Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Leofwine_draca IP MAN: THE FINAL FIGHT is the second of two biopic movies made by former Category III director Herman Yau. The first, THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN, was a prequel to the Donnie Yen trilogy, whereas THE FINAL FIGHT is a natural successor. In this one, the great and underrated Anthony Wong delivers a subdued portrayal of the quiet master, once more driven into action by the machinations of some violent gang leaders.Yau's films look quite poor when compared to the great Yen trilogy, but on their own merits they're quite enjoyable. The main problem I have with them is that the writing isn't great, descending into sentimentality to often and never really feeling too mature. This one feels like a soap opera at times, but the good news is that the hard-hitting fight sequences are really effective and give the performers a chance to shine. I've always been a fan of Wong and he doesn't disappoint here, while the likes of Eric Tsang, Ken Lo, and Sammo's lad Timmy all impress. It's no masterpiece, but for solid martial arts fun you could do a lot worse.

meltinzone This movie had me in tears. I hate people who cry in movies. Something about KungFu and Wing Chun and this man, what do I say. Kung-Fu lives in everybody, this movie, wow. I clapped at the end, though I was the only one sitting in the room, at a monitor and desk all by myself, i still clapped. 10/10.Too moved to say anything else atm.... other than I've watched the other three, so maybe it has had a larger effect on me. Wow. We should all strive to be like Ip Man.. truly, what a spirit he was. :..(Not many things have me in tears like this, but this movie, really something special...

Harry T. Yung Of all the films in recent years based on Wing Chun Grand Master Ip Man, this one is by far the most authentic. The reason is simple and not just because it is made with the help and full endorsement of his son. There is an even more logical reason. Grand Master Ip made his name in Hong Kong when he started teaching Wing Chun, at middle age. This the exact starting point of this film whereas the others all focus primarily, or even entirely, on the earlier Ip Man, of whom little is known. These other attempts, therefore, freely resort to melodrama for entertainment effect. "Final fight" is an authentic biopic on the second half of the Grand Master's life. On the macro side, this is also a trip of nostalgia for people who lived in Hong Kong in the 50s and 60s. The screenplay was penned by talented Erica Lee, who is also author, columnist, lyricist, singer, radio program host, and a mother of two lovely daughters. Wong Chau-sang's portrayal of Grand Master Ip is brilliantly convincing. Wing Chun style is not hard to replicate on screen but difficult to master in reality. All the actors in these Ip Man films have done a decent job as far as what appears on screen is concerned, and let's leave it at that. Mush more important is to portray the low-profile, unassuming grand master who rises to the occasion every time when needed to. He is also patience, compassionate, tolerant, while unflinchingly uncompromising when it comes to matters of fundamental principles. I cannot think of any actor who could have done this as well as Wong Chau-Sang who is a grandmaster in his own right when it comes to performing arts, be it on stage or on screen. The support cast also well deserves recognition, and the names I mention here will be far fewer than the ones I've omitted. The best is Eric Tsang's, not just a top-notch comedian but also an excellent all-round actor, who plays Ng, the grandmaster of the White Crane style, a rival as well as a mutual admirer. People familiar with Hong Kong's TV entertainment would also enjoy his witty self-referencing to his popular TV show during a scene in which he commiserates with Ip the predicaments behind the glory of being the master of a martial art school. Jordan Chan provides good support in playing Ip's student Tang, who started out as an entry level cop and eventually rising to a "Chinese-ethnic chief detective". The character is modeled after a real-life individual, with the given name slightly changed. There is at least another dozen if I were to name them all. Two that I would like to mention, however, are mere cameos that have the least screen time: Liu Kai-Chi whom many consider Hong Kong's best character actor and Law Koon-Lan who is among Hong Kong's top stage actresses. They play a couple driven by poverty to sell one of their six children. Final remark: this reviewer had the great honour of shaking Grand Master Ip's hand in one of his birthday banquets in the late 60s.

DICK STEEL Herman Yau's films have got its bragging rights, having Ip Man's own son Ip Chun involved with the production, not only in making cameo appearances, but providing story input to paint a more dramatic picture of the subject. And it couldn't get more authentic than this, even with artistic license obviously taken at some points. And if you were to extrapolate them, then you'd see shades of the rest of the other films that seem to tangent off important plot points. Things such as underground fighting rings, corrupt cops, battling with other grandmasters, setting up shop, and tales of rash disciples all have its air time here as well, and this one offered a lot more than the others because it's now a snapshot of a time that the rest hasn't, and probably will not, cover. This is Ip Man in his later days when Bruce Lee was beginning to make a name for himself in the USA, and chronicles the life and times, filled with its fair share of ups, downs, moments of pride and that tragic sense of loss, that comes with ageing, with a lot more focus on his group of disciples as much as it is about Ip Man's personal life.The surprise is of course Yau teaming up with his one time iconic collaborator Anthony Wong, who together have made classical Category III films in The Untold Story and Ebola Syndrome. Here, they reunite to bring a kung fu master to life, and a biographical one at that, and going by the trailers, Wong is no pushover as he executes the Wing Chun moves with grace and ferocity, with little that betrays the use of a stuntperson or wires to help make his a lot more graceful. What works here in the fight department is the awesome choreography that does justice to both the martial arts and the actor, obviously having trained for it, to execute the moves with as much authenticity as possible. Action sequences may be limited in quantity given Herman Yau's and Erica Lee's story focused on the more dramatic moments, and relationships that Ip Man has with his wife (Anita Yuen), a songstress (Zhou Chu Chu) and his many disciples, but more than made up for it in terms of quality. Cinematography in action films are key in either wanting to play the cheat sheet with quick cuts and edits, with either faraway or tight shots to hide the stuntperson, but this one is done perfectly well to show off the cast members' moves and intensity of their blows, and does its action choreography justice, which for a martial arts film, matters most. Besides some speeding up detected, it doesn't have over the top style, but kept things as simple as Wing Chun's philosophy, and that battle between Ip Man and Master Ng (Eric Tsang) remains one of the best in this movie, and dare I mention also ranks as one of the best amongst the rest of the Ip Man films put together.If there's a downside to this, it's the issue of having too many characters jam packed into this less than two hour story. There's a whole host of disciples that Ip Man had recruited, and while screen time is dedicated to these characters, their development was fleeting at best. Headlining the disciples were the likes of Gillian Chung chalking up her resume in her recent comeback, but her role was rote at best, with her relatively less well known stars given more screen time instead. Jordan Chan is the other famous headliner for the film, starring as Ip Man's disciple and a policeman, caught up with moral issues as his profession brings about opportunities for corruption at the time, and how he struggled with this moral dilemma. But it's not much of a struggle as it turned out, although the narrative steered clear on passing any judgement or ending on the character, except to remind that he was an important source of income to keep things going. Zhou Chu Chu as the songstress provided a promise of a romance that wasn't much, but this love story has its shades in Wong Kar-Wai's epic in being a love that could have been, told in a very different fashion here.The opening film of this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival, with that territory comes a certain guarantee that this has to live up to its honor with high production values, which was a plus point as the 50s and 60s Hong Kong got recreated both in terms of external sets and interior art direction and production to transport the audience into an era long gone. Giving it some artistic credibility is how the narrative blended with the history of Hong Kong as a background, making it as much of a historical epic of the colony at the time as it is about the story of Ip Man's advancing years in life. Still, as part of the Ip Man movie canon, The Final Fight has its moments, and even if you're jaded from too many films about the grandmaster in such a short duration of time, this movie still has what it takes to offer audiences a different aspect yet to be seen of Ip Man, with its Wing Chun moves and fights being the icing on the cake. Recommended!