Ip Man 3

Donnie Yen, who played the Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man in two films, initially expressed no interest in appearing in a third film, feeling that, "Because Ip Man 2 will incontrovertibly become a classic, bettering the first. I believe it's best to end something when it's at perfection, and leave behind a good memory."[8] Before the release of Ip Man 2, he stated he would no longer be involved in a film based on Ip Man's life due to the proliferation of Ip Man films produced by different studios following the success of the first Ip Man film.[9] While both Yen and Raymond Wong were not initially keen on making a third Ip Man film, director Wilson Yip had expressed interest in making one that would focus on the relationship between Yip Man and Bruce Lee. While Ip Man 2 very briefly shows Lee as a child, Wilson Yip hoped to find a suitable actor to portray Lee as an adult for the third instalment.[10] In March 2014, Variety announced that Ip Man 3 would be shot in early 2015, and would be released in 3D during Chinese New Year that year, with Wilson Yip, Yen, and Wong reprising their duties.[1]

In March 2015, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Mike Tyson would also be starring as a street fighter and property developer.[3] This marks the first time Tyson appears in film or television as a substantial character other than himself.[11] They also noted that because the team could not find an actor who could portray Bruce Lee's intensity onscreen, they decided to use CGI to portray Lee.[3] In the same month, Kris Storti, the COO of Bruce Lee Enterprises (BLE), said that BLE, which is the sole owner of all worldwide rights relating to Lee, including his name, image and likeness, was "justifiably shocked" over Pegasus Motion Pictures' decision to include Lee in their film, which Storti said was "completely unauthorized" by BLE. "To state it in no uncertain terms, BLE intends to seek all remedies available to it to stop Pegasus from including the computer-generated version of Bruce Lee in Ip Man 3," he added. However, Pegasus asserted that Bruce Lee's brother Robert Lee, who worked as a consultant on Ip Man 3, owns the intellectual property rights of Lee, a claim which was denied by BLE.[12] The Guardian noted that plans to use a CGI Bruce Lee were dropped as a result, though Lee did appear in the film, portrayed by Danny Chan, who had previously portrayed Lee in the 2008 TV series, The Legend of Bruce Lee.[13]

Yen said that, despite initial reluctance, he agreed to return to the role of Ip Man because "no matter where I go, nobody knows me as Donnie Yen. They call me Ip Man. So I decided to play the role one more time to fulfil everyone's wishes",[14] and implied that Ip Man 3 could be his final martial arts film.[15] Regarding the decision to make Ip Man 3 five years after Ip Man 2, Wong said there were numerous unrelated Ip Man films being made such as The Legend Is Born: Ip Man, Ip Man: The Final Fight and The Grandmaster, so they wanted to wait till all that ended.[16]

Lynn Hung reprised her role as Ip Man's wife from the first two films.[17] In November 2015, it was revealed on the website of music composer Kenji Kawai (who scored the series' first two films) that he had returned to work on the soundtrack of Ip Man 3.[18]

Principal photography began in Shanghai on 25 March 2015.[3] While filming an action sequence with Yen, Tyson's finger was fractured.[19]

Despite Yuen Woo-ping being credited as the action choreographer of the film, both Yuen and Yen have revealed during interviews that many scenes are actually choreographed by Yen himself as he often improvised on the set and add new actions and sequences while filming. This is especially evident in the fight scene against Tyson where Yen wanted to include some MMA and physics theory, targeting the lower body of Tyson.[20] Principal photography wrapped in June 2015.[21][22] Yen has gone uncredited in action choreography many times, and his improvisation and contribution includes many Hong Kong Film Award winners such as the previous two Ip Man films, Bodyguards and Assassins and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny.

The First Scene where Ip Man was practising the Wooden Dummy and a butterfly flew and stop atop of it signifies a legend in Chinese Mythology. A Moth or Butterfly is considered a returning spirit of a loved one.[24]

When Ip Man throws the water at Bruce Lee, it was a hint at Lee's famous quote, "Be Like Water". It teaches Lee to be adaptable, and not to just try and kick the water, but the adaptability dodging and not being rash and stubborn. Lee later developed Jeet Kune Do, which focuses on adaptability.[11]

Other than being known as an action star, Bruce Lee was National Cha Cha Champion in Hong Kong in 1958. In the film, he taught Ip Man how to dance in exchange for learning Wing Chun from Ip.[25]

Mike Tyson in his boxing prime is known for his first round knock-out of his opponents, having over 21 first round knock-outs in his career and director Wilson Yip gives a nod to that. One round in Boxing is 3 minutes. In the film Frank, played by Tyson, issues a challenge to Ip Man to survive for 3 minutes.[26]

This is also a reference to Ip Man 2's table top fight scene, where Master Hung and Ip Man fought to a stand-still. The results of the two fights are identical, and both are limited by time. While in Ip Man 2 a Joss stick was used as the timer, Frank used an alarm clock in Ip Man 3 to show the difference in between cultures.

