Ip Man 3

I think with this movie it all depends on perspective whether it is better than the last or not.

I personally think it does, it adds more risk which thusly leads to more intense and kinda stressful fight scenes cause you're not sure what will happen, very important character developments, and has one of the oddest pairings of fighters in history. So we fast forward quite a few years, Ip Man's son is all grown up, his father is still teaching in Hong Kong, but trouble starts brewing when a gang of thugs led by, I swear I am not lying, Mike Tyson start harassing people for their property including Ip Man's younger son's school which turns serious after his young son is kidnapped. Meanwhile, it is soon discovered Ip Man's wife actually has cervical cancer, leading to a pretty rough viewing especially if you have known people close to you who have had cancer. This is the aspect that makes the film better than the last in my opinion. Because we've always had the same actress Lynn Hung as his wife, they don't pull a Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor and have a different actress each movie, and whether or not they planned all 3 movies out in advance or not it works. Because the family element of his life has always been there, his wife tries to keep him home so they can live their life together though he always gets spirited away in events, he tries to balance work and home but fails, especially in this movie it seems their marriage is pushed to the breaking point until she grows more and more sick leading him to spend more and more time with her which is very sweet and a nice change of pace. You know he loves her and wants to be there, but the world has different plans and he is an upstanding guy so he tries to help when he can. There's one scene, I believe not long after he finds out she has cancer and he's sitting out in public, and you can tell this man is contemplating the future of his life without her in it. It's such a very brief scene but it does so much. I know some people have this issue with foreign films of, well I don't know their acting styles so I can't tell if the performance is good. That does not apply here. It's crushing to see this couple go through the worst situation possible, and to see them so emotionally revealed. I think they chose wisely focusing on the family side of Ip Man's life so prominently, though of course there is still many confrontations. Which just throws me off even more cause there is such a powerful story being told just between a man and his wife, and then here comes Mike Tyson herding these hoodlums and challenging Ip Man to a fight. And while it is interesting to see a no bars fight between one hell of a boxer, and a grandmaster of martial arts without all the regulations of a legit boxing match seen in the last movie, it just feels odd. It doesn't hurt the film, but you do ask questions as to why. But ours is not to reason why, ours is but to watch and buy. And all these movies are worth buying if this is your style of movie. I figured it fit the action standard of a summer movie, while discussing a genre of film that I greatly enjoy and admire though I have seen in reality very little. I know there are countless kung fu and mixed martial arts movies out there, some definitely worth seeing, so I wanted to share a more less known movie series that could be interesting and entertaining to watch for even a casual movie lover.

Next week, is sort of a mixed bag. It's either gonna be 1 or 2 In Retrospect reviews with 2 movie reviews including one coming out in theaters next Friday. May have some controversial opinions about the new movie for some, but hopefully you will not hold that against me.