Film / Ip Man 4

"Shouldn't we use Chinese Kung-fu to change foreigners' biases against us?"

— Ip Man

Ip Man 4 (or Ip Man 4: The Finale), is a 2019 Hong Kong martial arts movie, the third sequel to Ip Man, the fifth film in the Ip Man film series and the Grand Finale of the mainline films, starring Donnie Yen once again in the title role.

Ip Man goes to San Francisco at the invitation of one of his students, Lee Jun-fan "Siu Lung" (now called Bruce Lee), who has upset the local martial arts community and Chinatown leadership - the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA) - by opening a Wing Chun school that accepts non-Chinese. While there, he attempts to find a school that will accept his recently-expelled son, a matter complicated by his guilt by association with Bruce. They also come to fight for the honor and respect of their martial art once again, this time against a local US military figure, Marine Gunnery Sgt Barton Geddes (Scott Adkins).

The film was released on December 20, 2019.

Previews: Trailer 1, Trailer 2, Final Trailer.

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Ip Man 4 contains examples of:

• Abuse Mistake: A series of language barriers between Billy and Ip Man's students sees the former mistaken as a hostile, when his only intent is to deliver a message to Ip Man himself from Bruce Lee.
• Action Girl:
  • Master Chiang, the sole woman of the CBA leadership, who manages to land a few good hits on Frater.
  • Yonah also shows shades of this, landing a couple good kung fu strikes on her bully gang before being subdued by sheer numbers.
• An Aesop:
  • Cultural exchange can be used to break down the barriers of prejudice between races.
  • Parents should respect the dreams and interests of their children, even if it's not what they wanted.
  • The racism in the U.S. is so severe that Chinese students should think twice about studying there.
• Artistic License – Martial Arts:
  • The film features a faithful recreation of Lee's famous demonstration of his one-inch punch in 1964, with the almost insignificant detail that the strike Lee's actor does in the scene is not an one-inch strike at all, but a punch torqued from the hip at almost the entire arm's length, which is rather the technique's complete opposite in concept and execution.
  • Oddly, the big karateka Lee fights in the street wears a judo gi. You can note it not only on how thick the fabric is, as those are designed to be pulled around without ripping, but also on the color, as blue gis are also much more common in judo than karate, existing basically to tell apart every fighter's bodies and limbs during close grappling exchanges.
• Artistic License – Military:
  • Gunnery Sergeant Geddes seemingly wields a lot more power than an ordinary Marine Drill Instructor would. He has quite the final say on whether the local Marine Corps base can or will adopt another form of martial arts into their training program. He also manages to transfer criminal custody of a suspect being detained by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service to the Marine Corps, despite being under two different justice systems (military and federal), although he did have to personally threaten Walters to get him to hand over Master Wan.
  • After his earlier attempts to convince his direct superiors on integrating Chinese martial arts into Marine training fails, a Staff Sergeant (OR-6) Hartman massively goes over his superiors' heads, seemingly straight to a General (OF-9) to propose the idea to him. Not only is this a serious disregard of the chain of command, something as trivial as showing of a different type of martial arts is something most Generals, let alone junior officers, wouldn't bother with compared to other more pressing matters in their respective stations.
• Artistic License – History: See the film series' article.
• Badass Teacher: Ip Man talks to the principal of the school he's trying to get his son into, and she reads his profession as "teacher".
• Berserk Button: Ip takes his son's unfilial rant stoically at first, but when the memory of his late wife is attempted to be used against him, he slaps the young man. Justified as her death is still in recent memory.
• Bittersweet Ending: The film concludes the series with Ip Man dying from his throat cancer, but before his death Ip leaves behind a remarkable legacy: He contributed to the Chinese in the United States being accepted, as symbolized by the Marines accepting Chinese Kung Fu teachers into their training regimen and Bruce Lee being allowed to teach non-chinese Kung Fu. Ip's son also reconciles with his father and learns martial arts from him, and with Ip's school remaining steady, Wing Chun will remain a prominent art in Chinese for the years to come.