While Ip Man was fighting Frank, he delivered a technique known as the "eye gouge", but Ip deliberately missed the attack due to the respect of his opponent. Cheung Tin-chi used the same Wing Chun technique in the final fight against Ip Man, however his execution was one without hesitation or mercy, injuring Ip Man's right eye. Donnie Yen has mentioned in an interview that this is specially choreographed to express the idea that despite having the same techniques in Wing Chun, a fighter's own characteristics and aggression will result in different execution of the same moves.[20]

Numerous complex fight scenes between Ip Man and Sum Nung (Cheung Tin-chi) played by Zhang Jin then against a bunch of faceless bad guys, creates an excellent relationship between Ip Man and Sum Nung. The 2 characters played off of the other, filmmakers crafted Zhang with a multifaceted persona of a good man trying to overcome his own internal demons as he struggles to do what he thinks is best as a single father of a young son whom is looking to him as his role model. The film builds to is a climactic battle between would be Grandmasters, both wanting to stake their claim as the number one Wing Chun master. These extraordinary fight sequences are filmed like a tango dance with both actors moving themselves to deflect the advances of the other equally talented opponent. It is very much the type of martial arts fight sequence that fans of the Wing Chun Kung Fu genre could have hoped for.[5][6][7]

In the last fight scene between Ip Man and Cheung Tin-chi, Ip Man uses his hearing to avoid the roll punches and ends the fight with the one-inch punch. Wing Chun is known for using the different senses in actual combat, and the one-inch punch is a very special technique. In reality, Bruce Lee performed the one-inch punch in the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships, bringing worldwide attention to this technique.[27][28]

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 78% of critics have given Ip Man 3 a positive review based on 51 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Ip Man 3 isn't the most tightly plotted biopic a kung fu fan could ask for, but the fight scenes are fun to watch — and at times, the drama is even genuinely poignant."[35] Another review aggregator, Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 57 out of 100 based on 14 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[36]

Clarence Tsui of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Bolstered by Yuen Woo-ping's exhilarating action choreography and some stunt casting in the shape of Mike Tyson and Zhang Jin (the breakout star in Wong Kar-wai's rival Ip Man biopic The Grandmaster), Yen and Yip have managed to wring a serviceable film out of a pedestrian plot riddled with erroneous period details." Tsui called it "a fitfully effective finale to the franchise."[37] James Marsh of Screen International stated, "Ip Man 3 trades the crowd-pleasing intensity of its predecessors for a more introspective portrait of its central character." However, Marsh added, "Yen has always portrayed Ip Man as a modest beacon of calm and restraint, which has added to the enigmatic nature of the character, but he struggles here when called upon to express grander emotions. As expected, Mike Tyson fails to convince in his role of Frank, whose origins are never revealed in the film, and whose motivation is simply greed."[38]

Edmund Lee of South China Morning Post gave the film a 3.5/5 rating and commented, "A respectable action drama that doesn't try to replicate the pleasure of its predecessors, instead admirably turning to contemplate Ip's priorities in life, Ip Man 3 will reward those who come in with no preconceptions about what an Ip Man biopic headed by Donnie Yen should be like. For the character has irreversibly mellowed and it's left to audiences to respond in kind."[39] Andrew Chan of Film Critics Circle of Australia commented "Rarely do a trilogy of films, gets better with age and this one provides us with plenty of the evergreen Yuen Woo Ping inspired fight sequences one after another."[40]

Hans David Tampubolon of The Jakarta Post called the film a "messy patchwork of stitched-together plotlines" that was an "action-packed but ultimately disappointing finale of the Wing Chun trilogy" and concluded, "Well, judging by the atrocious script and character development in Ip Man 3, there is a very large possibility that Donnie is regretting his final decision to portray the legendary grandmaster for the third time."[41]

According to Box Office Mojo, Ip Man 3 has earned US$7.8 million in Hong Kong[42] and $2,679,437 in the United States.[43] In China, it made US$24.1 million on its opening day, debuting at No. 1 and US$28.7 million on its second day for a two-day total of $52.4 million.[44] In its opening weekend, it topped the box office with an estimated US$71.2 million from 191,400 screenings and 10.4 million admissions.[45] Internationally, the film earned $154,165,316, bringing its worldwide total to $156,844,753.[43]

Ip Man 3 Blu-ray was released on 10 March 2016 in Hong Kong[46] and on 25 April 2016 in United Kingdom.[47]