Wonderful character development!

Best movie ever!

Absolutely Brilliant!

A Masterpiece!

IP MAN: THE FINAL FIGHT is the second of two biopic movies made by former Category III director Herman Yau. The first, THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN, was a prequel to the Donnie Yen trilogy, whereas THE FINAL FIGHT is a natural successor. In this one, the great and underrated Anthony Wong delivers a subdued portrayal of the quiet master, once more driven into action by the machinations of some violent gang leaders.Yau's films look quite poor when compared to the great Yen trilogy, but on their own merits they're quite enjoyable. The main problem I have with them is that the writing isn't great, descending into sentimentality to often and never really feeling too mature. This one feels like a soap opera at times, but the good news is that the hard-hitting fight sequences are really effective and give the performers a chance to shine. I've always been a fan of Wong and he doesn't disappoint here, while the likes of Eric Tsang, Ken Lo, and Sammo's lad Timmy all impress. It's no masterpiece, but for solid martial arts fun you could do a lot worse.

This is another exaggerated movie about Ip Man. This movie may seem more down to earth and realistic with it's direction. But it's boring and fictitious. If they were doing a fictitious movie about Ip Man at least make it entertaining. Although there is no doubt that Ip Man is a wing chun grandmaster. Still his main fame came from being Bruce Lee's master. Instead it tries to make it seem more down to earth and realistic, but will bore the crap out of audiences that want to see a kung-fu movie. They should have titled this, "A Era in Foshan" since it seems to focus on the people of Foshan over Ip Man. It focuses in on the harsh era where there isn't any civil rights and people are dying or being sold because there isn't enough food. This problem is still problem is still probably going on but it was worse back then. Ip Man in the previous movies is portrayed as having cool, charismatic, powerful(almost untouchable), and has calmness with flare attributes. In this it's more experience Ip Man that seems more human and is broken down, but it's just so boring to watch. It's cool to see a character that builds up and has hidden potential. Even with movies where the character doesn't have have hidden potential but works hard to build himself up. Or even a character that gets in touch with the hidden abilities and the environment changes the character. Or even the master showing his skills and crafts. But this movie is just so darn boring and depressing. I think the makers wanted to go in a "The Dark Knight Rises" direction but it falters in every way possible. Donnie Yen is the best Ip Man so far and this is the worst one in this franchise. This is not going to be the last Ip Man movie, but for a movie on his final fight. It doesn't end with a bang but a whimper. This is basically a drama with bunch of characters showing their stories and what they are going through. Which can be fine, but this one seem to lose it's focus on Ip Man. And focus in on irrelevant characters that doesn't even have enough development to even care for. This movie just didn't seem to blend the different genre styles in one movie very well. The camera-work is however good. The subtle and more quite direction could have worked for Ip Man's final fight but this isn't it. It tries to hit that peace and heart area, where it shows the turmoil and hardship and the aftermath but it didn't work. Audiences that want to see a character driven movie or a kung-fu movie will be left disappointed. Not a awful movie and it could have been worse. Oh yeah, also I thought Ip Man's wife in this was his daughter for few minutes.5.5/10

Ip Man: The Final Fight is another knockoff of Wilson Yip's Ip Man films once again directed by Herman Yau. It shows the final years of Ip Man's life and has a more somber tone to it compared to the previous films. But is that a good or bad thing, let's take a look!Firstly, I want to talk about our new Ip Man, Anthony Wong. When I first heard that he's our new Ip Man, I wasn't pleased. I thought that Wong looked too tough and hard-edged to play a guy who's supposed to be humble and peaceful. But when I saw this film, he won me over. The difference between Anthony Wong's Ip Man and Donnie Yen's Ip Man is that Yen is supposed to be the kinda guy who's always had the perfect life. He was always sitting at home, drinking tea, practicing Wing Chun, and having meals with his family. Anthony Wong's Ip Man has some of those traits as well but he's also a man who's gained a lot of wisdom from his experiences. His version of Ip Man, while still humble, is a little more aware of his abilities and isn't afraid to show it off here and there. Both portrayals are great but you can't really say one is better because they're playing different ages at Ip Man's life.Secondly, the story. While the earlier films are essentially action movies, this one is more of a historical drama which I actually kinda like! After the first film, the Ip Man series had problems trying to incorporate action into the plot but there's a lot less of that here. It focuses more on Ip Man's later life in Hong Kong being told in a somewhat somber tone and it's actually pretty compelling. So the story for me gets a thumbs up!The problems with this movie is the continuity, the villain, and the lack of Bruce Lee. I'm still not completely sure about this movie's continuity. I think it's supposed to be an alternate continuation of the first Ip Man movie with Ip Man first being introduced to Hong Kong and mentioning he fought the Japanese before but then I thought, didn't he also do that in The Legend is Born: Ip Man? So I have no fricking idea whether or not the first Ip Man movie is canon with this film. There's also a really forced villain in this movie. He's so over-the-top and comic-book like, it doesn't quite fit with the tone of this movie. I really wish one day, someone will make an Ip Man movie that has action but doesn't have a villain. I'm also surprised by the lack of Bruce Lee in this film. He's probably the reason Ip Man is famous in the first place so I was really disappointed with his lack of screen-time in this film.Overall, it's not perfect but I certainly prefer it over the previous two Ip Man films so I say check it out! 6/10.