• Bland-Name Product: The karate style used in the history is called "Kyokuten", an obvious stand-in for the real life style Kyokushin.
• Blatant Lies:
  • Geddes denies that he is a racist and says that he hates "cowardly coloreds" to a downed marine.
  • Becky's parents buy into their daughter's claim that she was bullied at school, not knowing that it was she who picked on Yonah in the first place.
  • Yonah denies getting into a fight at school with another student, but her father sees through her lies and slaps her in retaliation.
• Boomerang Bigot: In an indirect example, Geddes despises kung fu for being an art of Chinese "yellow men", while at the same time extolling karate - which is technically another "yellow men" fighting style.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Geddes manages to land a massive throw on Ip Man and kick him a few times, leaving him temporarily out of commission... and then, instead of capitalizing on the advantage as he did against Wan, he steps back and starts taunting Ip with racist slurs, giving him time to recover and a reason to be fired up afterwards. When they re-engage, the tide turns predictably against Geddes, who this time does try to capitalize on another knockdown - only that it is useless now because Ip has a new strategy and is energized by the taunts. This eventually makes Geddes lose the fight.
• Bully Brutality: Becky and her boyfriend's gang roughs up Yonah and Becky cuts her hair before Ip Man shows up to drive them away.
• The Bus Came Back: Master Law returns from the second film.
• But Now I Must Go: Following his fight against Geddes, Ip Man returns to Hong Kong, as he finds that America isn't the country he imagined it to be.
• Call-Back:
  • The villain is, as with the first movie, once more a karate-practicing non-Chinese military man.
  • Ip once again spanks a foe with an Improvised Weapon.
  • An outsider gets into a Kung-Shui fight with a local master again.
• Combat Pragmatist: Ip Man capitalizes on Geddes' "no rules" warning in order to hit multiple low blows and eye rakes during their fight, ultimately winning the match thanks to it. Geddes also focuses his high kicks on Ip's injured arm when he finds out about it.
• Curb Stomp Cushion:
  • Bruce Lee handily defeats his challengers, but the last one manages to slightly injure his arm and get in a shoulder throw on him.
  • Though Geddes brutalizes and eventually knocks out Master Wan, the tai chi master manages to throw Geddes several times, is shown to be the more skilled fighter between the 2 with Geddes not getting any hits in when he was fresh, and generally gives tai chi a respectable treatment in the process.
• Deadly Distant Finale: The film ends with a montage depicting Ip Man's funeral 8 years later.
• Deliberate Under-Performance: Ip Man scares Colin by stopping in mid-air a throat thrust that would have probably crushed his windpipe. Subverted because he then defeats him in a less lethal way.
• Dirty Coward: Becky was only able to beat up Yonah because she had her boyfriend's gang to back her up, but once Ip Man shows up and effortlessly defeats her boyfriend's gang, she immediately retreats with the gang.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Becky invites her boyfriend and his gang to rough up Yonah after she tells her off and calls her a "stupid blonde" and "paleface".
• The Dragon: Frater to Geddes.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Gunnery Sgt Barton Geddes portrays quite the negative stereotype of one; he constantly belittles the recruits under him (especially non-white ones), shows very little respect for even his own peers just below his rank and does not hesitate to wake, then assemble his trainees in the middle of the night just to get them to watch him prove his point about their superior martial arts.
• Drugs Are Bad: Ip Man is diagnosed with throat cancer because of his chronic smoking in the previous films.
• Eagleland: The villain of the movie is a type two. Holding the Chinese in contempt while boasting that America is the greatest country in history.
• Eiffel Tower Effect: The film is set in San Francisco. Cue the obligatory Golden Gate Bridge shot.
• Evasive Fight-Thread Episode: Ip and Master Wan's spar is interrupted by an earthquake before they can conclusively determine a victor.
• Evil Virtues: Geddes is an irrational racist, but whenever he gets in a martial arts fight, his determination rivals that of your average Stock Shōnen Hero. He gets thrown down not less than six times by Wan, whom by this point makes it look like Geddes is absolutely no match for him, yet the American keeps getting up every time and pressing action, and it almost feels earned when the tide starts eventually turning to his favor.
