Reviewed by: Beat TG Date: 04/10/2025 Summary: Near Equal to the Original Installment! Five years after IP MAN 2, Donnie Yen and Wilson Yip decided to make the third and (supposedly) final installment to the IP MAN franchise. Donnie Yen, who had enjoyed the mega successes of the previous movies, expressed his desire to leave the franchise for good for fear of repeating the working formula and not being able to top what has already been accomplished as far as telling and continuing the story of Yip Man. Therefore, for IP MAN 3, Donnie and Wilson had to find an angle as a basis for their story. And they found it in none other than the inclusion of Bruce Lee, who was known for being Yip Man's student for a short period of time. Not only that but they made more buzz before shooting began by bringing over former heavyweight world champion boxer Mike Tyson to play a role that would lead to Mike squaring off against Donnie Yen in the movie. Are Bruce Lee and Mike Tyson the sole reasons for the movie's overall success? IP MAN 3 starts a bit slow showing Donnie Yen's titular character living his life calmly and socializing with everybody without making a big fuss about anything or worrying about the lives of himself and family being threatened. Then enters the story does poor rickshaw puller and wing chun practitioner Cheung Tin Chi (Max Zhang) who wants to open his own martial arts school and make it big in the community for the sake of his son, and shady businessman Ma King Sang (Patrick Tam) who works for foreign businessman Frank (Mike Tyson), the latter of whom wants to demolish a school to buy off the land regularly sending thugs to threaten the school principal. Cheung gets drawn to an ongoing conflict between Yip Man and King Sang/Frank by joining King Sang's gang by means of just making money. But he eventually ends up teaming up with Yip Man after their sons are kidnapped by King Sang for coercion. Both successfully rescue their sons and move on with their lives. But Yip Man has one thing left to settle: Confronting Frank to put a stop to everything. Meanwhile, Yip Man's wife Cheung Wing Sing (Lynn Xiong) has a fate-deciding issue of her own, and Cheung decides to challenge all martial arts masters to earn more money and make a name for himself. Things spirals to all sorts of things (in great ways) affecting Yip Man and his own life decisions. The cast makes the story busy, for sure. Donnie Yen continues his maturity as an actor and gets to work and flex out his acting skills, especially in the last two thirds of the story. Lynn Xiong, who I felt was somewhat underused in the previous installments, gets plenty to work with here. And she does it to perfection once the story shifts the focus on her character's issue reveal and its' culmination. Great performance, and one that uplifts the story turning it more emotional and 3-dimensional. Max Zhang -- who rose to fame after THE GRANDMASTER -- is also another standout in this installment. A great taolu wushu practitioner in his own right, Max looks incredible and oozes charisma that near equals Donnie Yen's performance in the movie. But his character is the total opposite of Yip Man where he's shown with little emotional expression and more seriousness and cold-on-the-surface looks when dealing with everyone near his presence. That makes for a great contrast for comparisons, and one that makes the story captivating. Kent Cheng returns as Detective Po and does marvelous himself with the screen-time he is given. Kung fu movie veteran Leung Kar Yan, Patrick Tam, Louis Cheung, Karena Ng, Danny Chan as Bruce Lee (he has two scenes in total but they are memorable), and even Mike Tyson (pretty much being himself) all provide good support elevating the entertainment value. So is IP MAN 3 successful the way it is because of just including Bruce Lee and Mike Tyson? I say hell no! It's still how the story is told, and the way the characters are portrayed. I think the movie's strengths lies in the mere acting performances of Donnie Yen, Lynn Xiong, and Max Zhang. And Wilson Yip's direction is second to none proving that he's a household name in Hong Kong cinema, and deserves more. Overall, I think this installment outbeats IP MAN 4 and IP MAN 2 only being behind the original. Reviewer Score: 9

Reviewed by: j.crawford Date: 02/09/2016 Summary: Ip meets Lee Wilson Yip, Yuen Woo-Ping, and Donnie Yen join together to continue the saga of the legendary Ip Man. This time around, we meet a young Bruce Lee, who teaches Ip to dance the cha-cha. Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson stars as Frank, an American hoodlum running a real estate scam to take over valuable properties in Hong Kong. Reviewer Score: 8

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