Ip Man 3 spoilers & hints- DON'T Read if you haven't watch!!
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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. :)
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