• Experienced Protagonist: The fact that Ip Man is more or less an invincible hero aside, the fact that he manages to defeat Colin Frater so handily can be objectively explained by his experience fighting against karate practitioners as seen in the first film.
• Falling Chandelier of Doom: A big chandelier falls from the ceiling and crashes on a table during a fight scene.
• The Farmer and the Viper: Master Wan tells a Chinese variant to justify not teaching Chinese martial arts to westerners.
• Force and Finesse: The karate fighters in the film rely on athleticism and aggression, using a lot of lineal attacks and haymakers, while the Chinese kung fu stylists employ intricate arm techniques and calculated strikes.
• Friend on the Force: Two of them, both Bruce's disciples. Billy, who works for INS and tips off the CBA to an impending raid, and SSgt Hartman, whose attempts to introduce kung fu into the Marine hand to hand curriculum drive much of the plot.
• Graceful Loser: The karateka in a blue gi who picks a fight with Bruce Lee in a dark alleyway gives him several nods and a thumbs up after losing to him.
• Grand Finale: The subtitle The Finale implies this is the last film of the Ip Man series, or at least the last one for Donnie Yen in the title role, given there was a spinoff before. The film ends with Bruce paying his respects at Ip Man's wake, making it undeniable.
• Groin Attack: When Geddes puts Ip Man in an armbar and attempts to break his arm, Ip Man escapes by mule kicking him in the nuts twice.
• Hate Sink:
  • Becky only exists to be painted as an irredeemable and despicable character who exhibits hostility towards the Chinese without any good reason. To pour salt in the wound, she doesn't get any form of comeuppance for what she did to Yonah throughout the course of the film's events.
  • Barton Geddes is blatantly racist and brutal even to defeated enemies, and doesn't get so much as a Pet the Dog moment or other non-martial redeeming quality to offset this.
• Hates Their Parent:
  • Ip Ching blames his father for the death of his mother which earns him a slap from him. However he was able to make up with his father after hearing about his condition.
  • Yonah resents her father for not taking her own interests to heart and his mindset of knowing what's best for his daughter because he is the parent. She makes up with him, however, before the Marines take him into custody.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: In the movie, the Chinese Benevolent Association is shown to welcome recent Chinese immigrants, including undocumented ones. In reality, the Association opposed new Chinese immigration starting in the 1870s, a policy that persisted into the 1960s.
• Homage:
  • The way Bruce taunts the karatekas, by pointing a finger to two of them and turning it into a Bring It, is the same taunt he does in the dojo in Fist of Fury. He also takes on a challenger in a fight clearly intended to evoke the nunchuks vs katana fight in the same film, albeit with a metal rod in place of the katana and the nunchuks wrested from the challenger.
  • His retort to the challenger's posturing in the same scene ("The door won't fight back") also evokes the famous line "boards don't hit back" from Enter the Dragon.
• Hypocrite: The viciously racist and Eaglelandian Frater and Geddes seem blind to the fact that the karate they hold in such high regard is itself not originally a white man's martial art like boxing or Greco-Roman wrestling, or at bare minimum a non-East Asian style like Krav Maga.
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: Becky claims that America has belonged to the white people for generations. Yonah, however, corrects her, stating that America has always been composed of people from various different ethnicities, and that the Natives are the only actual Americans, who had their land stolen from them.
  Becky: This has been our land for generations. What do you people want from us?
  Yonah: Now I know why they call you a stupid blonde. America has always had immigrants. The Indians are the only real Americans. Your ancestors stole their land, paleface.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: When punishing a black soldier, Geddes claims not to be a racist... only for him to use a racial insult on the soldier immediately afterwards. Given that later in the film Geddes has no problem giving openly a long racist lecture, this instance was possibly just a sick joke.
• Injured Limb Episode: Downplayed. Ip spends most of the film with a trick left-arm after it was slammed into a gate. Not that it does much to impede him.
