Read User Reviews and Submit your own for Ip Man 4: The Finale

6

SoulWarfareMar 7, 2020

I have a been a huge fan of the Ip Man series ever since the first movie came out in 2008. I watched all of the films in the series including the spinoff “Master Z: Ip Man legacy”. So, of course, I was going to go see this movie as well,I have a been a huge fan of the Ip Man series ever since the first movie came out in 2008. I watched all of the films in the series including the spinoff “Master Z: Ip Man legacy”. So, of course, I was going to go see this movie as well, especially considering its the last one in the main Ip Man films. Unfortunately, I came out feeling very disappointed in this movie.
Let’s start with the positives. The first and probably the reason most people come to watch this film is the fight scenes. They are still very well choreographed and this iteration features a variety of different type of martial arts including western Karate. Seeing how they choreographed different fighting styles. The fighting is also fast-paced and stylistic. The second has to be Donnie Yen’s marvellous performance as the titular character Ip Man. He continues to embody the character perfectly and give a convincing dialogue as a man with many wisdom. Likewise, I also have to praise Wu Yue as Wan Zong-Hua (chairman of the Chinese Benevolent Association) for providing a contrasting character to Ip Man belief but still give that aura of wisdom. Danny Chan returns as Bruce Lee from Ip Man 3 and he is still great and resembles him. The score from Kenji Kawai returns and is also still really good at elevating every scene albeit it is still kinda similar to that of all the previous entries.
Now let’s get to all the negatives from this film. Firstly, while I did praise the fights and its choreography; it’s not very memorable. Each film tends to have one or multiple fights that stick in your mind: The first film had the fight against 10 Japanese karate fighters, the second with the fish market fight and the table fight and the fight against the boxer, the third film with the fight against Mike Tyson and the final fight. However, the fights in this film don’t come close to the memorable fights of previous films. The closest it gets is maybe the Ip man vs Wan Zong-Hua or the Ip Man vs Scott Adkins (can’t even remember his character’s name…). Even those fights feel short and underwhelming at points. Secondly, why is every character in this film also borderline cartooney? There have been some over the top characters in previous entries but it was usually just one for comic relief but in this film, it feels like apart from the three characters I listed above; everyone else is over the top. This blend of serious performances from some actors with the over the top from others is very jarring. For example, Scott Adkins plays this over the top racist general but he is so blatantly racist and acts like a stereotypical general that it makes you wonder how he was even employed. Thirdly, the story is atrocious and lacks any nuance or depth. The story is simply Ip Man goes to America to get his son a school there and some weird racist stuff happens with Bruce Lee doing just kind of being there. The message in this film is, of course, exploring racism and they do kind of try to make it subtle with Bruce Lee who trains western people despite criticism from the Chinese people. HOWEVER, they waste Bruce Lee in this film by not even remotely having him involved in the main plot! He could have been used to show that it was possible for acknowledgement between Chinese and western people but they don’t even utilise this. Instead, we got over the top racist people trying to get rid of all Chinese people and prove Kung fu sucks so Ip Man has to stop him and convince some people otherwise. Due to them not utilising Bruce Lee more, the message of this film ends up feeling like western people are racist and bad even though this contrast Bruce Lee and even Ip Man point within this film. It doesn’t feel like a necessary story to tell for Ip Man with only a couple of things adding to his character like cancer and filming his training I guess? Also, this racist thing has already been done in Ip Man 2 so it is weird they are doing it again even if it explored slightly better. It just feels like similar ground and too much of a retread. Additionally, they decide to up the melodrama with all these family drama that really feels like they were trying to force some kind of character development. Overall, this film is a disappointing entry with its huge waste of story potential. However, the movie retains a lot of what makes IP Man a great martial art movie. The grounded, brutal yet fluid realistic fights are still there and are still great as always. The fluid interplay between contrasting martial arts are still great. Donnie Yen continues giving a wised yet graceful performance as the titular character with an elegant yet ferocious fighting style. Additionally, the last 15-20 minutes of this movie is very thrilling and also a very satisfying conclusion to the legacy of this franchise. In the end, this movie still provides fans with what made them fall in love with this franchise in the first place and sticking to its strengths still makes for a very good time.… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

