IP Man & Bruce Lee strike again

The last movie of the legendary IP Man franchise, IP Man 4: The Finale, was released last week. The Donnie Yen-starrer already has impressed the viewers who were eagerly waiting since IP Man 3, which according to many, was the least impressive.

IP Man, the great Wing Chun master, is still known to the world as the teacher of the martial arts phenom, Bruce Lee. After Jackie Chan and Jet Li, the Hong Kong movie industry was waiting for their next global superstar while Donnie Yen was always there behind their shadows. The year 2008 was his time to break the shackles and Donnie did it in style. IP Man (2008) relaunched Donnie and this time his name was all over the cinema globe. Now it was Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen but people also started to compare his speed and technique to Bruce Lee.

IP Man 4: The Finale is all about IP Man's visit to San Francisco accepting the invitation of Bruce Lee to participate in a martial arts tournament. Once again the story, which was created exclusively to impress the Kung Fu followers, has moments of excitement with the cliched anti-Chinese attitude of the west and the redemption. IP Man is old, injured and sick (which is hard to believe for those who worship his larger than life persona) but he doesn't lose. The movie ends with a scene where Bruce Lee pays homage to his master at his funeral.

This is the third movie in the last 2 years which has Bruce Lee featured as a character in it. Quinton Terentino’s Once upon a time in Hollywood received a lot of criticism from the Bruce Lee fans for portraying him as an arrogant, average martial artist. The Birth of the Dragon, which was marketed as the first-ever movie based on his epic showdown with Wong Jackman, was also a shock for many who worship the inventor of Jeet-Kune-Do.

Many believe that this is a movie propaganda to demolish Lee’s image of an unbeatable kung-fu machine and to dethrone him. A new martial arts superstar is always compared to Bruce Lee and no one could even come close to what he achieved within three years. Whatever the scenario is, the name Bruce Lee is still selling tickets.