Donnie Yen’s Ip Man series carries a different theme with each movie, and it exemplifies them in numerous martial arts sequences. The Ip Man movie franchise began in 2008, with Yen portraying the renowned mentor of
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the legendary Bruce Lee and taking up Ip Man’s martial art of Wing Chun specifically for the role. After portraying the titular Ip Man four times, Donnie Yen has made Wing Chun more popular than ever around the world – owed in no small part to the depth of themes that each Ip Man movie tackles.
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Aside from being the ultimate showcase of Wing Chun, the Ip Man movies also explore its protagonists’ relationship with Bruce Lee. While only mentioned at the end of the first film, Bruce gradually becomes more of a presence through the remainder of the series. Lee’s inclusion in later Ip Man entries only serves to bolster the emotional nuance of the franchise, with Ip Man attempting to balance mentoring his son with teaching his mercurial protege.
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As Donnie Yen himself explained in an interview for Ip Man 3, the first three movies respectively are based on themes of “survival,” “making a living,” and “life.” 2019’s Ip Man 4: The Finale, in which Bruce Lee was the most prominent, would later serve as the concluding chapter of the series and focus on fighting bigotry. Here’s how each of these themes plays into the overarching Ip Man story via the four movies’ memorable fight scenes.
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In Ip Man, Donnie Yen’s titular hero lives a comfortable life with his wife and son. While he cultivates a reputation throughout Foshan as a formidable and wise Wing Chun master, Jin Shanzhao (Fan Siu-wong) takes a different strategy. Determined to free himself forever from poverty and hunger, Jin aims to take down every rival kung fu master in Foshan to establish himself and his school with no equals. Ip Man is the one opponent he can’t overcome, but similar motivations do not drive him. Despite training the cotton factory workers in Wing Chun to defend themselves from Jin’s gang’s formidable martial arts skills, Ip Man insists that, contrary to Jin’s perspective, “No one wants to chase you away.”
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The economic effects of Japan’s invasion of China also put Ip Man and his family into their own tough situation. With his wealth depleted, Ip Man takes up work in a coal mine to provide for his family. Meanwhile, Japanese General Miura (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi) mocks the dire straits that the people of China face, setting up fights with local martial artists and promising them a bag of rice if they are victorious. Ip Man, driven to anger by the death of his friend Lin (Xing Yu) in one such match, single-handedly defeats ten Cobra Kai-level karate exponents in a fight. Declining the promised rice bag, Ip Man begins to inspire hope in the people of Foshan, culminating in his eventual defeat of Miura in a public duel.
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In both these sequences and Ip Man’s fight with Jin, the film showcases its theme of survival, showing both men fighting dire circumstances and daunting odds. Jin’s battles teach him an important lesson that his desperation had made him into a bully over a survivor. Meanwhile, Ip Man overcomes being outnumbered and economically tarnished. With Ip Man nearly killed in retaliation for his victory over General Miura, he and his family are forced to move to Hong Kong. This itself is a thematic tie-in to the movie’s survival theme, with Ip Man living to fight another day in his exile.
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