• Intimidation Demonstration:
  • Frater has thick bricks brought with him when gatecrashing the Mid-Autumn Festival, which he shatters with a karate chop in challenge to the kung fu masters.
  • Geddes isn't comfortable with having just beaten Wan; he makes an example of him by shattering his knee and arm.
• Karma Houdini: Becky never gets any comeuppance for her actions against Yonah throughout the course of the film.
• Kick the Dog: Becky, her boyfriend, and his gang humiliate Yonah for no discernible reason other than to get back at her after telling off Becky and calling her names.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: All by Geddes.
  • In the beginning Geddes insults a downed marine that was being held-locked from Frater by saying he hates "cowardly coloreds" while denying that he is a racist.
  • Geddes goes well beyond excess to make a demonstration out of Chairman Wan after he loses their bout, hospitalizing him with a shattered kneecap and a broken arm.
  • When Geddes had Ip Man on the floor during the fight, he insults him by calling a little yellow chink.
• Language Barrier: In the beginning, one of Bruce Lee's students named Billy travels from San Francisco to China and visits Ip Man's dojo to deliver an invitation to attend a tournament Lee is participating in. The problem is that Billy only speaks English and Ip Man's students only speak Chinese, so this eventually leads to a misunderstanding and a fight. It isn't until Ip Man, who can speak English, shows up that the misunderstanding is cleared up.
• Lightning Bruiser: Geddes, Colin and the other karate fighters, as they are all very nimble, hard-hitting and tough at the same time. It is only through technical brilliance that Ip Man and Lee manage to score wins on them.
• Made of Iron: Geddes' main assets, aside from his athleticism, are his great toughness and ability to recover. This is demonstrated in his duel with Wan, as the Chinese master knocks Geddes down six times with apparent ease, yet is ultimately unable to inflict any real damage on the American, who constantly springs up with more attacks of his own. Ip Man later bypasses this with the help of eye rakes and low blows, a kind of attack no amount of toughness can make you easily shrug off.
• Meaningful Rename: It's the first time in the film series that Lee Jun-fan goes by the alias history would remember him as, "Bruce Lee".
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: As well-intentioned as he was in standing up for his culture, Hartman going over Geddes's head to push kung fu into the Marine curriculum is what caused most of the the film's problems and spurs Geddes to first send Frater to make trouble in Chinatown, and later to enter the fray himself when that wasn't enough.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Geddes putting in "no rules" for the fight would be his undoing as he never uses it while Ip Man was able to turn this rule against Geddes by kicking him in the crouch and throat punching.
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Despite taking place in San Francisco, much of the movie was filmed in the UK and it shows. All of the white American characters that speak use various English accents. The only actor who uses an American accent is Scott Adkins, who is likely the only actor who has had to use it in the past.
• Old Master: Most of the kung fu masters who have fight scenes, including Master Law, Master Chiu and Master Wan. Ip Man himself would count at this point in his life.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Combined with Laser-Guided Karma, Ip Man ends his bout against Sergeant Geddes the same way Geddes ended the fight with Wan: by breaking his arm. For a bonus, he also punches Geddes in the throat.
• Politically Incorrect Villain:
  • Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy Frater insults Chinese people living in San Francisco with "yellow bitches".
  • Sergeant Geddes, whose Motive Rant near the film's climax sees him wanting to weed out "inferior cultures" from the Marines.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking:
  • Geddes is inevitably the best fighter Ip has to face, even more so than Frater, the designated karate instructor reporting to him.
  • Every board member of the Chinese Benevolent Association is a master of some kung fu style, but Master Wan, as head of the CBA, does better against Geddes than any of his cohorts.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Impressed by Hartman's presentation of Chinese martial arts, the Marines' Commanding Officer is open to incorporating it into their training and permits him to film footage in the Mid-Autumn Festival for further research, so long as it's not a waste of his time.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Happens twice in the film, both from Chinese giving it to racist westerners. First is Yonah towards Becky, see Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance, and the other is Hartman towards Geddes in the climax of the film.
