Counting the spin-offs and Wong Kar-wai's “The Grandmaster”, “Ip Man: Kung Fu Master” is the ninth entry in a phenomenon that has already started to be mentioned as Ipsploitation, which focuses on the story (real and fictional) of Bruce Lee's teacher in Wing Chun. Protagonist Dennis To plays the iconic character for the third time, after “Ip Man: The Legend is Born” and “Kung Fu League” although he also had bit parts in the first two entries of the series, which starred Donnie Yen. Li Liming directs a movie in the series for the first time, although the next entry titled “Crisis Time” is also his.
Magnet Releasing will release IP MAN: KUNG FU MASTER in theaters and on demand December 11th, 2020
In a rare occasion for the franchise, the story deals with the days of Ip Man as a police officer in Fosshan, something that happened before and after the Sino-Japanese war. After the death of the ruthless but honorable leader of the Ax Gang, Ip Man is framed as the perpetrator by the actual murderers, and is forced to quit the force. While his wife is about to get in labor, the Chinese master finds himself targeted by the gang, headed by the deceased boss's daughter, before the actual perpetrators are also involved. The arrival of the Japanese army however, provides a common enemy for almost all Chinese.
Following the tradition of the Hong Kong action films and particularly of Shaw Brothers' productions, “Kung Fu Master” revolves around a number of impressive action scenes, instead of a compact, coherent story. The one in the beginning, with the protagonist facing countless enemies in a courtyard while the two gang leaders play a board game, the attack his house while his wife is giving birth, the one in the ring and a number of others are amazingly executed and choreographed by Sun Fei. The one where Ip Man playfully faces an older fighter sitting on a chair adds some moments of comedy, more in the style of Golden Harvest productions this time.
The one who occasionally steals the show, however, is Yuan Li Ruo Xin as the daughter of the deceased boss, with her background in ballet dancing and her undisputable beauty working quite well for her, and her presence providing a much needed female touch in an, otherwise, rather testosterone-filled movie.
The main issues with the film are two. First, the acting, with Dennis To being a great fighter but not having the cinematic presence of Donnie Yen in any way, and Yuan Li occasionally performing her role without any emotion at all. The second issue is that there is no “arch enemy” here, a choice that actually detracts from Ip Man's own impact in the story.
On the other hand, Guo Lei's cinematography is quite good, portraying the action in all its glory, while also inducing the narrative with an occasional noir essence that also works quite well. Huang Rongjun's editing induces the narrative with a very fitting, rather fast pace, which finds its apogee in the action scenes. Lastly, Wang Nan's art direction has captured the essence of the era accurately, although with some artistic freedoms here and there.
“Ip Man: Kung Fu Master” is not the best entry in the franchise, but is a quite entertaining movie that both fans of martial arts movies and of Shaw Brothers productions will enjoy.
