Ip Man 4: The Finale is a 2019 martial arts film directed by Wilson Yip and produced by Raymond Wong. It is the fourth and final film in the Ip Man film series, which is loosely based on the life of the Wing Chun grandmaster of the same name, and features Donnie Yen in the title role.
A co-production of Hong Kong and China, the film began production in April 2018 and ended in July of the same year. It was released on 20 December 2019.
Plot
In 1964, following the death of his wife, Ip Man discovers he has throat cancer due to chronic smoking. After his rebellious son Ip Ching fights back against a school bully and is subsequently expelled, Ip Man decides to travel to San Francisco in order to look for study opportunities. He entrusts Ching to his friend, Fat Bo, and promises to call Ching every night.
Ip’s student, Bruce Lee, has upset the local martial arts community in San Francisco by opening a Wing Chun school, teaching non-Chinese people martial arts, and writing an English-language book on martial arts. He discovers from his friend Liang Gen that because Ip is a foreigner, a referral letter from the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association is needed to enroll Ching into an American school. Grandmaster Wan Zhong-hua, the Association’s president, refuses to write the letter as Ip is unbothered by Lee’s actions, whereas the other grandmasters display open contempt. After a brief confrontation with Wan, resulting in a broken tabletop, Ip leaves.
While leaving the school after a meeting with the principal, Ip chances upon Wan’s teenage daughter, Yonah, undergoing a racist attack from a rival cheerleader, Becky, and her male friends. Yonah fights back which results in Becky accidentally cutting herself on a pair of scissors. She is ultimately outnumbered, and Ip steps in to rescue her. He escorts Yonah home, where Wan accuses Ip of using his daughter merely to get the letter and challenges him to a fight for it. The duel is interrupted by an earthquake, and Wan tells Ip they will finish their fight at the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival. Ip refuses, explaining that he merely accompanied Yonah home for her own safety, and leaves.
Becky lies to her parents, claiming that she had been attacked by Yonah. Her father, Andrew Walters, is an officer of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and is pressured by his wife into holding the Association responsible and deporting all illegal immigrants associated with them. Meanwhile, Hartman, a Staff Sergeant in the United States Marines and student of Lee, attempts to convince Barton Geddes, the Gunnery Sergeant on his base, to incorporate Chinese martial arts into their hand-to-hand combat training. Geddes, an openly racist man, proves the Marines’ current Karate program superior by having Hartman fight the Marines’ Karate instructor, Colin Frater, who defeats him. Hartman later manages to convince the unit’s commanding officer of kung fu’s potential, and is instructed to film the Mid-Autumn Festival happening at Chinatown for research purposes, infuriating Geddes.
Geddes instructs Frater to challenge the grandmasters at the Festival. Frater proves his strength by defeating three grandmasters until Ip intervenes and beats him badly, hospitalizing him. Meanwhile, Wan, who was supposed to be present at the festival, is arrested by the INS. Upon seeing Frater in the hospital, Geddes barges into the Association to find out where Wan is. Revealing his own martial arts prowess, he brutally defeats all the grandmasters present. He then threatens Walters to release Wan into the Marines’ custody before bringing Wan into the camp to fight him. Due to a tip-off by Billy, a subordinate of Walters and another student of Lee, Ip and Liang Gen help members of the Association evacuate by the time the INS conduct its raid. Lee provides refuge for the Association, earning their respect.
Wan and Geddes fight at the Marines’ camp. At first, Wan is able to match Geddes’ blows, but is eventually overwhelmed and seriously injured. An emotional Ip reveals to Bo that he has cancer, which finally compels Ip Ching to talk to his father over the phone, after many failed attempts done by Ip before. Ip is brought into the Marines’ camp by Hartman, and ultimately defeats Geddes after a long and savage fight.
Wan prepares the referral letter for Ip, but the latter states that he does not need it anymore as he does not intend to move to San Francisco. Ip returns to Hong Kong and reconciles with his son. A weary but determined Ip instructs his son to film him as he demonstrates Wing Chun on a wooden dummy.
A closing onscreen text states that Ip succumbs to his cancer in 1972 at age 79. An epilogue shows Lee paying respect to Ip at his funeral as more text reveals that the Marines officially incorporated Chinese martial arts into their training in 2001.
