Ip Man: Kung Fu Master 葉問宗師

Dennis To returns once again in the same Ip Man stuff recycled again and again

Directed by Li Liming

Dennie To, Yuan Li Ruo Xin, Ren Yu, Michael Wong

China, 2020

The Ip Man films has become quite a chore to watch now, the major hits that was the Donnie Yen films had already ran dry after 2 outings and now the spin offs are still coming with little to no originality. Dennis To reprises his role as Ip Man for a 3rd outing (if you count Kung Fu League) but he's shown little improvement in terms of acting. Here is stoic and flat and possess little of the characteristics of Ip Man that have been established by the countless iterations in the past decade. It would have been well and good if he brought anything new to the table but that's not the case. The film didn’t get a theatrical release instead it was released on the streaming platform Youku.

On orders from his superiors police officer Ip Man arrives to arrest the Axe Gangs leader, San Ye. San Ye refuses to sell drugs because he knows that the Japanese are using the drugs to control the Chinese. San Ye cooperates and is taken to a custody jail but the local forces have been colluding with the Japanese and San Ye is killed off. Ip Man finds out about the collusion and quits his job as an officer. San Ye’s daughter, Qin Chuang finds about her fathers death and blames Ip Man so she seeks revenge. Double crossing and new alliances see Ip Man aiding Qin Chuang and together they have to take on the evil Japanese army. Oh and somewhere in there Ip Man dons the Kato mask to fight some crime and stir up national pride.

The story is all over the place and any attempts in drama, suspense or emotional pain is just muted with how weakly constructed it is. Evil Japanese are used to stir up national pride once again and the screaming of how great the Chinese are is tiresome. It seems the Ip Man IP is now just tied to xenophobic stories. Characters are boring and have no real depth to them. There’s a point in the story where Ip Man starts wearing the Kato mask and it’s so random and laughable of how left field it is. Worse of all it never amounts to anything. Kato’s supposed death immediately stirs up national pride within 5 mins of newspaper clipping and montages.

I do like Dennis To and he showed great promise at one point and its saddening that he's now regulated to these low budget web films. As a fighter he handles himself well and his Wing Chun is just as convincing as Donnie Yen. But the choreography is sadly a tad underwhelming. It’s not bad per se but it’s just the same stuff we have seen countless times. The rapid punches is a staple but it’s boring now and fighting against the Japanese is just so uninspired worse still it’s just the same rip off scene from Yen's first Ip Man outing. During the fights the editing can be a tad quick but not to the Bourne film extent it’s easy enough to follow but can get a bit weird with some awkward under cranking.

The one thing that makes the film relatively good is the excellent cinematography which is surprising for a web film. The lighting is beautiful and the framing and composition are so well done that its wasted on such a weakly scripted film.

The film is not absolutely terrible but just bad and probably worse of all lazy. These OK action and some brilliant framing that some may find entertaining.