The Ip Man movies without Donnie Yen, from The Grandmaster to 2 directed by Herman Yau

The Ip Man story has been explored in multiple films, from Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster starring Tony Leung to one featuring Anthony Wong

Reading Time:4 minutes

Anthony Wong as Ip Man in a still from Ip Man: The Final Fight (2013), one of four films we examine that tell the martial artist’s story. Photo: Lark Films Distribution

Published: 4:15pm, 8 Dec 2024Updated: 4:17pm, 8 Dec 2024

The success of Wilson Yip Wai-shun’s Ip Man film series, starring Donnie Yen Ji-dan, inspired a number of other biopics about the master of Wing Chun kung fu over the years.

The history of southern martial arts is deep, and each of these Hong Kong films had something to offer. Here we dive into them, listed in order of excellence.

1. The Grandmaster (2013)

Director Wong Kar-wai’s version of the Ip Man story, which features Tony Leung Chiu-wai as Ip Man, is a typically intelligent work.

One of the marvels of the film is the attention to detail in the martial arts sequences. Choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping, the fights are not naturalistic, but are still relatively faithful to the respective kung fu styles.

Wong depicts Ip as an individual whose discipline and creativity allows him to overcome adversity, noting that life in China’s Republican era was tough.

“In such a trying time, the most challenging thing in life was to live,” Wong told China’s Southern Weekend newspaper in 2013. “Regardless of how good your kung fu skill was, living was the most challenging obstacle.”

“It can frustrate you and ruin your profession,” Wong said. “At the end of the film, many people could have become a grandmaster. But only Ip Man became the grandmaster and continued what the older generation passed on.”