One reviewer stated that it slaps Donnie Yen in the face; I didn't really mind that they cast Tse Miu (who oddly is not listed in the casting) to play Yen's character at a young age, his acting was actually decent. But the problem wasn't that Yen wasn't cast, it's that it lacked Wilson Yip's directorial magic, and Edmond Wong's creative writing - both of whom did all the previous Ip Man films (I've seen them all) that made me a fan of the franchise. The real slap in the face goes to those two, because it's evident this film was missing their magical touches, especially the fight scenes.
Here, you have two directors in this one - Li Xi Jie and Zhang Zhu Lin, and Fang Lan and Liu Bayin as writers, who instead gave us 1980's slow-mo cheesy and sappy scenes. Some of the choreography, especially at the beginning, was just as bad as the writing and directing.
Although the cinematography was up to par as the previous films, and the actual story had its merits, the rest of the production was a let-down of my expectations. Would I recommend this one? Well, if you're a fan of the franchise, it's a decent (but not great) origin story, so I'd say yes. But don't have high expectations like I did, as this production if far from the greatness we'd expect from Yip and Wong. Hopefully this mess inspires them to give up a better origin film. Sadly, it's a generous 6/10 from me, most going to the cast who I'm sure tried their best with what they were given.