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0

ty92May 4, 2020

I liked the first two movies. I don't remember IP Man 3 but I don't think I liked it as much. But this movie was complete trash. I couldn't finish watching it. It started going down hill with the really dumb fight scene with Bruce Lee and theI liked the first two movies. I don't remember IP Man 3 but I don't think I liked it as much. But this movie was complete trash. I couldn't finish watching it. It started going down hill with the really dumb fight scene with Bruce Lee and the American guys. It was so dumb and cheesy. I get they were tring to show how it can be hard for immigrants. I was trying to give this movie a chance.. But then one of the most forced and cringy scenes happened right after. This chinese girl who is a cheerleader got bullied by these American kids. I get it American's bad lol I'm Canadian and understand the importance of immigrants. I also understand it can be hard for them. But the message in this movie felt really forced and poorly executed. It made me role my eyes over and over. Make a good movie and have some of those underlining messages but don't make it so forced and obvious. It's not why I wanted to watch this movie. I paid to rent it and didn't even bother finishing this garbage. The people who wrote the script show a lack of intelligence. This movie wasn't just woke and preachy. It had terrible dialogue and really dumb scenes in it. If you're going to try to push a serious message why do it with such stupidity?… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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0

OlivierPielDec 25, 2019

Hong Kong studios under the heavy hand of the Communist Party Propaganda know what they have to churn out to survive.
Blatant simplistic anti-Western and anti-Japanese xenophobia is again the conduit for all the deranged frustrations,Hong Kong studios under the heavy hand of the Communist Party Propaganda know what they have to churn out to survive.
Blatant simplistic anti-Western and anti-Japanese xenophobia is again the conduit for all the deranged frustrations, inferiority complexes and inherent nihilism of the lower middle-classes of the Chinese diaspora across the world. Petty little men limited in their lowly daily lives fantasizing about a will-to-power through primal violence...
(not that spaghetti Westerns or Dirty Harry, Steven Seagal movies are anything different but at least the West has evolved from it)… Expand

7 of 13 users found this helpful76

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10

LuanrickDec 26, 2019

Se levarmos em conta que o mestre está velho e com câncer no filme fechou com chave de ouro incriveĺllĺllllllĺlllllllllllllllllĺllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

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5

ReclusiveGamerDec 27, 2019

Ip Man 4 is a top-notch action experience stifled by extreme socio-political preaching and leftist ideology. Ip Man, played by Donnie Yen, is great as always, and new characters are welcome, interesting, and animate, but one cannot be helpedIp Man 4 is a top-notch action experience stifled by extreme socio-political preaching and leftist ideology. Ip Man, played by Donnie Yen, is great as always, and new characters are welcome, interesting, and animate, but one cannot be helped to escape the hyper-political black hole that sucks much of the fun out of the movie. You will find yourself cheering for Ip Man one moment and then wincing in disgust at the next. This makes it a disappointing and bittersweet conclusion for our final journey with Ip Man and company.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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3

TopMovieCriticJul 23, 2020

This must be the most disappointing Ip Man movie out of all 4. Ip Man 1 and 2 were clearly on another level and were perfect Kung Fu movies. Despite the controversial perception of the 3 movie one could still find joy in the fighting scenesThis must be the most disappointing Ip Man movie out of all 4. Ip Man 1 and 2 were clearly on another level and were perfect Kung Fu movies. Despite the controversial perception of the 3 movie one could still find joy in the fighting scenes and the production. Ip Man 4 did not manage to capture any of the excitement of its predecessors in any way. Donnie Yens acting was still great and so was the acting of most of the actors involved but the production and the way it was written was terrible. There were many started side stories that never lived up to their potential. Such as the story revolving around Ip's son. There was so much lost potential here even so that you do not get as emotional as you would like to be as a long time Ip Man fan, towards the end. Especially considering that He Ye who played Ip Ching was in fact a good actor and I am sure he could have played a bigger role. They should have focused much more on Ip Ching and Ip Man rather then bring up the manufactured fight between the INS and the CBA. This dispute took over half of the movie and meant nothing at all. The story between father and son could have meant everything and more for this title.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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0

mvrtsJul 31, 2020

Very political, essentially the same old tale we've seen 1000 times of the bully gets beat at the end, only this time its even less realistic. Portrays Americans as inherently racist, the director even goes as far as using children to get hisVery political, essentially the same old tale we've seen 1000 times of the bully gets beat at the end, only this time its even less realistic. Portrays Americans as inherently racist, the director even goes as far as using children to get his point across. Bullying that occurs in high schools across the world aren't based on racist kids bullying minorities, they're just stupid kids being stupid. To put it simply the message of this movie is America is bad evil and racist so stop thinking about going there, instead enjoy our communist regimes with 5’5 100lbs masters who manage to beat up 6ft 200lbs soldier bums… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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7

