We finally bid farewell to the Grandmaster of Wing Chun in Wilson Yips famous saga about the eponymous man himself.
Donnie Yen is back for one final time in his role as the famous Wing Chun grandmaster, a role that began in 2008 and has produced four films in the process. Grandmaster Ip Man – famously known for also being the teacher of famed martial artist and actor Bruce Lee – has been portrayed many times over the years, although it is in Wilson Yips series that his portrayal is shown in its show stopping best.
This series has felt like a passion project for both Yen and Yip over the years, beautifully choregraphed with traditional Wing Chun and numerous other martial arts orchestrated by Yen and a plethora of acting talent. These films were not just about the beauty of martial arts or Ip himself, but they always carried a message throughout, whether that be racial, cultural, or moral, and this final film is no different as it explores themes of: fatherhood, love, pride, and the racial problem that has plagued the world and America – in particular – for centuries.
This final outing shows a much older Ip, now widowed and juggling the care of his rebellious son with his martial arts school, as well as being burdened by the fact he has been diagnosed with cancer, no doubt linked to his years of chain smoking. Grandmaster Ip has been invited to the United States at the behest of his former student Bruce Lee (portrayed by Danny Chan) to attend a martial arts demonstration he is putting on. Ip decides to travel to America to see his former student as well as find a school for his troublesome son. An argument with his son before he leaves leave’s a lasting impression on both men as they go their separate ways for the time being.
On his arrival, Ip is in attendance for Bruce’s famous one-inch punch (made for slightly better viewing than the poor quality black and white one that made it renowned). Soon after, Ip is treated to his first experience of the bigoted white American viewpoint as a local martial arts school tries to cause trouble for Bruce and his students, leading to a lesson in the fine arts by Bruce himself and a back alley fight ensues, although very well-choregraphed and entertaining as hell, it does seem random and disappointing as this is all we get to see of Ip Mans famous student and his skills for the rest of the film.
Ip Mans journey into finding a school for his beloved son leads him to a run in with the local Asian community, more specifically the heads of various martial arts schools and Master of Tai Chi, Wan Zhonghua (portrayed by Wu Yue) who runs the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA), he holds the ticket for a recommendation to a glorious American school. Wan though does not like Ip Mans methods of teaching martial arts to foreigners, another thing that Bruce has followed in his mentor’s footsteps, resulting in resentment and hostility towards Ip Man.
Racism and fatherhood are key themes that follow the film throughout, Ip Man saves Wan’s daughter Yonah (played by Vanda Margraf) from a gang of middle-class white students who are bullying her and takes her back to her father who in turn teaches her to ignore these people as they are cruel and bigoted, something Ip Man himself disagrees with, Ip has been a practitioner of standing up to bully’s and fighting (something that has been a stand out message throughout this film series) against them.
The initial sub plot to the film involves a local army base where one of Bruce’s students is a recruit. The military here are very suspicious of Kung Fu and do not want it used, being strict about only using the supposed all-American martial art of Karate, which everyone knows is Japanese making the irony of this argument by the commanding officers extremely laughable. With that in mind, the officers set out to prove that this Japanese/American pseudo martial art is superior, using it in a variety of demonstrations to prove its dominance against several Kung Fu masters.
This all leads to Ip Man, as he does in all previous films and save the day with his brand of Wing Chun and restore some pride back to Chinese people and their Kung Fu. Ip Man goes to the military base to face Gunner Sergeant Geddes, played by British martial artist and stuntman Scott Adkins, leading to an extremely impressive bout between the two fighting stars. The film uses similar scenarios to its previous instalments, Ip Man having to defend his friends and fellow masters from humiliation, and defeat the brazen westerner in all his arrogant best.
Ip Man 4 – on the hole – is a fine way to end the series, and it is the end as the final scene involving Ip Mans funeral is delivered to us with the words that the cancer did eventually get the better of him. However, these films have left a legacy to the great martial artist and opened him up to a broader audience than before. This final film may not have been the best in the franchise, it regurgitates old plot lines and themes, but the fight scenes are still spectacular and them as an art form is what truly should be celebrated when re-watching Wilson Yips biographies of Grandmaster Ip.
Available to watch on Netflix now.
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