Well here it is, the long-awaited third sequel
of the wing chun grandmaster Ip man has finally arrived in theatre. Having been
watching the Ip Man 3 in theatre, now I try to write an amateur review of this
film.
Honestly, I was a bit
confused why Donnie Yen decided to continue the story of the wingchun
grandmaster because he stated that -soon after Ip Man 2 released- he wouldn't
continue his appearance for the 3rd series of the film. However, I was very
excited and surprised when Donnie Yen finally stated in his Facebook fanpage
that he would make the trilogy of the Ip Man film.
What I first predict was
that the 3rd sequel of Donnie's Ip Man film would show one of the most
historical moment of the grandmaster's life, when he trained his most
distinguish disciple Bruce Lee. But then, when I finally watched the movie, I
found out that apparently the producer had torn out my prediction and changed
it into something 'so-not- Donnie's Ip Man'. Bruce Lee only appears in a few
minutes as a complement of the story (it sucks :-p)
The first minutes of Ip
Man 3 was opened by a total mess. My oppinion is that the script writer has so
many brilliant ideas that apparently force us, the film enthusiast to think
hard. The narration was bad with many plots tried to be stitched to a story.
The film began with an underground fight club in a shipyard ruled by a foreign,
dirty and greedy property developer called Frank (starred by Mike Tyson). And
then continued by the a short scene where Bruce Lee came back as a grown-up boy
but still energetic and cocky, (unlike the 2nd series of Ip Man where Bruce Lee
was portrayed as a little kid) trying to prove his teacher that he deserved to
be his disciple. And suddenly there was a ricksaw puller named Cheung Tin Chi
(played by Max Zhang) came out of nowhere who was very obsessed to beat Ip Man
in order to get the tittle of wing chun grandmaster. Also the beginning of the
conflict between Ip Man and Frank, when suddenly Frank sent his thugs to force
the school principal to sell the school where Ip Man's son, Ip Ching studied.
Indeed, Ip Man 3 has a
'selling-figure' like Mike Tyson who is able to attract movie enthusiasts ever
since the trailer was released. But eventually, my hesitation about Tyson's
acting turned out to be true. His acting was bad and rigid as old teak, the
dialogues were ridiculous, which was worsened the story that gave insufficient
backround to his character like why he landed in China. The same poor character
background happened to Cheung Tin Chi's figure who came out of nowhere with his
son, why he wanted to get the wing chun grandmaster tittle, and why he raised
his son alone. I think if the scriptwriter had thought of these questions in
the film-making process, maybe the beginning of the film wouldn't be so
confusing.
The story went much
better after that. The film demonstrated more various fighting style, like
Boxing and Muay Thai. It showed more brilliant coreographs and more
breath-taking fight scenes. For example, when Ip Man had to have brawls with
the whole workers in the shipyard to save his son from abduction, and the fight
against the Muay Thai-man in a cramped elevator.
The scene where Ip Man's
wife, Wing Sing was diagnosed ovarium cancer and the following scenes had
brought it into a dramatic-action film. It made Ip Man to choose between family
or his great name in wing chun. But then, he choose to spend more time with his
family. In this film we can see that the producer tried to show the
lovingkindness and caring side of Ip Man (unlike what we saw in the previous 2
sequels where he was figured as an egoistic man). Like in the scenes where Ip
Man accompanied his wife to do medical check-up and when he learned the
cha-cha-cha dance just to make his wife happy and gave his wife a more
meaningful life after she was diagnosed. I admit that I could have cried if
only i watch the movie alone.
But, in the closing of
the film was a little bit dissatisfying, I can called it a 'hanging-ending'.
After the final fight which was 'so-not-Donnie's Ip Man' -no crowds spectating
the fight-. It was closed with the cutting scenes (flashback) of Ip Man's wife taken from the 2 sequels, then a brief statement stating the reason why Wing Sing
died. I expected the ending to be more dramatic and heart breaking. Like showing the funeral scene of Wing Sing when she finally lost the fight against her cancer and how Ip Man live his life after that, not just some 'copy-paste' flashback scenes.
Well, despite the messy
and unevenness story plot in the beginning of the film, I can tell that it is a good film. A fusion of breathtaking action movie and tears-bursting drama. A must-watch film for you, the kungfu-enthusiasts to close this year. It is a film that can will make you hold your pee in the cinema in order not to miss every single scene of the film.
