Ip Man (2008) - Ip Man 2 (2010) - Ip Man 3 (2015)

I binge-watched an Ip Man marathon. Mostly because Donnie Yen was awesome in the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. His character, Chirrut Imwe was spectacular.

 I probably should have caught up on the Ip Man series much earlier because he taught Bruce Lee. Also, I saw the Wong Kar Wai take of Ip Man's story already, The Grandmaster. and I still didn't get caught up on the Ip Man series. So in a weird way, I got a deeper appreciation for Ip Man and Wing Chun through Donnie Yen and Star Wars.

 What's striking was I realized I never see the take from the Asian's side of the war. Even on the early 1920's-1930's war between Japan and China. War affects people on a mass level. From which ever side you may be, it's violent and people suffer enormously.

Anyway, back to the series. Having seen it on one straight sitting, It's easy to compare it to one another. 

 In terms of fighting, the first was pitted against Japanese martial arts, Karate. The second film was against a more western kind, British influenced boxing. The third film depicted fighting against American Boxing, Muay Thai and the closing battle against Wing Chun itself.

 The first transitioned Ip Man's life into Japanese occupation. The second into British rule for having had to leave to Hong Kong. The third though not heavily depicted, still under western rule. Learned a little bit about Asian History here too.

 All throughout the films, there are no shortage of well crafted action scenes. It engulfs the viewing experience into nothing short of amazement.

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