You can't be a fan of martial arts movies or Quentin Tarantino without knowing the name Yuen Woo-Ping. Woo-Ping was the choreographer behind many of the classic martial arts movies to come out of China as well as doing the same role on films like THE MATRIX and CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON. But he's also a well-respected director in the genre as well having directed films like IRON MONKEY and DRUNKEN MASTER. So it should come as no surprise that Woo-Ping now helms the continuing saga started with the Ip Man series of films.

Picking up where the third IP MAN movie left off Cheung Tin Chi (Jin Zhang) has abandoned martial arts after his defeat at the hands of Ip Man. Now running a small store in Hong Kong while raising his young son he sets out to live simply. But fate has more in store for him.

While making a delivery he literally runs into Nana (Chrissie Chau),an opium addict in debt to gangster Tso Sai Kit (Kevin Cheng) and her friend Julia (Liu Yan). When Kit breaks the gift Chi bought for his son, he steps in to protect the two women before the police arrive. All are arrested and thanks to a payoff to the corrupt police chief they are released that night. But the release comes late and Chi misses the dinner he promised to take his son to at a high end restaurant owned by Davidson (Dave Bautista).

Seeking revenge for his humiliation Kit and his men firebomb Chi's store burning him and his son. As he escapes with his injured child the men follow him. Passing nearby the Gold Bar, owned by Fu (Xing Yu) Julia's brother, he bumps into Julia and asks her to watch after her son. One by one he defeats that gang chasing him as well as an assassin named Sadi (Tony Jaa) who's been following him.

Julia talks to her brother and he offers Chi a job working in the bar. The two talk and form a bond once he realizes who Chi is having studied martial arts himself. Their friendship is tested after Chi takes vengeance against Kit by destroying one of his opium dens. Kit's sister Kwan (Michelle Yeoh) is the actual head of the gang that Kit is part of. She was also the person responsible for helping Fu begin his bar and he's indebted to her. All is smoothed over when she talks to Chi.

Kwan is in the middle of trying to take their business legit but Kit wants to carry on with the gangster life. So much so that he makes a deal with a friend and gets into the heroin business. When his friend takes him to the man behind the heroin trade (no spoiler here folks) he cements his loyalty to the man and finds himself with more power than he had in the past.

Chi discovers what is taking place and alerts Kwan to the situation. She asks for time to settle the situation but before that happens Kit kills Nana who was engaged to Fu. Chi and Fu storm Kwan's offices and an all-out battle takes place that is amazing to watch. Another offering is made, another situation settled but not completely. It isn't long before Chi will be forced to reignite the flame inside and use his skills to right the wrongs set in place by the various situations fate has steered him to.

Look, I'm a fan of martial arts films and have been for some time. I grew up on those Saturday afternoon showings of Kung Fu Theater that had the imported Chinese martial arts films that were more about acrobatics than martial arts. But the movies coming out of China today are stunning in not just the martial arts skills on display but the technical aspects of the films as well. And with Well Go leading the pack in bringing these films around the world on disc they deserve major kudos.

Yes, I know that much of what we see on display here is wire skills, actors being lifted high in the air by trusses and wires. But there is more to it than that. The moves used in these films take an enormous amount of skill to do properly and they do indeed follow through on those skills.

More than that the film is gorgeous on so many levels. The cinematography for a movie that some would write off as "just a martial arts movie" is amazing. The fluidity of the fight sequences is stunning. And rather than fall prey to the worst shooting of a fight scene possible as many western films do (the Bourne films come to mind) they don't zoom in for close ups during fights or rely on jerky camera movement to cover up the problems associated with a fight sequence. Instead they back up enough that you can see the entire fight taking place. And in the sequence in Kwan's office you have not one but two separate fight sequences taking place at the same time for some amazing shots.

I've not gotten around to watching the IP MAN series though I was able to pick them up used a while back. Now I find myself wanting to pull them out to watch and set this one next to them on the shelf. I have a feeling I will enjoy them as much as this film. It will be one that I know I'll definitely pull out from time to time to watch. Once again praise to Well Go for bringing these films to the world. And continued success to them with more coming.

After losing to Ip Man, Cheung Tin-chi (Jin Zhang) closes his school, stops using Wing Chun, and lives a quiet live with his son while working a small shop in Hong Kong. Julia is trying to pay off her sister Nana's opium debt to gangster Tso Sai Kit but he wants more. Julia fights the gang single-handedly when Cheung Tin-chi is dragged into the melee. He ends up helping the girls and making an enemy in the gangster. Sai Kit's older sister Tso Ngan Kwan (Michelle Yeoh) is the kingpin and she wants to turn the criminal group into a legal operation. Sai Kit resists but he is out-voted.

The franchise is splitting off to a separate branch. It works well. The story is simple and good. The actors are good. Michelle Yeoh is top notch. Mostly, it delivers the action. It has all the high flying wire-work fun with plenty of kicks and punches. I do have a few issues with the story. I would like Tin-chi to decide to help the girls. I get the reluctant hero story. The inciting event could be bigger than the music box. I understand that it represents his son. Maybe use his son directly instead of a representation of him. At the other end of the movie, I would like Tin-chi to finish off Dave Bautista himself. He has earned enough karma points to take a life. It's an exclamation mark on the hero's journey.

Entertaining if formulaic tale of Wing Chun Master Cheung Tin-chi, basically following up the events of 2015's "Ip Man 3", with Jin Zhang reprising his role from the earlier movie. I couldn't help feeling this was the story of a 'second best' guy in the martial arts world of Wing Chun, with the repeated mentions of his defeat at the hands of Ip Man himself. With less emphasis on that, the principal character would have seemed more heroic, even if he does take down a couple dozen guys at a time with his employer Chiu Kam-fu (Xing Yu). That's probably the main problem I have with most modern day martial arts movies, the hero is always virtually invincible and immune from the normal laws of physics, science and basic anatomy. Set that aside though, and you have some impressively choreographed fight scenes, and I don't know what you would call it, but Cheung's 'whiskey glass hustle' with Tso Ngan-kwan (Michelle Yeoh) was a highlight for this viewer, brief as it was. And I don't know about anyone else, but I do believe Dave Bautista could take any normal size guy like Jin Zhang and physically throw him into ( and through?) a wall without too much of a problem. The picture might have even stepped on DC Comics' toes with the toy character called the Black Bat. Except for the uniform, it looked like a carbon copy of Batman.