Donnie Yen's Ip Man Legacy

With the long awaited release of Ip Man 4: The Finale, marking the decisive final chapter in Donnie Yen’s iconic franchise, I thought it was a good time as any to delve back through a decade’s worth of blood, sweat, tears and sweet chain punching, and years spent redefining the kung fu film genre. Me being a huge Donnie Yen fan to begin with, and of course a consistent fan of this franchise, it’s pretty interesting to chart the evolution and growth of this character, with the cultural impact it’s created.

Beyond the first film, it’s worth remembering that an entire Ip Man “cinematic universe”, if you will, has been born since Yen’s initial outing, with both official and unofficial stories being told. We’ll keep it locked on to Yen’s franchise here, but might touch on some notable spin-offs later which show the enduring popularity of this character.

The original film was developed by famed Hong Kong producer Raymond Wong, working in collaboration with Ip Man’s sons, notably Ip Chun, giving this an understandable sway but also a great deal of credibility. The film went through early development, and some reported problems with Wong Kar-wai over its original title and conflict with his own story, The Grandmaster, but now seems pale in the light of each finished, and very different film.

The movie in question continued its early genesis and planted impressive and legitimising roots by signing leading man Donnie Yen and director Wilson Yip. At that time, the pair had just worked together on a range of pretty varied but equally slick projects, such as SPL (gritty urban thriller of cops vs criminals), Dragon Tiger Gate (comic book adaptation) and Flash Point (infusing modern MMA into Hong Kong action), and this was no doubt a new challenge, a step back to the traditional kung fu genre which defined Hong Kong cinema and much of Yen’s early work. What’s more, genre legend Sammo Hung would be handling the action design, taking the reins both as a master storyteller in his own right and being well-versed in cinematic wing chun via Warriors Two and The Prodigal Son.

For Donnie Yen, as someone well known for throwing himself into intense martial arts training and physical preparation, before even starting the choreography in question, according to interviews he said the role was the most emotionally and mentally difficult in his career, spending months training in wing chun, as well as lengthy research to authentically portray the real-life Ip Man. There was undoubtedly a lot of pressure, especially in portraying a recognised historic figure [whose own family was involved in the making of the film] so he became deeply committed and connected to the role, and it paid off in a big way.

In the first movie, released in 2008, the quiet life of 1930’s Foshan is interrupted by the second Sino-Japanese war and military invasion. Ip Man, portrayed as an honourable and affluent local martial arts teacher, shown living in poverty and protecting his family, is tormented and threatened to help teach Chinese martial arts to Japanese soldiers. He refuses and stands defiant, leading to a bitter rivalry and showdown with a feared Japanese General, played by Hiroyuki Ikeuchi (Manhunt), who does a fine job here. In fact, the casting is a strong point across all the Ip Man films, from noteworthy villains to memorable supporting players, so we’ll hear more about that.

The first film was a huge success, gained massive recognition worldwide and won countless awards. A cultural ripple effect was also felt, not only on movie screens but in gyms and dojos across the world. As someone who originally trained in wing chun, the film felt like it portrayed the style in a way never before seen in a modern movie, showing a contrast between the graceful and elegant flow of forms, with the potentially lethal application when forced to fight no-holds-barred. It was also very cool and inspiring to watch, especially as a student of this system. Standout scenes like “Ip Man vs 10 black belts” went viral and become hotly discussed. Is is any kind of surprise that a sequel was on the cards?

Released in 2010, Ip Man 2 immediately follows events of the first film and portrays Ip Man’s move from China to British-ruled Hong Kong where he faces more rivalry from the conservative martial arts community, not to mention gangsters, protection rackets and new western foes. The story focuses again on competition and, eventually, reconciliation between competing Chinese styles and school factions, who ultimately band together uniting against their common enemy - in this case - taking on colonial villains which culminates in a showdown with arrogant boxer, Twister (played by late, great British actor, Darren Shahlavi).

This time around, Sammo Hung played a key character role in addition to handling action duties once again. Both his long awaited match with Yen and his own main fight with Shahlavi are considered high points of the film, and big dramatic moments. Many of the cast from the first movie returned and Ip Man 2 proved a big critical and commercial success again, even kicking off its domestic release year of 2010 as the highest grossing Hong Kong film at that time.

While the team was first reluctant to make a third film, feeling the second had concluded their story well and seeing other Ip Man projects emerge (more on that later), Wilson Yip nurtured an interest in exploring Ip Man’s relationship with Bruce Lee. Ip Man 3 eventually went into production in early 2015 and was released in time for Christmas of the same year. Continuing Yen’s own passion for a focused “theme” in each film, the maturing Ip Man is now shown leading a quiet life with his family in Hong Kong, while facing competitive new upstarts and a threat from a greedy property developer aggressively extending his reach over the city. Around this time, Ip Man is also approached by a young Bruce Lee eager to be a student, a sneak peek of a future prospect.

