We really can't get enough of Donnie Yen and he's here again reprising his role as Master Ip Man.  This is the last of the franchise (I hope not) and we can't miss this one for the world.

After the death of his wife, he was diagnosed to have cancer due to his excessive smoking.  Meanwhile his rebellious son got into another fight and got expelled from school.  This made Ip Man decide to send his son to the United States.  So he went to San Francisco look for a school for his son.  In the process of he needs the help of the Chinese Benevolent Association or CBA.  He needs a letter of recommendation from its head Master Wan.  CBA has been at odds with a student of Ip Man, Bruce Lee, so unless he helps the CBA in controlling Lee, he won't get that letter from CBA.

Ip Man tried talking to a principal to get his son enrolled when he met with Master Wan's daughter Yonah.  He saved her from being bullied in school and he even accompanied him to her house.  He met with Master Wan and was accused of using his daughter Yohan so he can get that letter.  Master Wan challenges Ip Man to a duel only to be interrupted by an earthquake.  Master Wan promises to continue their duel after the mid-autumn festival.  Ip Man told him not to continue as he merely accompanied Yonah home just to be safe.

On another part of the story, the girl who bullied Yonah, reported to her parents, her father is an officer of the Immigration Service.   In retaliation, this officer then proceeded to arrest Master Wan with trumped up charges of the CBA harboring illegal immigrants.

While he was being arrested, a Karate instructor with the United States Marines went down to disrupt the mid autumn festival by challenging the Kung Fu Masters present.  After defeating almost everyone, Ip Man interceded and won over the over zealous instructor.

Afterwards Ip Man and Yonah learned that Master Wan was in the office of the Immigration Service.  They wanted to see him but was not able to.  They were warned by a student of Bruce Lee who worked in the Immigration Service to inform the CBA that like Master Wan, they will all be arrested.  Before the officers could flee, they were beaten by a US Marine Sargeant Geddes (played by Scott Adkins) to proved that Karate is very much superior than Chinese Kung Fu.

Geddes tirades against Chinese Kung Fu didn't end there, thinking that Master Wan defeated the Karate instructer earlier, he proceeded to look for him.  He took Master Wan from the custody of the Immigration Service and brought him to their barracks for a duel in front of the recruits.  Geddes won over Master Wan almost killing him.  During this time, Ip Man helped bring the CBA officers to Bruce Lee's studio there they were informed that Master Wan was taken to a hospital.

Ip Man angered, he asked to be brought to Geddes whom he defeated.  Master Wan then prepared that recommendation letter to Ip Man,  He had decided then that he won't be bringing his son to the United States but instead he will teach his son Wing Chun.

Ip died in 1972 of head and throat cancer and Bruce Lee came to pay his respects to his teacher.  In the end, the US Marines finally accepted Chinese Kung Fu as one their instructions for combat training.

After watching the other Ip Man films (which we loved) this finale is truly different.  This was the only martial arts film that we cried not once but twice.  Unlike the other films that showed Chinese Kung Fu being ridiculed and eventually fought back to earn its credibility (this film has the same premise) this one showed the discrimination of Chinese in the United States.  What made us emotional in this film is the inclusion of Ip Man and his son's rocky relationship.

There were a lot of things to chew here but it was tastefully and wonderfully done.  It still had that martial arts appeal to it yet it showed family emotions.  It took Ip to realize his son's passion after seeing Yonah's experience with his father Master Wan.  He later realized this in the end and this made our eyes bring down tears to our cheeks.

Donnie Yen truly is the Ip Man and he owned the role.  We saw Yen in the iconic role for so many times yet we don't get tired watching him.  So it was just befitting that he played the role till the death of Ip Man.  

Because the movie tackled a lot of things most of the characters were left with short or inadequate character development.  There were some scenes that bewildered us but we had to let it go as we don't expect much from a martial arts movie.  So we were surprised to find a father/son and father/daughter emotional entanglements herein.

If you have watched all or some of the Ip Man films, this one is a great ending to it all.

Farewell - Ip Man The Finale (2019)

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Another american take for martial arts is here called "Kung Fu Panda".  Unlike other films, this one fairly holds up on its own and did not kill the asian flavor to it.

Now the story evolves around Po the Panda (voiced by Jack Black), a lowly son of a noodle house owner who grew up with mean skills of making noodles.  He likes Kung Fu and is a fan of the Furious Five composed of Master Tigress, Master Mantis, Master Monkey, Master Viper and Master Crane.  He like Kung Fu yet did not study in it.  On the day of the selection for the Dragon Warrior, Po would like to attend the event but his Father asked him to sell noodles on the event itself.  With cart in hand, he had trouble climbing the stairs to the temple on top of a mountain.  He was late arriving was closed off from the event.  He tried getting in until he finally did.  He fell into the courtyard between Master Tigress and Master Ooogway.  The latter was about to point to Master Tigress when Po came in between them, thereby announcing Po to the Dragon Warrior to everyone's surprise.

