Donnie Yen reprises his role for one last instalment of Ip Man as he ventures to America and San Francisco to seek a better life and a school for his son and to do so must seek help from the Chinatown elders who can grant him and provide him a letter of recommendation.
What soon becomes clear is that the grass isn't always greener and Ip Man must not only seek to convince the Chinese Masters that a certain Ip Man student by the name of Bruce Lee seeks only to promote Chinese Martial Arts and not to dishonour them but also navigate an undercurrent of racial tensions that will see Ip Man face his most brutal opponent yet.
Donnie Yen is back for the fourth, and so were told final instalment, of the Ip Man franchise that saw Donnie Yen play Ip Man back in 2008. This time not only do we get more Ip Man we get more Bruce Lee and its played so well by Danny Chan (also respectively well eh QT!) that its hard not to embrace the film. Its a film that will climax into a heart wrenching look back on Ip Man adventures with a nice nod towards the late great Darren Shahlavi. But this time there's a new villain in town and his name is Barton Geddes. Scott Adkins plays the Yang to Donnie's Ying ( I was going to say Yen's Ying) channelling what can only be described as a version of R.Lee Ermey from Full Metal Jacket. He's a man you want to hate and Scott plays the racist staff sergeant so well that when the inevitable final fight comes its worth the wait.
The action is plentiful with a great fight between Danny Chan as Bruce Lee and Mark Strange as a Karate champion set in a back alley that has a nod to a certain The Way of the Dragon final fight. Also for good measure, after Mark kicks a door, a nice line that goes "The door wont fight back, but I will" you even get some nunchaku's thrown in for good measure its a great fight scene.
There is much to admire about this film and its a fitting end to a great franchise, one that has always not only satisfied the fight fans but also comes with a heart felt story, it might be miles away from any kind of biographical type story telling but is certainly one that will entertain you. Ip man 4 The finale is a great film that represents a man and a real life legend that was Ip Man.
