Ip Man 4: The Finale

In 1964, following the death of his wife, Ip Man discovers he has throat cancer due to smoking. After his rebellious son Ip Ching fights back against a bully and is expelled, Ip decides to travel to San Francisco to look for a school. His student, Bruce Lee, has upset the local martial arts community in San Francisco by opening a Wing Chun school, teaching the Americans martial arts and writing an English language book on martial arts.[5] He discovers from an associate and his friend, Liang Gen, that a referral letter from the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association is needed to enroll into a school. Wan, the president of the Association, refuses to write the letter as Ip does not agree with the grandmasters' opinions on Lee's actions. After a brief confrontation with Wan, he leaves.

While leaving the school after a meeting with the principal, he chances upon the daughter of Wan, Yonah, being bullied by a rival cheerleader, Becky, and her friends. Ip saves her and escorts her home, with Becky accidentally cutting herself with a pair of scissors. Wan accuses Ip of using his daughter to get the letter and challenges him to a fight for it. The fight is disrupted by an earthquake, and Wan tells Ip they will finish their fight at the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival. Ip refuses, explaining that he merely escorted his daughter home for her safety and leaves.

Becky complains to her parents that she had been bullied. Her father Walters, who is an officer of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, is pressured into holding the Association responsible and deporting all Chinese associated with them. Meanwhile, Hartman, a Staff Sergeant in the United States Marines, attempts to convince Barton Geddes, the Gunnery Sergeant, to incorporate Chinese martial arts into their hand-to-hand combat training. Geddes proves that the Marines' current Karate training is superior by asking him to fight the Marines' Karate instructor, Colin Frater, who defeats Hartman. Hartman later manages to convince the unit's Commanding Officer of the potential of Chinese kung fu, and is instructed to film the Mid-Autumn Festival happening at the Association for research purposes, infuriating Geddes.

Geddes instructs Frater to challenge the grandmasters at the Festival, with Frater defeating a few of them until Ip interferes and beats him badly. Meanwhile, Wan, who was supposed to be present at the festival, is arrested by the immigration officers. Upon seeing Frater in the hospital, Geddes barges into the Association to find out where Wan is kept and, revealing his own martial arts prowess, brutally defeats all the grandmasters present. He then threatens Walters to release Wan into the Marines' custody before bringing Wan into the camp to fight him. Due to a tip-off by Billy, a subordinate of Walters and a student of Lee, the Association is left empty by the time the immigration officers conduct their raid. Lee provides refuge for the Association, earning their respect.

Wan puts up a good fight against Geddes but is outmatched and seriously injured. An emotional Ip finally reveals to his son that he has cancer, which finally compels the latter to talk to his father over the phone, after many failed attempts by Ip. Ip is brought into the Marines' camp by Hartman, and ultimately defeats Geddes in a long and savage fight.

Wan has already prepared the referral letter for Ip, but the latter states that he does not intend to move to San Francisco, as he has realized that America is not what he imagined. Ip reconciles with his son after returning. A strong but weary Ip instructs his son to film his demonstration of Wing Chun on the wooden dummy.

In 1972, Ip succumbs to his cancer at age 79, and Lee pays respect to his master at the funeral. An epilogue reveals that the Marines had officially incorporated Chinese martial arts into their routine in 2001.

• Donnie Yen as Ip Man (葉問), an unassuming Chinese Wing Chun master originally from Foshan.
• Wu Yue as Wan Zong-hua (萬宗華), chairman of the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA) and Master of Tai Chi.
• Vanness Wu as Hartman Wu, US Marines Corps staff sergeant and Bruce Lee's student.[6]
• Scott Adkins as Barton Geddes, US Marines Corps gunnery sergeant.[7][8]
• Kent Cheng as Fat Bo (肥波), friend of Ip Man.
• Danny Chan as Bruce Lee (李小龍), owner of a San Francisco martial arts school and Ip Man's student.[9]
• Simon Shiyamba as Billy, an INS officer and Bruce Lee's student.
• Ngo Ka-nin as Liang Gen (梁根), friend of Ip Man and reporter.
• Chris Collins as Colin Frater, US Marine Corps karate coach
• Vanda Margraf as Yonah Wan (萬若男), daughter of Wan Zong-hua.
• Jim Liu as Ip Ching (葉正), Ip Man's second son.
• Lo Mang as Lo Chun Ting (羅駿霆), friend of Ip Man and Master of Monkey Kung Fu.
• Grace Englert as Becky Walters, Andrew and Gabrielle's daughter.
• Andrew Lane as Andrew Walters, an INS officer, Becky's father and Gabrielle's husband.
• Nicola Stuard Hill as Gabrielle Walters, Becky's mother and Andrew's wife.
• Linda Jean Barry as School Principal

In addition, several actors appear in cameos as characters from the previous films in a flashback sequence via archive footage, including Lynn Hung as Cheung Wing-sing (張永成), Ip Man's deceased wife; Gordon Lam as Li Chiu (李釗), a police officer from Foshan; Huang Xiaoming as Wong Leung (黃梁), Ip Man's first student; Sammo Hung as Hung Chun-nam (洪震南), a Hung Ga master; Mike Tyson as Frank, an American property developer; Sarut Khanwilai as Suchart, a Thai Boxer; Zhang Jin as Cheung Tin-chi (張天志), a former Wing Chun master who was defeated by Ip Man in a duel; Darren Shahlavi as Taylor "The Twister" Miller, an arrogant and racist English boxing champion who was defeated by Ip Man; and Simon Yam as Chow Ching-chuen (周清泉), Ip Man's old friend.

On 30 September 2016, Donnie Yen (who portrayed the Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man in three films) announced that he and series director Wilson Yip would return for the fourth film in the series.[10] Writer Edmond Wong also returned.[11] Producer Raymond Wong said he paid Yen "a hefty amount of money" to return for the fourth film.[12] Principal photography began in April 2018,[13] and ended that July.[14][15] Filming locations included China,[16] and Preston, Lancashire.[17] In September 2019, Donnie Yen said Ip Man 4 would be the last film in the series.[18]

Ip Man 4: The Finale was released on December 20, 2019.[19] The film had a limited release on December 25, 2019, in the United States distributed by Well Go USA.[20]

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 90% of critics have given the film a positive review based on around 30 reviews. The site's critics consensus reads, "Packed with action and featuring some of Donnie Yen's finest fighting, Ip Man 4: The Finale serves as a satisfying rebound – and fitting finale – for the franchise."[21] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[22]

According to the Malaysian newspaper The Star, the movie was the highest grossing Chinese film of all time in the country while according to a Mainland Chinese state run movie review site Shine.cn, the movie was the third highest grossing Chinese film in North America in five years.[23][24]

As of February 2020, the film has grossed over $193 million worldwide, making over $172 million in Mainland China.[3]

During the 2019 Hong Kong protests, protesters urged a boycott of the film, citing the pro-Beijing stances of Yen, Chan, and Wong. Protesters actively spoiled the film on social media in both English and Chinese.[25]

• Donnie Yen filmography
• Ip Man
• Ip Man 2
• Ip Man 3
• The Grandmaster
• Master Z: Ip Man Legacy
• The Legend Is Born: Ip Man
• List of films featuring Wing Chun

• Ip Man 4: The Finale on IMDb