JoeCoolApr 10, 2020

The fight scenes in this movie are well choreographed, those against Wan, Colin and Barton are quite memorable. The story is pretty unimaginative though. Ip's son gets kicked out of school and Ip man goes to America to find a school that willThe fight scenes in this movie are well choreographed, those against Wan, Colin and Barton are quite memorable. The story is pretty unimaginative though. Ip's son gets kicked out of school and Ip man goes to America to find a school that will take him. The racism in the movie doesn't always takes the guise of a Karate vs. Kung Fu (Wing Chun). It's however quite over the top and at times more than just a bit offputting.
Donnie Yen's performance as Ip Man is top notch as usual. They could have done more with the Bruce Lee character though.

Overall you just might want to watch this again for the fights, you'll have to put up with the racist story to get there.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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9

HealingToolboxJun 12, 2020

NOT chop-socky--MYTHMAKING DONE WELL. First of the series I have seen. I did look up the real life of Ip Man--this is not it. What it is is finely crafted and excellently done mythmaking. Would you believe Ip Man is made into a kind ofNOT chop-socky--MYTHMAKING DONE WELL. First of the series I have seen. I did look up the real life of Ip Man--this is not it. What it is is finely crafted and excellently done mythmaking. Would you believe Ip Man is made into a kind of Chinese Martin Luther King? Fortunately Donnie Yee plays a principled man of peace so well, you go along with it. The topic of US racism, white privilege and "White Fragility" is used to tremendous effect, more timely in 2020 than when released. A terrific film for kids age 7-16.

As critics note, the four screenwriters really outdo most scripts in the rhythm of fights alternating with character development. Would you believe one fight scene took ten days to film?… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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9

YeahNahDec 27, 2019

The movie is excellent in terms of delivering plenty of fights and managing multiple sub-plots that intertwine to deliver more fights. Gets a bit preachy about racism and every white main character is mean, but the action is too good,The movie is excellent in terms of delivering plenty of fights and managing multiple sub-plots that intertwine to deliver more fights. Gets a bit preachy about racism and every white main character is mean, but the action is too good, especially when ip man wrecks house.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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9

Eastw1ngApr 9, 2020

A very well crafted, respectful and warm hearted movie. People that are on about the leftist and Chinese ideology tend to forget that it's set in the past, where the asians were indeed having difficulties with racism.

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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2

jbbaabOct 21, 2020

Trying too hard with the eastern propaganda painting americans as racist and jumping into the political arena with their bias against the right. Their agenda to infiltrate the culture is so obvious as they become record players just spew theTrying too hard with the eastern propaganda painting americans as racist and jumping into the political arena with their bias against the right. Their agenda to infiltrate the culture is so obvious as they become record players just spew the most extreme left talking points as if they are justified in their history and most recent religious discriminations… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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10

Vlad1302Apr 16, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. One of the best martial atrs movies I've seen in years. This movie has an excellent story and can be emotional and the top martials arts movie stars are performing extreemly well and very well choreagraphed fight sceens make this movie 10/10.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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10

JarrettinoJan 28, 2020

หนังดีมากครับ หนังประวัติศาสตร์น่าดูมาก

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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10

DominArsenSep 2, 2020

Très bon dernier film de la série IpMan. Ce n'est pas une clôture magistrale.. Seulement elle est une bonne clôture. Les combats sont dynamiques comme toujours ! Les justifications certes répétitives, mais on se bat pour un monde meilleur etTrès bon dernier film de la série IpMan. Ce n'est pas une clôture magistrale.. Seulement elle est une bonne clôture. Les combats sont dynamiques comme toujours ! Les justifications certes répétitives, mais on se bat pour un monde meilleur et ce même si la maladie gagne du terrain. Ip est un homme fascinant et si son savoir-être est représenté dans les films comme il a pu être dans la vie.. Alors c'est l'homme que chacun devrait être !… Expand