Ip Man 3 (5 Stars)

You probably noticed that I didn't include the Ip Man films in my series of true stories. That's because I didn't consider them accurate enough to be included. After I watched "Ip Man 3" in the cinema on New Year's Eve 2015 I asked a Chinese friend how accurate the films are. He'd obviously given the matter some thought, because he answered without hesitation: "The first film is mostly true, the second film is half true, the third film isn't true at all". I haven't spoken to him since leaving England in 2016, so I don't know his opinion about the fourth film.

There's a development in Ip Man's social status from film to film. That would be worth a whole post, if I ever watch all four films back to back. He began as a wealthy man, living in a magnificent villa. Then he collapsed into poverty after the Japanese invasion. In the second film he still lived in modest accommodation. In the third film he had a better house, though nowhere near the level of his first house. In the fourth film he lived in a small but comfortable apartment.

Maybe I should correct my friend's judgement of the third film's accuracy. One important event in Ip Man's life is correctly reported. The film ends with the death of his wife Wing Sing in 1960. The film's fabricated events take place in the 12 months before her death.

The film shows Bruce Lee requesting to become Ip Man's student and being refused. This is one of the film's fabrications. He actually began to study with Ip Man years earlier, in his mid teens.

When the film was first planned, it was announced that Bruce Lee would be a CGI character. That excited me. It would have been the first time that a dead person returned on screen as a computer animation. I was anxious to see how realistic he would look. It was later decided to use a real actor, Danny Chan, for the role. It was claimed that the technology was sufficient to create him as a 100% realistic character, but maybe it would have cost too much.

Ip Man has two main opponents in the film. The first is an American property developer called Frank, played by Mike Tyson. I don't believe that he's based on any particular person. He's just one of many foreign devils who came to Hong Kong after World War Two to become rich while the Chinese populace struggled to make ends meet.

The other opponent is Cheung Tin Chi, who's supposedly based on the martial artist Sum Nung. He's not a bad man. When he first meets Ip Man they're friends. Tin Chi's problem is that he's arrogant. He's jealous of Ip Man's fame, so he beats up other Kung Fu masters to gain recognition.

I don't judge the film on its historical accuracy. For me it's all about the action and the story quality. I voted it the best film of 2015. In retrospect I prefer "The Walk", which I put in second place, but they're both excellent films.

Success Rate:  + 2.4

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