Why so much hype?

One of my all time favorites.

Memorable, crazy movie

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Virtually every other review for this movie here on IMDb is posted by someone familiar with the real life Ip Man or having a solid interest in martial arts films. I don't have any of that in my background, I simply picked the film up because I'll take in a kung fu flick, in this case Wing Chun, from time to time just to see what's current. The plus side for this movie had to do with an actual story instead of crazy wire work and impossible flying moves that would wind up decimating someone if they were actually hit just once. The picture is competently made and directed, and the fight scenes are generally realistic without going over the top in terms of violence and gore. Anthony Wong appeared to be a reasonable choice for the role of the title character, taking an interest in his students and assuming the mantle of a grand master with equanimity and calm. The film could have better explained why he stayed behind in Hong Kong after Madame Ip left, that was a big question mark for me. But as I say, I'm not invested in the history of the real Ip Man so how accurate this all was did not have a bearing on my enjoyment of the picture.

Not the worst HK movie I've ever seen, but pretty far down there. Overall, I think the movie just never figured out what it wanted to be. Does it want to be a biography of Ip Man? Does it want to be a nostalgic piece to serve as a trip down memory lane for older Hong Kong citizens? Is this a movie to profile an iconic figure or a movie to give as much air time to multiple movie stars? In its attempt to honour Ip Man, the movie creates a wooden character of him which leaves little room for character development or interesting acting from Anthony Wong. Weakness is a trait that all humans have, but the movie does its best to remove as much of this trait from its portrayal of Ip Man as possible to immortalize him as some sort of legendary figure. Even in scenes where weakness is demonstrated, so little of it is explored that the audience is left with little to empathize with.As part of that attempt to honour him, the movie makers tried to tie in as many characters and story lines from Ip Man's real life as possible. But again, its a mess. Few of those characters are developed and we never really get a chance to care about who they are below the surface. For example, I would have loved to see more of who Eric Tsang and Jordan Chan's characters really were.As a final disappointment, scenes near the end of the movie totally betray the tone and style of the overall movie as well.Watchable, but unfocused, disjointed and unorganized. A reminder to me why I have slowly drifted away from Hong Kong movies...

This movie had me in tears. I hate people who cry in movies. Something about KungFu and Wing Chun and this man, what do I say. Kung-Fu lives in everybody, this movie, wow. I clapped at the end, though I was the only one sitting in the room, at a monitor and desk all by myself, i still clapped. 10/10.Too moved to say anything else atm.... other than I've watched the other three, so maybe it has had a larger effect on me. Wow. We should all strive to be like Ip Man.. truly, what a spirit he was. :..(Not many things have me in tears like this, but this movie, really something special...

Herman Yau's films have got its bragging rights, having Ip Man's own son Ip Chun involved with the production, not only in making cameo appearances, but providing story input to paint a more dramatic picture of the subject. And it couldn't get more authentic than this, even with artistic license obviously taken at some points. And if you were to extrapolate them, then you'd see shades of the rest of the other films that seem to tangent off important plot points. Things such as underground fighting rings, corrupt cops, battling with other grandmasters, setting up shop, and tales of rash disciples all have its air time here as well, and this one offered a lot more than the others because it's now a snapshot of a time that the rest hasn't, and probably will not, cover. This is Ip Man in his later days when Bruce Lee was beginning to make a name for himself in the USA, and chronicles the life and times, filled with its fair share of ups, downs, moments of pride and that tragic sense of loss, that comes with ageing, with a lot more focus on his group of disciples as much as it is about Ip Man's personal life.The surprise is of course Yau teaming up with his one time iconic collaborator Anthony Wong, who together have made classical Category III films in The Untold Story and Ebola Syndrome. Here, they reunite to bring a kung fu master to life, and a biographical one at that, and going by the trailers, Wong is no pushover as he executes the Wing Chun moves with grace and ferocity, with little that betrays the use of a stuntperson or wires to help make his a lot more graceful. What works here in the fight department is the awesome choreography that does justice to both the martial arts and the actor, obviously having trained for it, to execute the moves with as much authenticity as possible. Action sequences may be limited in quantity given Herman Yau's and Erica Lee's story focused on the more dramatic moments, and relationships that Ip Man has with his wife (Anita Yuen), a songstress (Zhou Chu Chu) and his many disciples, but more than made up for it in terms of quality. Cinematography in action films are key in either wanting to play the cheat sheet with quick cuts and edits, with either faraway or tight shots to hide the stuntperson, but this one is done perfectly well to show off the cast members' moves and intensity of their blows, and does its action choreography justice, which for a martial arts film, matters most. Besides some speeding up detected, it doesn't have over the top style, but kept things as simple as Wing Chun's philosophy, and that battle between Ip Man and Master Ng (Eric Tsang) remains one of the best in this movie, and dare I mention also ranks as one of the best amongst the rest of the Ip Man films put together.If there's a downside to this, it's the issue of having too many characters jam packed into this less than two hour story. There's a whole host of disciples that Ip Man had recruited, and while screen time is dedicated to these characters, their development was fleeting at best. Headlining the disciples were the likes of Gillian Chung chalking up her resume in her recent comeback, but her role was rote at best, with her relatively less well known stars given more screen time instead. Jordan Chan is the other famous headliner for the film, starring as Ip Man's disciple and a policeman, caught up with moral issues as his profession brings about opportunities for corruption at the time, and how he struggled with this moral dilemma. But it's not much of a struggle as it turned out, although the narrative steered clear on passing any judgement or ending on the character, except to remind that he was an important source of income to keep things going. Zhou Chu Chu as the songstress provided a promise of a romance that wasn't much, but this love story has its shades in Wong Kar-Wai's epic in being a love that could have been, told in a very different fashion here.The opening film of this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival, with that territory comes a certain guarantee that this has to live up to its honor with high production values, which was a plus point as the 50s and 60s Hong Kong got recreated both in terms of external sets and interior art direction and production to transport the audience into an era long gone. Giving it some artistic credibility is how the narrative blended with the history of Hong Kong as a background, making it as much of a historical epic of the colony at the time as it is about the story of Ip Man's advancing years in life. Still, as part of the Ip Man movie canon, The Final Fight has its moments, and even if you're jaded from too many films about the grandmaster in such a short duration of time, this movie still has what it takes to offer audiences a different aspect yet to be seen of Ip Man, with its Wing Chun moves and fights being the icing on the cake. Recommended!