Ip Man 3 is the most "Chim" of all Ip Man movies.
Hi I am not Donnie, just a huge fan and maybe.. "an
insider".
So i received a lot of message on other boards, on IMDB and
twitter about Ip Man 3. ALOT of people, especially in Hong Kong and
Malaysia said it was the best Ip Man movie out of the 3. Do I
agree? I felt it was a great movie, better than Ip Man 2. But maybe
on par, or maybe lose to Ip Man 1 abit.
So leave now, if you don't want any spoilers or hints. The movie
is much more emotional and chim than any other Ip Man movies, so to
fully understand it, you can read this post. Don't review or
comment before you understand okay. =)
Before the movie, if you guys watched the
trailer, you might think Mike Tyson is the main villain. However
just like Dark Knight rises, the story of Ip Man 3 goes beyond the
trailer. We are not looking at Iron Man 2 or Averages: Age of
ultron where the trailer pretty much tells us the whole
movie.
We are looking at a trailer which draws us into the cinema, and
the story is something else.. a nodd to Christopher Nolan, or even
Star Wars. (Director Wilson Yip is fan of Chris Nolan, Donnie is in
Star Wars Rogue One). Max Zhang is Talia Al Ghul, real villian of
the movie. Mike Tyson is merely just bane, a monster of destruction
who is not the main villain.
First Scene --> The Butterfly, this was a
hint at the WHOLE story. In chinese mythology, a Moth/Butterfly is
a returning spirit of a love one. And this actually is "the
ending", because timeline wise it is the latest and it just means
his wife has passed and is returning to listen to him hit the
wooden dummy one last time.
And another thing observed by another person from Hardwarezone,
the Butterfly is a symbol of Wing Chun, because Ip Man calls his
knives the "Butterfly Knives", which is known to all wing chun
practitioners today.
Bruce Lee Scenes -->
Cigarettes --> Just like the scene at night, outside of the
school, Ip Man does not "really" smoke. He is wasting his
cigarettes and throwing them to Bruce because this story wants to
show how Ip Man has changed to become a family man, and will stop
his smoking addiction(opium in real life) for his family. Noticed
how Ip Man NEVER... even takes out his cigarettes infront of his
family?
Even in Ip man 1, he smokes after the dinner when his wife and
Ip Chun was in the room.
"Be Like Water" --> Bruce's famous quote is
being hint here --> "You must be shapeless, formless, like
water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you
pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water
in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can
crash. Become like water my friend."
When Ip Man threw the water at Bruce, it was a hint at his
famous quote, but not just that. It teachs Bruce to be adaptable,
not just try and KICK the water, but adaptability of sometimes
dodge instead of just being "rash" and always being head-strong and
stubborn. This may be a reason why he didn't accept Bruce as his
student then.
At last Bruce Lee came out with Jeet-Kune-Do which is known for
its adaptability, haha.
"One Inch Punch"--> Some complain the last
fight scene.. the ending punch was not good enough. But if you look
closely, it resembles the "One-inch punch" which Bruce Lee was
known for. A punch which looks short and powerless, but is capable
of dismantling an opponent. If you didn't get the hint, you
probably will think the finish is not good, but we all know how
powerful the one-inch punch is.. right? =)
It actually shows that Ip Man already knew about such a
technique and may be the one who influenced and pass on this to
Bruce Lee, who made that punch famous to the whole world.
"Cha Cha Champion" --> Yip Mun went to
learn Cha Cha from Bruce Lee to dance with his dying wife, and this
is a nod to Bruce Lee because he was cha cha champion in Hong Kong,
and Yip Mun will in return teach him wing chun.
3 Minutes Fight with Tyson-->Just like Ip
Man 2 against Sammo, Ip Man 3 against Tyson was a tie. And just
like against Sammo with a joss stick as timer, Tyson's fight had a
time limit which is 3 minutes, measured by an alarm clock
instead(Western). Subtle but a tribute to that Table Fight Scene in
Ip Man 2.
