of the year I would have had Ip Man 3, a Chinese movie would have made it to my list of top 10 films, let alone be rank 2nd.

Yes, Ip Man was a character with no flaws, the perfect good guy. The movie had moments of uber cheesiness. From the obvious bad guys to the extreme foreign accent as Mike Tyson tried to speak Chinese.

However, with all that said, I walked out of the theatre thinking... This movie was like Creed, however I felt a greater impact.

Respect has always been something that I valued and Ip Man 3 revolves around this topic. This movie had that and the action was great (not Raid 2 level but well done). The interaction between Ip Man and his soon-to-be challenger in Wing Chun was great, they both respected each other and you saw that throughout the film, something that Rush did with the F1 Drivers. 

The respect, even among corrupted businessmen, the 3 minute timer and promise Mike Tyson made. People can laugh at Mike Tyson's acting and his attempts to speak Chinse, but the character was handled perfectly, not the main boss, but one that was significant and honored the fighting styles of Asia and the style from the West, finishing in what appeared to be a tie. 

As the movie moved on, another topic struck me hard and that was the priorities in life and how Family should come first. We find out that Ip Man's wife had cancer and ultimately passed away. The film was able to show that family comes first above all else. The time he took to learn how dance with her and to spend time with her was touching, and to see that Bruce Lee was to be his Instructor added a smile to my face. Bruce was known to have enjoyed dancing and this was cleverly shown to the audience and the start of his apprenticeship under Ip Man. 

Finally, we have the downfall of Cheung Tin-chi whose goal was to be the best and worked hard to try to be the best but ultimately in a moment of over confidence, lost the fight. However, the topic of respect returns and even though the fight was held behind closed doors, the loser honored the outcome and the movie comes to the conclusion that, the people closest to you are the most important.

Thumbs Up and Down of the Movie: 

The Thumbs Up.

The 3 Minute fight between Ip Man and Mike Tyson (Frank).

Perhaps the coolest part of the movie, the fight between the East and West cultures, boxing vs martial arts... It was great to get the point of view as you see the great athlete Mike Tyson engage Ip Man, still menacing even at an older age. I loved that he honored the agreement to let Ip Man go, and that was the last we see of him. The subtle topic after the fight was the fact that even "Bad Guys" value their Family, which was probably the main theme of the entire Ip Man series.

The Thumbs Down.

The Obvious Bad Guys.

The cheese, oh the cheese. Although I am use to Hong Kong films having some very obvious bad guys introduced during movies, it still makes me cringe every time I see it on screen. I am sure it adds to the style, but when you cut to a scene where all the bad guys are shown posing in a cheesy entourage boy street gang, I can't help but chuckle and cringe on the inside.