Ok here's my thoughts.
Movie can be condensed into three acts, and my appreciation from worst to best goes like this: 1, 3, 2.
The first act is what I feared they were gonna turn the whole movie into, a superhero flick.
C'mon, anybody who's seen the film realizes in the first act they're conveying Yip Man as a vigilante or something. It was kinda silly but doesn't last too long.
Second and third act, they finally did what I wanted them to do. Exploring Yip Man's family. Specifically, the relationship between him and his wife, which also gives Donnie Yen the opportunity to show off some really good acting.
Now, I don't know how much a movie about a real life person, although dramatized, can be spoiled but I won't say anything anyway.
So why didn't I like the third act as much as the second? Cause dat ending. It was so abrupt and leaves threads unresolved. We all know Mike Tyson is in the movie. His deal? Unresolved. The two of them barely even see each other except for their fight.
And we all know Bruce Lee is in this movie? The deal with him? ****ing unresolved. Come on, everyone wanted to see the ending with Yip training Bruce, but nope. However there's a couple of cool scenes with those two, I'll say that.
Also there's a part that was too riminiscent of the first half of Ip Man, but kinda rushed, it flies by too fast.
Now, the fights. Nothing bad to say about them, they're cool as hell. Choreographies are spectacular (sometimes kind of exaggerated), Donnie Yen's (and everybody else's, really) execution is on point, cinematography is nice, they're shot very well, as you'd expect from an Asian movie.
I know what you wanna know, "Fox! How's the Yip Man vs Tyson fight???".
It's... it's cool. I expected more though. Lasts too little, has little buildup. Still cool though. Tyson is brutal and mocking, you can tell he enjoys doing movie fights and you know what, he's good at it too.
So, overall I liked the movie. The pacing can be kinda off, there are a few threads that remain unresolved, but most of the acting is good (yeah Tyson is the weak spot, as you can imagine... except when he gets to fight, he conveys the attitude pretty well), the action is good, cinematography's good. I'd recommend it.
The first Ip Man remains the best though.
