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Review | Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy film review – Max Zhang holds his own opposite Michelle Yeoh and Dave Bautista in martial arts spin-off
- Zhang has his biggest part so far as he reprises his role in Ip Man 3. A single father who renounces martial arts, he is quickly drawn back into the fray
- The story is predictable, and merely a vehicle for Zhang to spar with a range of opponents, but he shows he has the acting chops and fight skills to succeed
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
3.5/5 stars
Max Zhang Jin’s rise to movie stardom hasn’t slowed since the former wushu athlete’s breakout part in Wong Kar-wai’s martial arts drama The Grandmaster, for which he won best supporting actor at the 2014 Hong Kong Film Awards.
In-between impressing as a corrupt prison warden in SPL 2: A Time for Consequences and as an absurdly persistent policeman in The Brink, both remarkable action films in their own right, Zhang landed what is arguably his most popular role to date in Ip Man 3, playing a rival wing chun martial artist to Yen’s eponymous hero with a quiet dignity.
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In Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy, co-produced by Donnie Yen Ji-dan, Zhang has his most prominent role yet.
It’s a testament to the trust the Ip Man producers have in him that Zhang was picked to headline this first stand-alone spin-off film from the lucrative series. Reprising his role as Cheung Tin-chi, who was defeated by Ip in the previous film, Zhang is put through a series of thrilling fight scenes with high-profile opponents here and more than holds his own.
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