Ip Man 4: The Finale - The End of an Era

I was a bit upset when this movie was not released in Indonesia as per its original schedule. It was only shown in 1 cinema chain and was supposed to be premiering on the 20th December 2019 according to the cinema's social media (though that post was later on revised and I did not have any proof of that), which meant I could have seen this before I left for my holiday. But sadly it was rescheduled and had its wide release late last month and I ended up only seeing it last night. Well enough of that part and let's just get into the movie.

Brief Story Line

Set several years after the event from the third movie, Ip Man (Donnie Yen - Big Brother, xXx: Return of Xander Cage etc) was invited to San Francisco by his former student Bruce Lee (Danny Chan - Monk Comes Down the Mountain etc) to visit his martial arts school. However, by opening up to Americans, Bruce had enraged the Chinese society especially Wan Zhong-hua (Wu Yue - Paradox, The Brink etc) who was the leader of Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA) and also a martial arts expert & master in Tai Chi. 

Meanwhile Ip Man also had his own "mission" when he went to the US while leaving his only son Ip Jin (Jim Liu) with his best friend Fat Bo (Kent Cheng - Guilt by Design, Chasing the Dragon etc). But the plan had to be put on hold a bit when Ip Man was dragged into a situation involving the racist US marine sergeant Barton Geddes (Scott Adkins - Triple Threat, The Expendables 2 etc) and one of Bruce Lee's student Sergeant Hartman (Vannes Wu - Meteor Garden TV series, Dragon Squad etc). Things also got complicated when Mr. Wan's teenaged daughter Yonah (Vanda Margraf) came into the picture and further intricate his relationship with Ip Man.

So how would the story conclude? Find them all in another chapter in the life of Wingchun Master Ip Man.

End of Brief Story Line

This movie had a conclusion written all over it, especially with the title that had the word "Finale". Even from the early moment of the film, we could already guessed (or at least had a feeling) how the ending would be. But it did not reduce the fact that it was still a worthy finale to a series of movies that started back in the year 2008. Ever since the first movie about the famous master of Wing Chun martial arts whose 1 of his student Bruce Lee went on to become a phenomenon, I was already hooked by this character, especially with some exciting and greatly done fighting sequence. And 11 years later, I was still in as much awe as I was first time I saw Donnie Yen playing this role.

One of the main factor I loved about Ip Man series was the movies did not only show martial arts skill sequence from start to finish but it had some story on Ip Man's life from his early days in 1930s, and the development of him to become the grandmaster he was. It was also helped by the fact that Donnie Yen's actual skills were very good and made us really convinced that he was a real master. And his portrayal of a soft spoken Kung Fu master who only showed what he could do when he was up against the wall was really fantastic, making us like the character even more.

While the first movie was a great introduction, the second movie was more of a development of how Ip Man's character had developed over the short years and how the Japanese war had such an impact on his life. But the third movie was a lovely classic to me, especially with the bit of a romance shown and also the appearances of Max Zhang as Cheung Tin-chi (whose character was given his own movie Master Z: Ip Man Legacy as spin-off to this popular series) and Mike Tyson. I already made my peace and satisfied with Ip Man 3 as the final movie, but when this fourth came out and after watching it, I realized this was it. The finale that I never thought I required to give the proper conclusion. 

For me personally, this movie really epitomized how Ip Man's life was, from an unknown Kung Fu master to become the best kind of teacher when his student became a teacher of his own and went on to create his own style. I really loved the ending of this movie and obviously the fighting scenes were truly satisfying and felt glorious. I found myself feeling so intense during the finale fight that I held my breath for certain time with my wife also clapped hands of approval a couple of times. Although some of the events were likely fictional to give dramatization effect on the movie, I still thought it was acceptable. And most of the characters were nice to watch too with Danny Chan who looked convincing as Bruce Lee, Scott Adkins so obnoxious as the "villain", Wu Yue as the protective leader and the newcomer Vanda Margraf who provided lighter moments. 

I also loved the moments when they showed brief scenes from all previous movies which certainly brought a lot of emotions for us. It brought a lot of joy but at the same time it was also sad to see the end of an era. Btw, there was no mid or post end credit scenes. Overall this is a satisfying conclusion and I am truly grateful that the whole team of director Wilson Yip, producer Raymond Wong and Donnie Yen continued to work together to make the whole series and journey really memorable. Good bye Ip Man! You have certainly made our days.  

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

PS: I may have been biased cause I liked all the whole movies so much, but objectively speaking, I really thought this one provided satisfying conclusion to the series.