Yip Man 3

Yen was at the Shanghai International Film Festival and one of the reasons he attended this year's festival was to speak on top moments of his career during a masterclass. The actor, known specifically for bringing mixed martial arts into mainstream Asian filmmaking, spoke on one particular moment that involved filming a fight with Mike Tyson. As reported by "The Hollywood Reporter", Yen admits that it was an intimidating experience and, despite being a fan of Tyson's boxing career, he recognized that he is a boxer, rather than an actor. Yen then goes on to describe how he had to treat the scene as a real boxing match:

Yip Man 3

It's pretty cool to know the process that Yen had to engage in when shooting the fight scene with Tyson. Yen was aware that all of Tyson's moves and beats were that of a boxer and not an actor. It's not going to be second nature for Tyson to hit a mark or pull punches. Yen had to be on top of his game just in case Tyson did what came naturally to him. Not because Tyson was threatening in any way but because Tyson is used to doing what is second nature to him. That shows that Yen respects the process of performing and the process of what goes into being the mentality of a fighter.

Ip Man 3 was released in 2015 and had Yen returning in the title role. The film follows Master Ip as he is forced to stand against a group of criminals led by a twisted property manager (Tyson) looking to claim a school. The biographical action drama was shot in Shanghai and went on to gross $157 million at the global box office on a $36 million budget.

The actor, who held his Masterclass at the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival recently, shared that he went into filming with the former professional boxer knowing that the latter was not an actor and would not be able to fake his punches like an actor would.

"When I was in a scene with him, I had to remind myself that I have to be very cautious. I did not allow myself to think I was shooting a scene for a film," said Donnie. "I had to treat it as a real fight in a boxing ring with him and it was a matter of life and death. I couldn't afford to be distracted in any way, otherwise it wouldn't have been a K.O., it would have cost me my life."

"That was so dangerous! I literally felt the air move with his punch, which was like a truck coming towards me head-on. I felt that wind... that's still so clear in my mind, so dangerous! His fist was so huge, and it touched my hair," he said.

On the other hand, the actor is set to appear in the fourth instalment of the Keanu Reeves-starrer, "John Wick", and is currently promoting his new Hong Kong movie, "Raging Fire" - which is also the last movie by director Benny Chan prior to his death.

Most detailed and most action film of the Ip Man series. Ip Man 3 shows too many events of Master Ip's life. Max Zhang's action sequences were too good and look more brutal than Master Ip. Fight with Frank (Mike Tyson) was amazing.But the elevator sequence was unforgettable.

Ups the schmaltz factor on the previous two installments (not exactly lacking in that department for starters) with a shamelessly executed cancer subplot - I'm either so in the tank for these that it doesn't matter or I'm just easily manipulated, or maybe it's both. Nice to see the slender thread of Ip being kind of an absentee husband picked up so markedly here, but as ever the fights are the thing, this time handled by Yuen Woo-ping instead of Sammo Hung. They're great! The bladed segment of the final fight deserves an Oscar for sound design alone.

In a scene where Ip Man and his new sidekick power their way through 100 incompetent henchmen in something reminiscent of West Side Story without the music, it becomes clear that this film is now devoid of the special something that held the first two films together and is now an 'all show and no grow' run-of-the-mill action flick.

Even though it is no match to the original, the third instalment in Wilson Yip's Ip Man series brings some welcome improvements over the second chapter for its action choreography returns to the more grounded state of the first feature yet the movie as a whole fails to offer a compelling story and is muddled with dull subplots.

Those crazy fight scenes throughout the film (especially the last one which got me at the edge of my sit), that cool Bruce Lee "appearance". It's also fun at times while being completely touching as it builds up the relationship between Ip and his wife to great results.

Donnie Yen's Ip Man movies make numerous references to the career and life of the legendary Bruce Lee. The Ip Man martial arts movie series was a launch pad to international stardom for Donnie Yen, with Yen portraying the revered Grandmaster of Wing Chun kung fu, Ip Man. Aside from his fame as a kung fu master, Ip Man is also well-known the world over for his role in mentoring the young Bruce Lee in his early kung fu studies.

Bruce Lee has something of a background role in the Ip Man movies, with noted Bruce Lee-lookalike (and Jeet Kune Do exponent) Danny Chan playing Lee in Ip Man 3 and Ip Man 4: The Finale. As Lee's presence increases in the Ip Man movies, so do the franchise's Easter eggs and references to elements of the life of Bruce Lee that helped make him into the enduring legend of martial arts that he is. Here are all the Bruce Lee references seen in Donnie Yen's Ip Man films explained.

