Love

This

Series

… bonus

Try and do the following pose, it’s harder than it looks.

Ip Man 3 may offer the same expertly choreographed martial arts scenes as its predecessors but this movie’s entire front half is worthless. By the time it picks up, it’s too little too late, particularly when you consider the lame antagonists, bad performances and manufactured drama.

In 1959, Ip Man (Donnie Yen) must help the principal of his youngest son’s school. Property developper Frank (Mike Tyson) wants it for the prime real-easte it sits on. His criminal underling, Ma King-sang (Patrick Tam), will stop at nothing - not even arson or kidnapping - to convince the principal (Tats Lau) to sell. Meanwhile, Ip Man’s wife, Cheung Wing-sing (Lynn Hung) receives dire news from her doctor.

You get a bad feeling as soon as you realize they've cast Mike Tyson in the film. The man’s not an actor and even non-English speakers should be able to tell. What purpose does he even serve, except to - once again - introduce some “foreign devil” antagonists for Ip Man to defeat and then shoo away from his home? It certainly isn’t to give us something new, as Tyson is an English-speaking boxer - just like Taylor "The Twister" Miller from Ip Man 2. With his trademark face tattoo and daughter who looks NOTHING like him, it’s like he’s a time traveler.

You could’ve eliminated Frank altogether and only had Ma King-sang as the film’s villain. He’s certainly despicable enough and it might even be a nice change of pace for Ip Man to go up against someone who doesn’t have god-level martial arts skills. Unfortunately, this plot causes only frustration. Ip Man’s son is kidnapped, and not for ransom. Poor little Ip Ching will be sold into slavery unless the principal sells his building. “Alright!” you think to yourself. “These idiots are stupid enough to challenge Ip Man, a martial arts legend who’s saved China’s honor twice already. He’s always been cool, calm, and collected but now, the gloves are off. It’s time for him to go ballistic and teach these monsters a lesson.” but then, he doesn’t. The rescue is undertaken with the same intensity as a no-stakes match between old friends. Our hero doesn’t seem to care, so why should we? It’s a recurring problem with the film. People don’t call the police when witnessing crimes, even if it’s something as blatant and serious as an assassination attempt. I know the police are corrupt (they’re led by a white man, so how could they not be?) but Ip Man’s a respected member of society. He has close friends in the department. You could at least try!

This third chapter in the series isn’t all bad. It’s surprisingly effective when we move away from the school action plot and deal with Ip Man and his wife. There are tender, romantic scenes between them as they spend what could be their last days as husband and wife. Here, the film shows off some good performances. Despite this refreshing storyline, it eventually becomes frustrating as well. Ip Man spends all this time defending the school - his son's school, which is being threatened by ruthless gangsters. He's so dedicated to this cause that Wing-sing begins resenting her husband. She’s worried he won’t be there for her if her illness gets worse. Why she doesn’t just tell him the very important news she got from her doctor, I don’t know. Once they begin spending time together, a second antagonist, another practitioner of Wing Chun called Cheung Tin-chi (Zhang Jin), comes in. On paper, he's a great adversary. He's studied from the same school as Ip Man but applies the technique in different ways and morally, Tin-chi is little more than a glorified thug. Unfortunately, the picture fails to take advantage of these opposing dynamics. See, earlier in the film, Tin-chi accepted money to hospitalize one of Ip Man’s friends. We know he’s rotten but Ip never learns what Tin-chi did! How could writers Edmond Wong, Chan Tai-lee and Jil Leung miss that?!

Ip Man 3 often repeats what we’ve seen before and fails to take advantage of the natural drama that should emerge from its story. Despite some good performances and well-choreographed fights, it’s often tedious and feels phony. With the series once again teasing Bruce Lee but not utilizing him, it feels like they're just releasing more chapters to string us along. (Original Cantonese with English subtitles, June 4, 2021)