叶伟信 黄子桓

In terms of its kung fu stunts， action movieIp Man 3hits the pinnacle of acting scenes in the Ip Man franchise， thanks to action choreographer Woo-Ping Yuen （袁和平）. You may recall Yuen as the guy who gave life to The Matrix， Kill Bill， and countless other action masterpieces.

Outside the fight sequences， however， the film is something of a letdown. Director Wilson Yip （葉伟信） clearly had the ambition of portraying Ip Man （Donnie Yen） as a multi-layered character， but all he managed to accomplish was to paint Ip Man as a one-dimensional image of a perfect saint sitting on his altar. While this may be harsh on Wilson Yip， at least he makes a kung fu master dance the cha-cha.

Ip Man 3 came into the market fully prepared. It not only invited the retired boxer Mike Tyson to make an action movie cameo， but also reserved a character for Bruce Lee （Danny Chan）， Ip Mans pupil in real life. It may have over-prepared though; a scandal regarding Ip Mans box office receipts exposed an 8.52 million USD lie in its gross of 156 million USD， but gossip aside， how does this movie actually perform on the screen？

The story takes place when Ip Man， his wife， and their younger son are settling into Hong Kong. A crooked property developer Frank （Tyson） covets the piece of land occupied by a primary school， which happens to be the school Ip Mans son， Ip Ching， attends. Thus begins the rivalry between Ip Man—the guardian of the primary school and， of course， embodiment of justice—and Frank， a powerful gangster that buys off the head of the police department and local hooligans.

This rivalry reaches a climax when Ip Man challenges Frank to a duel. The threatening presence of Tyson forms a disturbing contrast to the slim Ip Man. Ip Man in real life was only 5-foot-4， but Donnie Yen hits 5-foot-9， but this doesnt stop him from looking like an ant about to be run over by a boulder. The three-minute duel is reminiscent of Tysons famous first-round knock-outs： “Three minutes. If you last， Ill let you be.”

Another story running in parallel is Ip Mans relationship with Cheung Tin-chi （Zhang Jin）， who claims also to be a descendent of the Wing Chun school of martial arts. Although Cheung demonstrates kung fu skills as impressive as Ip Mans， the latter is honored as the grandmaster， while Cheung is a nobody that makes a living running rickshaws. Cheungs bitterness toward Ip Man and his ambition to beat him continue to ferment. In one scene， as Ip Man and Cheung together beat back the local hooligans that kidnap school kids， Ip Man stands on an outcrop protecting his son in an image that is used on the front page of a local newspaper， while Cheung is taken as one of the hooligans.

Arguably， however， Cheung is the most well-realized character in the movie. The conflicts between his pride and sensitive ego， his menial origins and yearning for success， and his sense of morality that sometimes gives way to money， give this character much more authenticity than the “perfect” Ip Man.

Near the end of the film， when Cheung publicly challenges Ip Man to a duel to prove who is the authentic Wing Chun master， everyone is present except for Ip Man. Ip Man is， unbelievably， merrily dancing the cha-cha with his wife Cheung Wing-sing （Lynn Hung） who had become seriously ill. These camera shots are unbelievably garish：  Ip Mans wifes affected laughter call for goose bumps and Ip Man dances like a monkey （thanks to his dance teacher Bruce Lee， the Hong Kong cha-cha champion in 1958， perhaps？）.

ip Man： Excuse me...

Q@ngw-n......

请问……

Bruce Lee： Master Ip， what are you doing here？

Y- Sh～fu， n@ l1i zh-li g3n sh9nme？

叶师傅，你来这里干什么？

ip Man： Im looking for Mr. Chan.

W6 xi2ng zh2o Ch9n l2osh～.

我想找陈老师。

Lee： You want to learn to dance？ I dance better than him. Ill teach you. And you can teach me kungfu！

G8n Ch9n L2osh～ xu9 ti3ow^ ma？ Ti3ow^ w6 zu# sh3nch1ng！ W6 ji`o n@ ti3ow^， n@ ji`o w6 d2 g4ngfu.

跟陈老师学跳舞吗？跳舞我最擅长！我教你跳舞，你教我打功夫。

ip Man： Sure， now.

H2o a， xi3nz3i.

好啊。现在。

Lee： Okay. Why didnt you accept me as a disciple last time？

H2o a. Du# le， w-i sh9nme sh3ngc# b& sh4u w6 zu7 t%di？

好啊。对了，为什么上次不收我做徒弟？

ip Man： Put down your thoughts. I didnt say I wouldnt accept you. I opened the door， and you thought I was driving you away.

F3ngxi3 n@ de xi2ngf2. W6 m9i shu4 b& sh4u n@ zu7 t%di. W6 k`im9n， n@ y@w9i w6 g2n n@ z6u.

放下你的想法。我沒说过不收你做徒弟。我开门，你以为我赶你走。

Director Yip preaches a lot through Ip Mans wife， who makes him say twice that， “Nothing is more important than being around your loved ones.” It wouldnt sound so annoying if not for Lynns arguably clumsy acting. Throughout the movie， shes little more than a beautiful poker face， and the former model comes off a trifle wooden.

Ip Man 3 perhaps best portrays the smaller characters in the movie rather than Ip Man himself. The film tries to stretch too many lines of story but ends up being scattered and mundane. If you are looking for some kung fu fights that give an adrenaline rush， go for it. If you are looking for an all-round classic martial arts film， however， you can give this one a miss.

- Li Yanting （李妍婷）