Now its up to Master Shifu to train the new Dragon Warrior who was prophesied to beat Tai Lung, the greatest Kung Fu artists turned rogued.  Master Shifu was skeptical about Po so he decided to make his life hard so that Po will eventually quit.  He regarded Po's selection as an accident.  As per Master Oogway, "there are no accidents".  Eventually Master Shifu trusts his master and proceeds to understand Po and of how to teach him Kung Fu in such short of time so he could beat Tai Lung.

In the end, Po was able to defeat Tai Lung using his Panda style of Kung Fu.

Now to dissect the film, the story line was obviously been thought of from start to end.  Details were there, character build up was great,  Po made us want to follow his journey, and there were a lot of side stories at intertwine nicely with the plot, extending the film and entertaining us as well.

Po and his father had their moments, of how a father being so protective, of how Master Ooogway was full of trust in Po from the very beginning.  The treatment of the Furious Five upon Po, the transformation of it was endearing.  The change in Master Shifu's perception of Po's skills was a great turning point in the film.  Tai Lung as the bad guy from start to finish was there, and of how he transformed from being groomed to be the next Dragon Warrior to a bad guy.  Imagine all these happened in a well thought of story line of a movie.

Good thing this wasn't made by Disney or else they would toned down some of the jokes, and they will not hire Jack Black to voice Po.  The jokes and the situations make this film entertaining and fun.  Nicely crafted and nicely directed as well.

It's your typical good triumphs over kind of thing but nicely told using a cute panda (who you won't think of doing action stunts) in the process.

Jokes are aimed at the adults although they are not that raunchy so that kids can't watch this film.  Both age groups will love these altogether, which makes the film watchable.

Nice Kung Fu Panda (2008)

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We grew up with these two martial arts stars for years now and we have waited for them to do a movie together.  So we were excited to know that they finally made a movie together - The Forbidden Kingdom.  Imagine Jackie Chan and Jet Li in one film, that would be awesome.

The story starts with action with the Monkey King losing his staff and turns into stone.  The staff was lost to the middle kingdom (which is Earth) and found its way to an antique store in Boston, where a boy got a sight of it.  When the antique store owner got shot, he bequeaths the staff to the boy with him asking him to "return the staff to its rightful owner" 

Return he did.  He went through the "Gate of No Gate" and went inside the Forbidden Kingdom.  With a bit of awkwardness, he finally gets to return the staff and brings balance in the end.  And he went back to the present day Boston by passing again the "Gate of No Gate".

Talk about geek power in the movie.  The boy in the lead is obsessed with martial arts films that he knows which style of Kung Fu he sees.  He's no practitioner so he's just an aficionado, so our hero is caught in a "fish out of water" scenario.  Imagine a present day american going in rural china, does not know Kung Fu, does not speak Chinese and hes got a short amount of time to return the staff.  Good thing we got two hours of movie time so our hero got lucky.

First luck is, he found the right people to help him right away.  He found Lu Yan (played by Jackie Chan) in minutes after arriving in middle kingdom.  A few minutes after, he found Golden Sparrow (played by Yifei Liu), then a few scenes after, Silent Monk (Played by Jet Li) who's not entirely silent at all.  Talk about a lucky boy.

Second, he learned to understand and speak Chinese right away, or all the Chinese people learned to speak English.  All it took was Lu Yan telling him to listen and try to understand.  After that everyone was speaking English.  It saved our hero much time to end the film on point.   We were saved from reading subtitles. 

Third,  he learned two Kung Fu styles from two masters in minutes (in the film) and was able to fight enemies with great skills in Kung Fu.  Martial arts is already hard yet he learned from two masters at the same time.  I can't understand the fact that two masters conspired to teach one student.  And he didn't pay for tuition.  Talk about greatness.  He might be "the one".

If you are into Chinese martial arts movies, this will truly disappoint you.  The film makers "americanized" a Chinese classic - the Monkey King.  I was hoping they could pull this one off, but sadly they failed.  The actors were spot on except for the lead played by Jason Tripitikas.  We simply can't connect him to his character, but his failure was not a major one compared to the story line which was "americanized".

It was great seeing Jackie Chan and Jet Li and both did carry the movie with their action scenes.  They are old now so we saw their actions scenes toned down.  Unlike when they were younger when they were jumping all around, in this film, we see a lot of wire choreography with lots of CGI, the kicks and punches was slower considering their age.  Nevertheless we were in heaven seeing the two fight each other (which drew a tie) and finally fought together.  

If you are a fan of both martial arts actors, then watch this movie with caution, they are not in a Chinese Movie so don't expect so much.  It's fiction so just accept their story line and be entertained by these two.  

Jackie Chan and Jet Li in The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

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