Is it too soon for yet another story based on the life of the legendary Wing Chun grandmaster? Well, seeing as how utterly disappointing Wong Kar Wai's version was, the answer is an empathetic yes. Here to revive hope that there is still much we have yet to see about Ip Man's life is Herman Yau's 'Ip Man: The Final Fight', a sequel of sorts to his much flashier predecessor 'Ip Man: The Legend is Born' that focuses on the character's middle to later years.Like Donnie Yen's 'Ip Man 2', this one begins in 1949 as Ip Man (Anthony Wong) arrives in Hong Kong from Foshan to settle into a humble room on the roof of a three-storey shophouse. Thanks to a chance encounter with martial arts enthusiast Leung Sheung (Timmy Hung, better known as son of Sammo Hung), Ip gains a small following of working-class individuals to start a makeshift Wing Chun school without needing to go against his nature to advertise his craft.It might seem like a motley crew – including a policeman (Jordan Chan), a seamstress and union activist (Jiang Luxia), a waitress at a dim-sum restaurant (Gillian Chung), a prison officer (Marvel Chow) and a tram driver – but there's no denying their passion to learn, and at least at the start, how close-knit a group they make. Yet the circumstances then don't make it any easier for Ip nor for his students, and it is from casting the fates of Ip and his disciples against a constantly evolving but always tumultuous Hong Kong in the 1950s to 1970s that Yau's film truly comes alive.Similarities to Alex Law's 'Echoes of the Rainbow' are not unjustified, since Yau clearly evokes the same sense of nostalgia for the period during which the former was also set. Expertly weaving several disparate themes, screenwriter Erica Li deftly paints a vivid picture of a colony rocked by tensions between the unions and their companies, infighting between the various martial arts schools, corruption of the local police and most importantly, the struggle of ordinary folk to make ends meet and provide for their family.Li draws on these real-life historical contexts to delineate the fates of Ip and his disciples, in particular that of Tang Sing (Chan) and Wong Tung (Chow). Among the disciples, Tang Sing's character is the most fully-fleshed, depicted as a good man caught in a moral crisis between following his conscience (as Ip advises) and the temptations of power and money in his position of authority. Tang's choice to side with the infamous kingpin named Dragon (Xiong Xin Xin) behind many of the illegal activities taking place inside the notorious Kowloon Walled City inevitably entwines Wong Tung, and by extension the entire Ip Man clan that culminates in the titular showdown.That finale is but one of four thrilling action setpieces, and easily the most gripping and exhilarating one. First within the confines of an illegal boxing ring in a warehouse and then along the exterior windswept alley battered by the onslaught of an imminent typhoon, action choreographers Li Chung Chi and Checkley Sin let the climactic fight between Ip Man and Dragon play out – the joy here not solely being from seeing veteran martial arts actor Xiong Xin Xin show off his impressive moves, but also from how Anthony Wong's one-year training in Wing Chun has truly paid off. Of course, that is also apparent from the earlier sequences, in particular one in which Ip Man squares off in a friendly closed-door bout with rival 'White Crane' master Ng Chun (comedian Eric Tsang in a fantastic cameo that shows off his agility quite certainly honed from his former days as a stuntman).Besides demonstrating a facet of Anthony Wong's acting repertoire that is rarely seen (fun fact – the man is a dedicated practitioner of the 'Monkey Fist' style), this portrayal of Ip Man also benefits from the dramatic skills of arguably one of the best actors in Hong Kong cinema today. While Tony Leung's was just like any other of his from other Wong Kar Wai collaborations and Donnie Yen's was probably more stagey than who Ip Man was in real life, Wong's depiction is – we dare say – the most nuanced that captures both the man's humble dispositions and his internal struggles.The latter is also thanks to a multi-layered script that doesn't just dwell on the aspects of Ip Man's life that pertain to his martial artistry, but also his personal life in relation to his wife Yong Cheng (Anita Yuen) and his son (Mainland actor Zhang Song Wen). The first Ip Man film so far to pay due attention to what must have been one of his greatest regrets spending the large part of his postwar years apart from wife and son, it just as poignantly reveals his gentle affection for a Shanghainese songstress Jenny (Zhou Chuchu) - despite the veiled objections of his students - that again finds closure in death. Wong is absolutely brilliant in these intimate moments of Ip Man's life, and it's hard to imagine a more befitting actor here to play the role.In choosing to illuminate the less ostentatious but more relatable characteristics of Ip Man's twilight years, Yau's film truly stands apart from the other four films that have come before it. Less concerned about the legend than the Man behind it, 'Ip Man: The Final Fight' is the most heartfelt one yet about him, with an assured and sensitive directorial hand from Yau guiding a well-written script and a terrific lead performance by Anthony Wong as well as fine supporting acts from Jordan Chan, Eric Tsang and Chuchu. Even though it doesn't have Donnie Yen's star power or the marquee names of Wong Kar Wai and Tony Leung, this is a beautiful film that offers a well-balanced perspective of Ip Man's later years against the rich backdrop of post-World War II Hong Kong