So why 3 minutes? Because Mike Tyson in his prime is known for
his First Round Knock-out in boxing! And guess how long is 1 round
in boxing? 3 mins!
Therefore "Frankie" is literally saying "try to get past 1 round
with me". =) Which is a tribute to Mike Tyson's real power and how
he KOs people in 1 round in real life.
Yuen Woo
Ping's choreography details
For those who don't know, Yuen Woo Ping took over Sammo Hung as
the fight choreographer for Ip Man 3. Sammo Hung went to work on
Monkey King 2(which pays him a lot and I am disappointed with him),
so Yuen Woo Ping took up the chance to work with his protege Donnie
Yen.
If you guys don't know Yuen Woo Ping, maybe you guys have
watched "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", "Matrix", "Iron Money" and
"Kill Bill"? He is a world class martial arts choegraphy who
brought Donnie into the business at age 18.
While some are so used to Sammo Hung's style, Yuen Woo Ping
focuses on realistic, grounded work and beauty.
Ip Man 2 with Sammo Hung has a lot of string works, and many
felt it was not as good as Ip Man.
Ip Man 3 focuses on realism, yet added
another layer of choreography. This is an improvement over Ip Man 1
and 2.
Be it zooming into the cigarettes and the beauty of each kick by
Bruce.
Be it the water landing on the floor,and disperse upon touching
the floor.
Be it Mike Tyson breaking the window and the glass breaks the
balloon's string.
Be it Donnie changing stance to fight Mike, focusing on
legs.
Be it how the knife "clinging" sound was too high pitch and
flinch the 2 children.
All these actions and details... you just know its Yuen Woo
Ping, and many don't like weapons fight and hence fight them not as
good. But there are ALOT of fight scenes in Ip Man 3.
Bruce Lee kicking cigarettes
Ip Man vs School bullies and calling the police
Mass fight in sch
mass fight at shipyard
King-sang vs ip man
ip man vs mike tyson
ipman vs thai fighter
King-sang vs various masters
Mike Tyson vs Donnie Yen ... the fight was a tie because it may
be a tribute to Ip Man 2 where Donnie and Sammo also had a tie, on
top on the table. =) And instead of using Joss Stick, Mike Tyson
uses an alarm clock in Ip Man 3.
If there are anything I missed out, please do let me know. I
will try to observe and dissect.
Once again, Ip Man 3 is the most CHIM of all 3 ip man movies,
all of subtle hints you must understand not as a martial arts fan,
but need some general knowledge about martial arts and
history.
All in all, the movie may not please all critics and fans who
ONLY loves hard-hitting action, but if you are looking at an Ip Man
movie with Great action, great humour and that sense of touch with
a love story, then Ip Man 3 is great.
GV reviews, IMDB ratings, Hong Kong Wmoov reviews, Insing
reviews. So many people find it amazing. There are people who tell
me it is the BEST Ip Man film, I myself find it better than Ip Man
2 and on par with the first Ip Man.
So for people who didn't understand the movie, I hope this
thread can allow you to understand more! And really appreciate Ip
Man 3. Cheers! =)
God Bless, Merry Christmas.
[
PS: Ip Man 3 wanted to shift more focus on Bruce Lee, but Bruce
Lee Estate(His daughter and wife) sued Peagasus Motion Pictures and
limited Lee's screen time, therefore one might wonder why is "Bruce
Lee' just a cameo.
Robert Lee(bro of bruce Lee) and Ip Chun(Son of Yip Mun) were
brought in as script consultants to ensure accuracies and
consistencies.
That baby at the end of Ip Man 2 grew up to become Ip Zheng(the
son in the movie).
The older son is Ip Chun, now a teenager in the movie, but not
shown in the movie because he already went overseas for studies. I
believe it is shown in the Chinese Words before Bruce Lee knock his
door! :)
Anyway the real Ip chun, now 90+ years old is the script
consultant for Ip Man 1, 2 and 3 to ensure accuracies. :)