If you're going to create propaganda.... at least make good propaganda. This has not happened in Ip Man 4, a ridiculous film of extroardinarily exaggerated racial caricatures & created by someone with a view on society and humanity that is devoid of all meaning and understanding.
Of course, it's always good fun to watch Donnie Yen's Ip Man beat up a lot of bad guys with his wing chun, and the first entry into these series is indeed a truly good film. However, and this is also the case in somewhat lesser proportions in Ip Man 2, the platform has now been made up as some sort of ridiculous race-war between asian & white people. This director doesn't seem to understand that the world consists of a little bit more than these ridiculous race disputes, as every white person at nearly every moment in this film has something negative to say about Chinese people. There are no real characters in this film, there are only races. People are defined by their race. A Chinese person is honorable and good, while a white person is evil and racist. This is no mere overexaggeration on my part, as there are pretty much no people in the entire film to prove the opposite. Everyone is what their race is programmed to be according to this director.
The Chinese girl is bullied by white people, the mother of the white girl immediately generalizes the asian group as a whole when the little brat whines about being beaten, the evil husband immediately tries to deport a couple of Chinese people for it based on the whims of a little girl (really convincing), the white gunnery sergeant bullies a Chinese recruit, the gunnery sergeant also calls other races inferior for no real clear reason. Oh wait, we had to be reminded he was really a racist. Oh yeah. My favorite has got to be the white girl summoning 6 of her boyfriends to beat up 1 Chinese girl, though. There's really no words to describe how ridiculous this is, except that of course the director already knew Ip Man would save the day and him beating up 6 guys is more fun than 1. Whichever way you slice it, the screenplay of this film is a mess, the acting, especially by the American actors, is cringeworthy, and the only redeeming factor of the whole thing are the fight scenes, which are still superb. But that's about it.
The gunnery sergeant is full of hatred for all things of the Chinese culture, he hates kung fu because it is not American and thinks that his race is superior. So he goes to teach these people a lesson with his karate. This is not a joke. Apparently nobody in this film knew that karate was not actually American. He's trying to prove the point of his country or his people's superiority in fighting style by using an oriental fighting style? This is the ludicrous nature this movie employs. One of my favorites also has to be the lead up before his final fight with Ip Man, where he is whining about how superior his country is. Why he would be doing that infront of his squad at such a moment not knowing Ip Man would be coming is somewhat of a mystery, but i guess the audience is so dumb they still needed to be told that the guy was a racist, right?
In reality, there are never a lot of problems between whites & asians, as both cultures are somewhat compatible in their tranquillity, and asians are generally respected in white countries. Where the director got the idea that every asian is opressed and every white person bad, nobody knows. It's quite clear though that his favoritism of Chinese people is visible, and his disdain for whites. Essentially, that's all that Ip Man 4 is. It's, by every modern definition of the word, really a racist film. It creates absurd caricatures of white people that are not accurate in the least, and forces its way along with heavy handed social commentary, and very little sophistication or restraint.
Following Ip Man 2, the nationalist Chinese propaganda knows no bounds in Ip Man 4, although the characterization is even more ridiculous in this one. People are apparently biologically engineered to be the same in this little fantasy world, and individualism regardless of race is thrown out of the picture.
Of course, it's always good fun to watch Donnie Yen's Ip Man beat up a lot of bad guys with his wing chun, and the first entry into these series is indeed a truly good film. However, and this is also the case in somewhat lesser proportions in Ip Man 2, the platform has now been made up as some sort of ridiculous race-war between asian & white people. This director doesn't seem to understand that the world consists of a little bit more than these ridiculous race disputes, as every white person at nearly every moment in this film has something negative to say about Chinese people. There are no real characters in this film, there are only races. People are defined by their race. A Chinese person is honorable and good, while a white person is evil and racist. This is no mere overexaggeration on my part, as there are pretty much no people in the entire film to prove the opposite. Everyone is what their race is programmed to be according to this director.
The Chinese girl is bullied by white people, the mother of the white girl immediately generalizes the asian group as a whole when the little brat whines about being beaten, the evil husband immediately tries to deport a couple of Chinese people for it based on the whims of a little girl (really convincing), the white gunnery sergeant bullies a Chinese recruit, the gunnery sergeant also calls other races inferior for no real clear reason. Oh wait, we had to be reminded he was really a racist. Oh yeah. My favorite has got to be the white girl summoning 6 of her boyfriends to beat up 1 Chinese girl, though. There's really no words to describe how ridiculous this is, except that of course the director already knew Ip Man would save the day and him beating up 6 guys is more fun than 1. Whichever way you slice it, the screenplay of this film is a mess, the acting, especially by the American actors, is cringeworthy, and the only redeeming factor of the whole thing are the fight scenes, which are still superb. But that's about it.
The gunnery sergeant is full of hatred for all things of the Chinese culture, he hates kung fu because it is not American and thinks that his race is superior. So he goes to teach these people a lesson with his karate. This is not a joke. Apparently nobody in this film knew that karate was not actually American. He's trying to prove the point of his country or his people's superiority in fighting style by using an oriental fighting style? This is the ludicrous nature this movie employs. One of my favorites also has to be the lead up before his final fight with Ip Man, where he is whining about how superior his country is. Why he would be doing that infront of his squad at such a moment not knowing Ip Man would be coming is somewhat of a mystery, but i guess the audience is so dumb they still needed to be told that the guy was a racist, right?
In reality, there are never a lot of problems between whites & asians, as both cultures are somewhat compatible in their tranquillity, and asians are generally respected in white countries. Where the director got the idea that every asian is opressed and every white person bad, nobody knows. It's quite clear though that his favoritism of Chinese people is visible, and his disdain for whites. Essentially, that's all that Ip Man 4 is. It's, by every modern definition of the word, really a racist film. It creates absurd caricatures of white people that are not accurate in the least, and forces its way along with heavy handed social commentary, and very little sophistication or restraint.
Following Ip Man 2, the nationalist Chinese propaganda knows no bounds in Ip Man 4, although the characterization is even more ridiculous in this one. People are apparently biologically engineered to be the same in this little fantasy world, and individualism regardless of race is thrown out of the picture.
Tell Your Friends