Offshoot of the Ip Man series takes a new set of characters through a familiar story of redemption through martial arts, upgraded by Michelle Yeoh and Dave Bautista in significant roles.
Wing Chun master Ip Man has become a sort of Wong Fei Hung for the 21st century. The real-life teacher, who died in 1972 has become the focus of competing film series, a TV show, and now this spinoff. Master Z: Ip Man Legacy takes a character defeated in Ip Man 3 on a martial-arts journey that genre fans already know by heart.
Beaten in battle by Ip Man, Cheung Tin-chi (Max Zhang) loses his moral compass in mindless violence working for a gangster (Yuen Wah). When Cheung tries to go straight, another strongman (Tony Jaa) shows up periodically to challenge him. But Cheung doesn’t want to fight, he wants to run a low-rent grocery store to earn the respect of his young son Fung.
That doesn’t stop Cheung from jumping to the defense of Nana (Chrissie Chau), a nightclub escort and opium addict who’s being abused by gangster Kit (Kevin Chung). Helped by Nana’s friend Julia (Liu Yan), Cheung knocks an entire gang silly in an outdoor restaurant.
Kit’s determined to wreak revenge, but is thwarted at first by his sister Kwan (Michelle Yeoh), who’s trying to steer her tenuous gang alliance into straight business. Even so, Cheung’s grocery is firebombed, forcing him to become a waiter at the Gold Bar nightclub run by Julia’s brother Fu (Naason).
Kwan has been leery of the drug trade, but Kit jumps at the opportunity to deal with the unscrupulous Owen Davidson (Dave Bautista), hiding behind his front as a restaurateur. There will be several deaths as the violence escalates, but the main theme—Cheung fights reluctantly, but honorably—remains constant.
Master Z might feel like a step back from Yuen Woo-ping’s last outing as a director, a wuxia extravaganza called The Thousand Faces of Dunjia. Master Z is resolutely low-key, a commercial van instead of a sports car, more draft beer than microbrew. Still, the talents assembled are remarkable, and the respect they show for the genre palpable.
Yeoh broke into action films forty years ago, and her presence here brings back that golden age of Hong Kong cinema. She battles Cheung over a drink in a marvelous nightclub sequence based on balance and fights to a draw in another, more extended scene later on. It’s like watching a great musician improvise on an earlier hit.
Bautista, who has become an increasingly impressive action star, approaches his role here seriously, unlike other Ip Man cameos. What’s more, he and Yeoh perform naturally in English, usually a sore point in Hong Kong productions.
The fights are the main selling point here. Yuen and action choreographer Yuen Shun-yi offer everything from close-in, hand-to-hand beatings to wire-based flights over awnings and neon signs. The routines are as satisfying as dance numbers, especially with performers and physically skilled as Zhang, Jaa, Naason, and the rest. While it may not be especially original, Master Z delivers everything martial-arts fans want.