Cast
- Donnie Yen as Ip Man (Chinese: 葉問), an unassuming Chinese Wing Chun master originally from Foshan.
- Wu Yue as Wan Zonghua (Chinese: 萬宗華), chairman of the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA) and Master of Tai Chi.
- Vanness Wu as Hartman Wu (Chinese: 吳赫文), US Marines Corps staff sergeant and Bruce Lee’s student.
- Scott Adkins as Barton Geddes, US Marines Corps gunnery sergeant and Karate expert.
- Kent Cheng as Fat Bo (Chinese: 肥波), a friend of Ip Man.
- Danny Chan as Bruce Lee (Chinese: 李小龍), owner of a San Francisco martial arts school and Ip Man’s student.
- Simon Shiyamba as Billy, an INS officer and Bruce Lee’s student.
- Ngo Ka-nin as Liang Gen (Chinese: 梁根), friend of Ip Man and reporter.
- Chris Collins as Colin Frater, US Marine Corps Karate Sensei.
- Vanda Margraf as Yonah Wan (Chinese: 萬若男), daughter of Wan Zonghua.
- Jim Liu as Ip Ching (Chinese: 葉正), Ip Man’s second son.
- Lo Mang as Lo Chun-ting (Chinese: 羅駿霆), friend of Ip Man and Master of Monkey Kung Fu.
- Grace Englert as Becky Walters, Andrew and Gabrielle’s daughter whom racially bullies Yonah.
- Andrew Lane as Andrew Walters, an INS officer, Becky’s father and Gabrielle’s husband.
- Nicola Stuard Hill as Gabrielle Walters, Becky’s mother and Andrew’s wife.
- Linda Jean Barry as School Principal.
- Mark Strange as Karate Champion
- Dbo Funds as Rapper
In addition, several actors appear in cameos as characters from the previous films in a flashback sequence via archive footage, including Lynn Hung as Cheung Wing-sing (Chinese: 張永成), Ip Man’s deceased wife; Gordon Lam as Li Chiu (Chinese: 李釗), a police officer from Foshan; Huang Xiaoming as Wong Leung (Chinese: 黃梁), Ip Man’s first student; Sammo Hung as Hung Chun-nam (Chinese: 洪震南), a Hung Ga master; Mike Tyson as Frank, an American property developer; Sarut Khanwilai as Suchart, a Thai Boxer; Zhang Jin as Cheung Tin-chi (Chinese: 張天志), a Wing Chun master who was defeated by Ip Man in a duel; Darren Shahlavi as Taylor “The Twister” Miller, an English boxing champion who was defeated by Ip Man; and Simon Yam as Chow Ching-chuen (Chinese: 周清泉), Ip Man’s old friend.
Production
On 30 September 2016, Donnie Yen (who portrayed the Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man in three films) announced that he and series director Wilson Yip would return for the fourth film in the series. Writer Edmond Wong also returned. Producer Raymond Wong said he paid Yen “a hefty amount of money” to return for the fourth film. Principal photography began in April 2018, and ended that July. Filming locations included China, Pensby High School, Crosby Beach and Preston, Lancashire. In September 2019, Donnie Yen said Ip Man 4 would be the last film in the series.
Release
Ip Man 4: The Finale was released on December 20, 2019. The film had a limited release on December 25, 2019, in the United States distributed by Well Go USA. It was released by CMC Pictures in Australia and New Zealand on 20 December 2019.
Reception
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 87% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 6.52/10. The site’s critics consensus reads, “Packed with action and featuring some of Donnie Yen’s finest fighting, Ip Man 4: The Finale serves as a satisfying rebound – and fitting finale – for the franchise.” On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews.”
According to the Malaysian newspaper The Star, the movie was the highest grossing Chinese film of all time in the country while according to Shine.cn, the movie was the third highest grossing Chinese film in North America in five years.
As of March 2020, the film has grossed over $239 million worldwide, Taiwan box office is NT$185 million (US6.15 million), As of Jan 5, Singapore box office is US$6.74, Malaysia box office over RM 36 million (US8.6 million), making over $197.2 million in Mainland China.
Controversy
During the 2019 Hong Kong protests, protesters urged a boycott of the film, citing the pro-Beijing stances of actors Donnie Yen and Danny Chan and producer Raymond Wong. Protesters actively spoiled the film on social media in both English and Chinese.