Ip Man: The Final Fight

This is a rare case where, if a film had been livelier and less traditional and "respectful," its lead performance might have seemed less special.

Seriously, if not always elegantly, the film portrays the great Ip Man as someone trying to survive, which is to say just as often a victim as a victor.

Soap opera, set-bound and unexceptionally written and directed.

The naturalism of Wong's performance is undercut ... by Yau's use of phony-looking sets, sterile CGI and flashy aerial shots.

The overall sense is of a rushed, simplistic installment in a well-worn biography franchise.

The Final Fight plays out like a collection of greatest-hits vignettes barely connected to one another.

It's admirable that Ip Man: The Final Fight takes a different approach to the character than the other Ip Man films out there, but it lacks the excitement that made Ip Man and Ip Man 2 so entertaining.

More a frequently elegant drama than an outright action movie.

Ip Man was a notable martial arts instructor, he was not a saint. Perhaps someday, somebody will make an accurate film about the man. Meanwhile, we have these kung fu pseudo-biopics to entertain us.

Cut off from his home and family in China, martial-arts teacher Ip Man tries to adapt to life in Hong Kong. Intriguing if reverential account of an icon's final years.

The action choreography eschews the slow-motion, wire-assisted grace of Yuen Woo Ping's in "The Grandmaster," but does a solid job of crisply and clearly showcasing a few epic brawls.

The soul of this movie is really in its tireless references to the historical and social conditions of 1950s and 60s Hong Kong, whose street views are recreated in vibrant, saturated colours.