One of the most famous martial arts fights in the Ip Man movies sees the Wing Chun Grandmaster take on 10 karate black belts, easily defeating all of them single-handedly in the first Ip Man. This fight scene is similar in structure and story significance to Bruce Lee defeating an entire karate dojo in Fist of Fury. Both Lee's Fist of Fury character Chen Zhen and Ip Man are similarly motivated by the oppression of their fellow Chinese people during the Japanese occupation, and are also driven by the recent death of someone dear to them (Chen Zhen's sifu Hou Yuan-jia and Ip Man's friend Lin, respectively). With Bruce Lee having delivered such a classic dojo fight scene in Fist of Fury, it is only fitting that Ip Man should do the same with its big dojo fight scene.

Ip Man 2's final scene marks Bruce Lee's first appearance in the Ip Man franchise, Lee played by Dai-Yan Jiang. In Ip Man 2, Bruce Lee meets Ip Man as a child and requests to study Wing Chun with him. Lee specifically identifies himself as "Lee Siu-lung" to Ip Man, which references the title Lee acquired through his early Hong Kong fame. Bruce Lee's Cantonese birth name was Lee Jun-fan, while Lee Siu-lung was his name in his work as a Hong Kong child actor. Lee Siu-lung translates as "Little Dragon Lee", referencing Lee being born in the Year of the Dragon (1940, specifically). As Bruce Lee began to gain fame internationally, the spirit of the Dragon would become closely associated with him with his movies The Way of the Dragon and Enter the Dragon. By identifying Bruce Lee by the name Lee Siu-lung in his first appearance in the Ip Man series, Ip Man 2 acknowledges the importance of the Dragon title to his legacy.

After their first meeting in Ip Man 2, Bruce Lee returns as a talented fighter to meet Ip Man as a teenager in Ip Man 3, determined to prove himself worthy of studying with the Wing Chun Grandmaster. This scene includes Lee thumbing his nose as he re-introduces himself as "Siu Lung" to Ip Man, and this was a signature on-screen gesture of bravado by Bruce Lee in many of his movies. Throughout his career, Lee conveyed an image of sheer power to intimidate his opponents, and could often be seen literally thumbing his nose in their direction. Ip Man 3 brings this back as a reminder of Lee's self-assuredness when he and Ip Man meet again.

While demonstrating the speed of his kicks to Ip Man, the Wing Chun sifu tosses water from a coffee cup at the young Bruce Lee, who kicks through the water. Ip Man then comments "Not bad. But did you really kick the water, or just think you did?" This leaves Lee confounded, while also being a nod to Lee basing his philosophy of life and martial arts on the fluidity and intangibility of water. As Lee himself once put it, "Water also is insubstantial. By that I mean you cannot grasp hold of it. You cannot punch it and hurt it. So, every kung fu man is trying to do that, to be soft like water and flexible and adapt himself to the opponent." For Bruce Lee, emulating the nature of water was the highest level of martial arts, with Ip Man 3 showing a fictionalized version of Lee coming to realize this as a youth, while departing Ip Man once more with another thumbing of his nose.

In the beginning of Ip Man 4: The Finale, Ip Man attends a martial arts tournament in San Francisco in which Bruce Lee is demonstrating his new art of Jeet Kune Do and sparring with an opponent. The tournament scene in Ip Man 4 acts as an homage of sorts to Lee's real-life demonstration at the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championship. At that tournament, Bruce Lee demonstrated his famed one-inch punch and two finger push-ups to an impressed crowd. Additionally, Lee and his opponent wear sparring gear in Ip Man 4's tournament identical to the same gear Lee later sparred with at the 1967 Long Beach Tournament. Lee was one of the early advocates of such sparring gear in the West to allow for full-contact sparring, with Ip Man 4's tournament scene paying tribute to Lee's famed tournament appearances.

During Bruce Lee's big fight scene in Ip Man 4, one of his opponents in a blue karate gi (Mark Strange) executes a jumping front kick that shatters a hanging street lamp to challenge him. This is a clear homage to Lee executing that exact feat in two of his movies. The 1969 movie Marlowe sees Lee's character Winslow Wong kick out a lamp while he trashes the office of James Garner's Phillip Marlowe. Later in his directorial debut The Way of the Dragon, Bruce Lee used a jumping front kick to shatter a ceiling lamp and frighten off some opponents. Bruce Lee popularized lamp kicking as few people have, and Ip Man 4 acknowledges this with Mark Strange's character executing the technique. 041b061a72