7.1/10
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233 user 59 critic

Yip Man 4 (2019)

Trailer
1:46 | Trailer
The Kung Fu master travels to the U.S. where his student has upset the local martial arts community by opening a Wing Chun school.

Director:

Wilson Yip

Writers:

Tai-lee Chan (screenplay), Hiroshi Fukazawa | 2 more credits »
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Popularity
118 ( 1,135)
3 wins & 9 nominations. See more awards »

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Donnie Yen ... Ip Man
Scott Adkins ... Barton Geddes
Danny Kwok-Kwan Chan ... Bruce Lee (as Kwok-Kwan Chan)
Vanness Wu ... Hartman Wu
Jim Liu ... Ming
Kent Cheng ... Bob
Yue Wu ... Wan Zong Hua
Ka-nin Ngo ... Leung Kan
Adrian Wheeler Adrian Wheeler ... Mr. Wight
Chris Collins Chris Collins ... Colin Frater
Vanda Margraf ... Wan Yonah
Nicola Stuart-Hill Nicola Stuart-Hill ... Gabrielle Cox
Nico Amedeo Nico Amedeo ... INS officer Walters
Grace Englert ... Becky
John F. Cruz ... General Armstrong
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Storyline

Ip Man has to travel to San Francisco to find a new school for his son who just gets expelled. When he attempts to get a recommendation letter from the Chinese Benevolent Association, he finds that the martial arts masters are furious with one of Ip Man's students who teaches Kung Fu to Americans. Meanwhile, discrimination against Chinese is making things even more tense as Ip Man has to stand up for his fellow countrymen as well. Written by heyitsnuel

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis


Certificate:

PG | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

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Did You Know?

Trivia

When Frater calls his student Mr. Kreese, it is a hint to the bad guy Kreese in the Karate Kid series See more »

Goofs

Racism against Chinese (and East Asians in general) is a significant topic in this film, particularly with the U.S. Marines having to recognize Wu Shu as a potential combat style. When Colin Frater arrives at the Mid-Autumn Festival, he announces that he is going to demonstrate his karate skills to the "yellow bitches." Yet, Colin Frater and the other Marines seem to have forgotten that karate originated from Japan. See more »

Quotes

Ip Man: Uncle Ip is a martial artist. In the face of injustice, I must stand up and fight. That was why we took up martial arts. This is something I very much want to do. Just as you want to cheer leading.
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Connections

Edited from Yip Man 2 (2010) See more »

User Reviews

 
IP Man sticks to its strengths but doesn't do anymore
7 March 2020 | by hendrylamSee all my reviews

I have a been a huge fan of the Ip Man series ever since the first movie came out in 2008. I watched all of the films in the series including the spinoff "Master Z: Ip Man legacy". So, of course, I was going to go see this movie as well, especially considering its the last one in the main Ip Man films. Unfortunately, I came out feeling very disappointed in this movie.

Let's start with the positives. The first and probably the reason most people come to watch this film is the fight scenes. They are still very well choreographed and this iteration features a variety of different type of martial arts including western Karate. Seeing how they choreographed different fighting styles. The fighting is also fast-paced and stylistic. The second has to be Donnie Yen's marvellous performance as the titular character Ip Man. He continues to embody the character perfectly and give a convincing dialogue as a man with many wisdom. Likewise, I also have to praise Wu Yue as Wan Zong-Hua (chairman of the Chinese Benevolent Association) for providing a contrasting character to Ip Man belief but still give that aura of wisdom. Danny Chan returns as Bruce Lee from Ip Man 3 and he is still great and resembles him. The score from Kenji Kawai returns and is also still really good at elevating every scene albeit it is still kinda similar to that of all the previous entries.

Now let's get to all the negatives from this film. Firstly, while I did praise the fights and its choreography; it's not very memorable. Each film tends to have one or multiple fights that stick in your mind: The first film had the fight against 10 Japanese karate fighters, the second with the fish market fight and the table fight and the fight against the boxer, the third film with the fight against Mike Tyson and the final fight. However, the fights in this film don't come close to the memorable fights of previous films. The closest it gets is maybe the Ip man vs Wan Zong-Hua or the Ip Man vs Scott Adkins (can't even remember his character's name...). Even those fights feel short and underwhelming at points. Secondly, why is every character in this film also borderline cartooney? There have been some over the top characters in previous entries but it was usually just one for comic relief but in this film, it feels like apart from the three characters I listed above; everyone else is over the top. This blend of serious performances from some actors with the over the top from others is very jarring. For example, Scott Adkins plays this over the top racist general but he is so blatantly racist and acts like a stereotypical general that it makes you wonder how he was even employed. Thirdly, the story is atrocious and lacks any nuance or depth. The story is simply Ip Man goes to America to get his son a school there and some weird racist stuff happens with Bruce Lee doing just kind of being there. The message in this film is, of course, exploring racism and they do kind of try to make it subtle with Bruce Lee who trains western people despite criticism from the Chinese people. HOWEVER, they waste Bruce Lee in this film by not even remotely having him involved in the main plot! He could have been used to show that it was possible for acknowledgement between Chinese and western people but they don't even utilise this. Instead, we got over the top racist people trying to get rid of all Chinese people and prove Kung fu sucks so Ip Man has to stop him and convince some people otherwise. Due to them not utilising Bruce Lee more, the message of this film ends up feeling like western people are racist and bad even though this contrast Bruce Lee and even Ip Man point within this film. It doesn't feel like a necessary story to tell for Ip Man with only a couple of things adding to his character like cancer and filming his training I guess? Also, this racist thing has already been done in Ip Man 2 so it is weird they are doing it again even if it explored slightly better. It just feels like similar ground and too much of a retread. Additionally, they decide to up the melodrama with all these family drama that really feels like they were trying to force some kind of character development.

Overall, this film is a disappointing entry with its huge waste of story potential. However, the movie retains a lot of what makes IP Man a great martial art movie. The grounded, brutal yet fluid realistic fights are still there and are still great as always. The fluid interplay between contrasting martial arts are still great. Donnie Yen continues giving a wised yet graceful performance as the titular character with an elegant yet ferocious fighting style. Additionally, the last 15-20 minutes of this movie is very thrilling and also a very satisfying conclusion to the legacy of this franchise. In the end, this movie still provides fans with what made them fall in love with this franchise in the first place and sticking to its strengths still makes for a very good time.


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Frequently Asked Questions

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Details

Country:

Hong Kong | China

Language:

Cantonese | English | Mandarin

Release Date:

20 December 2019 (Hong Kong) See more »

Also Known As:

Ip Man 4 See more »

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Box Office

Budget:

$52,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$3,956,031

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$175,695,381
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Company Credits

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Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | Dolby Atmos | DTS (DTS: X)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
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