• Sequel Goes Foreign: This time, the film is set outside of China, in America. In San Francisco, more specifically.
• Shout-Out: Possibly with Barton Geddes, a western hand-to-hand instructor who uses a Japanese martial art like karate. This echoes Edward Barton-Wright, a little known western hand-to-hand instructor who was one of the main popularizers of Japanese judo and jujutsu in Europe (and created the style known as Bartitsu), which would make Geddes a sort of anachronistic Evil Counterpart to him.
• Sickening "Crunch!": Wan's shattered knee lets out a loud one in his fight against Geddes, while Geddes's broken arm lets out a quiet one in his fight against Ip Man.
• Smash the Symbol: American Marines burn a Wing Chun training dummy to symbolize their rejection of it after Hartman's failure to beat the Marine karate instructor Colin with the training Bruce gave him.
• Taking the Bullet: When Becky's boyfriend and his gang attempts to crush Yonah with a gate, Ip Man intervenes and shoves Yonah out of the way, but the gate closes on his arm instead, slightly injuring it.
• Training from Hell: The Marines are seen undergoing rigorous training regimes.
• Traumatic Haircut: As vengeance for getting beaten at cheerleading, Becky has her boyfriend and his gang pin down Yonah and cut her hair.
• Trilogy Creep: Ip Man 3 was initially intended to be a trilogy capper for Donnie Yen as Ip Man, but this wasn't to last.
• Very Punchable Man:
  • A group of karateka confront Bruce and his group to call bullshit on their kung fu. Bruce challenges three of them at once and floors them all in seconds.
  • Becky's boyfriend and his gang exist for no reason other than to demonstrate that they deserve an ass-kicking for their contemptible treatment towards Yonah.
• Villain Respect: After Bruce Lee takes down the leader of those Karateka, he responds by giving Bruce a thumbs up.
• Waif-Fu: Master Chiang, the female kung fu master, manages to land a few strikes on Colin and actually make him feel them, which his previous male opponent had failed to do. Possibly justified, as said male master was substantially older than both Chiang and Colin.
• Was Too Hard on Him: When Ip Man reconciles with his son over the phone, he apologises for slapping him at the beginning of the film and admits to being in the wrong.
• Weak, but Skilled: When Masters Chiu, Chiang and Wan fight their younger, stronger opponents, they are able to fight more or less evenly and even land multiple blows by using their experience and speed to their advantage, but when they try to meet the Americans' blows strength to strength, they are quickly overpowered. Even Ip Man, who can inflict more hits than any other kung fu master, has to either get in a large volume of strikes or several crippling ones like one-inch punches or groin and throat strikes to incapacitate the larger marines rather than through pure strength alone.
• Worf Had the Flu: Ip Man is essentially both sick and injured throughout the film. Not only does he have throat cancer from smoking but he's also sporting an injured wrist for most of the movie through defending Yonah from a gang that Geddes later tries to take advantage of. However, it doesn't slow him down as a fighter much, as he's still able to go for the entire film. It's only after eight years later that Ip Man finally succumbs to the cancer.
• Would Harm a Senior: Becky's boyfriend and his gang have no qualms attacking the 71-year old Ip Man, who intervenes in their attack on Yonah. Not that it matters anyway as he easily repels them without breaking a sweat.
• Would Hit a Girl:
  • Becky's boyfriend and his gang don't hesitate to hit Yonah several times and even attempt to crush her with a gate before Ip Man intervenes.
  • Colin Frater does not hesitate to fight the female Chinese Master Chiang, and makes it clear that he won't show her mercy.
    (scoffs) "Lady, I will show you no mercy."
• You Can Barely Stand: Downplayed. Ip Man gets a gate slammed on his left wrist partway through the film. Master Wan, who notices the subsequent weakness, kindly refuses to use his own left hand in order to be gentlemanly. Geddes, who also notices, doesn't and tries to take advantage of it.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Ip's diagnosed with throat cancer at the beginning of the movie. He dies from it by the end.

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