Ip Man: Kung Fu Master

Just not in the same realm as the other Ip Man films, Donnie Yen is still the King.

What a disappointment. We have loved all the other Ip Man stories, but this one was completely ridiculous and unbelievable. The story felt silly and pathetic. Such a disgrace to have this movie linked to the Ip Man character.

From the opening scene this movie does more to make wing chun look stupid than it does to entertain. It's very much performed in the style of "lots of movement, little visibility" and usually against numbers that makes the burly brawl from the Matrix Reloaded look positively gritty and realistic by comparison, while reducing wing chun to mostly chain punching. Poor representation of the art, retelling a story you've seen plenty of times before, and all of them done a lot better.

Music's good, though.

This movie is waste of time. It manages make the talents (who are accomplished, legitimate martial artists) look like they don't know how to fight. The action scenes are marred by horrible pacing and camera angles so tight it is impossible to follow any of it.

There is questionable use of music and the plot makes no sense as it switches between unrelated narrative threads that all have no consequence on the main character. The attempt to creative weight falls way short of its mark and the shallow moments will make you writhe on your seat from how forced it is.

Finally, the film fails to find any original moments as it plagiarizes from its far superior predecessors Ip Man 1, 2, The Grandmaster, and Chen Zhen Legend of The First. Do yourself a favour and watch those movies instead.

When you cannot tell if it supposed to be a comedy or a martial arks movie, then something is terribly wrong. It somehow reminds me of KingFu Hustle by how goofy it is.

The only thing done extremely well is the scenery, filming locations, costume design and overall time period feel.

It had the potential to visually be absolutely stunning, but the plot and acting just ruins the experience. Hence, the wasted potential. Such a sad fizzle ending to the extraordinary Ip Man series.