Ip Man 3 - Review (6/10)

I can't remember if the first two Ip Man movies had the same kind of issues but I found Ip Man 3 to be very weak in its overall story.

One thing I'm glad they toned down a lot was creating another caricature with a Caucasian. In Ip Man 2, the Westerners were so one-dimensional that it was painful to watch. Here, at least there's only one - the Hong Kong police chief - and his role was very minor, though every scene was over acted.

The story wasn't as interesting as before. Probably because this whole thing was made up and most of the events were fake? But the worst parts were the lack of continuity from scene to scene. There were a lot of little issues of continuity that was a bit annoying, but the biggest problem I had was the principles and teachings of Ip that never transfered over to his students on the third movie.

Ip Man wasn't a man that cared too much for reputation, money or ego. His not showing up to an invited duel should not come as a surprise to his followers who in turn should not have showed up at the location as well. That part was a big problem for me. But how Ip chose to spend that particular time was very well told.

This movie had a subplot with Ip's wife, played by Lynn Hung who after three movies still had to be dubbed over for some reason. But that relationship and progression was directed very well by Wilson Yip, who has steered all three Ip Man movies so far. The only fault I had with his direction was getting a kid to cry in a monotone for a whole minute and more. Talk about the most annoying sound to listen to.

But what I enjoyed most was, surprisingly, the subplot with Mike Tyson. And I liked how the writers treated Tyson's character, who along with his acting, did not come off as a horrible caricature.

Hong Kong's style of movie making can be annoying sometimes because of how lazy their writing usually is. It's no wonder Taiwan and China have caught up recently. Donnie Yen has had some horrible movies under his belt, and they usually come from Hong Kong; but I think Ip Man 3 is moving in the right direction after a weaker Ip Man 2.