In the 1950s Ip Man (Yu-Hang To) moves his family to Hong Kong and sets about trying to open up his first Kung Fu School. Before he is allowed to open his own school he must complete three challenges, which have been set by the Martial Arts federation of Hong Kong from its headquarters in the Zhonghua Building. When he enters the building, the odds are very much against him, as the other Kung Fu schools want to stop him from ever opening his Wing Chun School in Hong Kong. However, during Ip Man`s final challenge a corrupt government official Parker (Steven Dasz) enters, wanting to buy the building, its land plus the docks. Threatening the Martial Arts community of Hong Kong and giving them an ultimatum to sell or else. Ip Man soon finds himself defending those that sought to stop him opening his school, plus the very man who set about making those challenges almost impossible for Man to pass. Ip Man can`t help his nature he must do what is right, but this draws attention to him from Parker and his heavies. Soon Ip Man finds himself arrested and thrown in prison for a murder he did not commit, plus with a price on his head that the triads want to cash in. Can Ip Man clear his name defend the workers and workers families living around the docks, plus save the Martial Arts community of Hong Kong from Parker, the official that is abusing his power, and using the triads to do his bidding! In the meantime Ip Man must also defend his wife and son, who have been caught in the crossfire of it all. Can he live up to his name and the Kung Fu Legend he has become?
A follow up to 2019s Ip Man: Kung Fu Master Director and writer Liming Li smashes it with this enjoyable Kung Fu adventure. For the title role of Ip Man his casting of Yu-Hang To (Dennis To) is spot on, because he brings his own slant to the role, making it his own with this now being the fourth time hes played the character! Also, what helps a lot is a great bad guy and for me Steven Dasz excels as the main villain. The fight scenes are stylised at times, just in certain places. Bringing a much needed menace to the fights especially the standout exchange in the prison, which is mixed with both style and hard hitting action. You can definitely see the influences coming through both in the direction and with the action scenes. The camera movement is as fluent as is the Martial Arts scenes and the performers. It has the usual themes running through it. Betrayal from within as our main villain manipulates people into doing things they would never dream of doing in normal circumstances. Then our hero coming to the rescue to make everything right, uniting everyone around him along the way. Bringing the evil doers to a much deserved justice, and what`s not to like about that? As I said above I think the film is well cast and acted even though I am not too familiar with their work.
I have read a few things where people have wrote that Dennis To is wooden and doesn’t really bring much to the role of Ip Man. It must be hard to bring something new to a role made famous by the legendary Donnie Yen, and for me. Yu-Hang To`s portrayal is a mixture of Yen`s version with his own interpretation. He does deliver a great performance as Ip Man as he is thrown into one serious mess to another, shining through with Dennis To portraying Ip Man who he was humble, disciplined and calm while showing a quiet strength and immense dignity.
The film is a fusion of Wong Kar Wei`s The Grandmaster and Wilson Yip`s Ip Man films. There is nothing wrong with that. It is telling a story about the same title character. It takes these influences, mixes them well, and finds its own way of telling the story of the Legend, and this makes for a very enjoyable Kung Fu romp.