Crucially, this story also deals with his wife’s cancer, and we see the effect of love and loss on the ageing, stoic kung fu master as he faces up to the very real mortality of himself and his loved ones, with obstacles from the outside and personal, silent struggles within. This is perhaps one of the greatest trademarks of the character as seen through the entire franchise, the humanity and vulnerability, and not simply the action.

Ip Man 3 introduces new players to the cast and crew. Yuen Woo-ping (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) takes on action duties this time around, showing restraint with the wire-work he is commonly known for, which works for the more grounded style of wing chun - yet it’s very effective during key moments and points of impact. Yen also handles portions of the action himself, particularly around the fighting style and scrap with boxing legend Mike Tyson as properly developer, Frank. This offers another memorable fight in an already packed Ip Man cannon, showing the speed, precision and fluid adaptation of Ip Man’s wing chun versus the raw strength and power of the physically larger brawler. Much like Bruce Lee’s best work, Yen reguarly injects philosophy and character development into his fight scenes and Ip Man is a great vehicle for this.

We also meet Max Zhang as Cheung Tin-chi, a chest-puffing wing chun rival to Ip Man who proves he needs to be taught a lesson and who, once humbled, gets his own spin-off movie later in Master Z: Ip Man Legacy. Plus, we meet Bruce Lee for the first time in this franchise, portrayed by Danny Chan from The Legend of Bruce Lee TV series. It’s a short cameo but a fun moment in the film and, in hindsight, served to pre-empt his larger role in The Finale. And thankfully Bruce Lee wasn’t shown in CGI, as they had once discussed!

Wrapping up the series, Ip Man 4: The Finale was first announced in 2016 with filming underway in 2018. Taking the action to America, the ageing Ip Man, now in his 70’s, is invited to San Francisco by his student Bruce who is making a name for himself, while also causing friction teaching martial arts to westerners. At the same time, Ip Man, now a widower and diagnosed with cancer himself, hopes to find a good school for his son and plan his future, while encountering more racism and oppression in 1960’s America.

Yuen Woo-ping handles the action again and makes use of even more great performers, characters and the platform for memorable set pieces. Danny Chan’s Bruce Lee has a key role this time around and earns a solid fight with British actor Mark Strange (Redcon-1), riffing on Bruce’s screen bouts with the likes of Chuck Norris and Bob Wall. With much of the drama and conflict taking place on a US Marine base, with one Chinese Staff Sergeant pushing to incorporate wing chun into their training, British star Scott Adkins (Boyka: Undisputed) plays nasty, racist Gunnery Sergeant, Barton Geddes, who humiliates his subordinate and has his senior Karate instructor (Chris Collins, SPL: Paradox) teach him a lesson. This comes before gatecrashing a Chinese festival and beating up the kung fu masters to show dominance. Despite internal politics lingering among the Chinese masters, all eyes turn to Ip Man to right the wrongs.

As a standalone, but particularly as the final chapter, Ip Man 4 is a fitting and very satisfying conclusion to the saga which again creates the rousing action beats we’ve come to love from this character, with some genuinely moving dramatic moments. The whole experiences make you want to jump back to part 1 and restart the journey all over again, to spend more time with these characters we’ve come to know, root for and love.

So it’s nice that the success has spawned so many spin-offs and re-imaginings. To name just a few, Ip Man: The Legend is Born is a surprisingly strong telling of the master’s early life, despite having no official tie to Wilson Yip or Donnie Yen. With young star Dennis To (who actually appeared in Yen’s Ip Man) taking on the title role, and the cast including Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Louis Fan and even a special appearance by Ip Chun, it holds authenticity. Likewise, Ip Man: The Final Fight presents dramatic actor Anthony Wong (Beast Cops) as a more mature hero, who still tackles the physical action performance admirably, while Wong Kar wai’s The Grandmaster sees Tony Leung (Infernal Affairs) play Ip Man in a far more arthouse-inspired narrative. Meanwhile, movies like Master Z has Ip Man no where to be seen and introduces new characters following the events of Ip Man 3, with a Master Z sequel also on the cards. It suggests there is still an appetite for a kind of modern interpretation of a classic and well loved recipe, and that’s no bad thing.

Since the first film was released, the cultural impact has been pretty immense. The fact that martial arts schools display photos of Donnie Yen portraying Ip Man, alongside black and white portraits of the real Ip Man and other iconic instructors, is remarkable in itself. The Ip Man films are not documentaries and have taken creative license to convey the kung fu master’s story and philosophies with global audiences and martial arts students. If the real purpose of storytelling and filmmaking is to entertain, inspire and (perhaps) open a window to discover something new, it’s more than achieved that.

In my first Life of Action book, in his interview Donnie Yen said, on working with Wilson Yip, “we’d never worked on a period kung fu movie before, so we wanted to make a good one and a worthy tribute to Ip Man” and went on to say “I don’t think people had seen a ‘real’ kung fu movie for a long time, and hopefully that’s one of the reasons they appreciated it.” I believe this is the real, lasting legacy here. For Donnie, Wilson and their many collaborators across the series, they conceived one of the greatest Hong Kong film franchises of all time, and while trends come and go, that will never change.

Ip Man 4: The Finale is out now in cinemas worldwide