In postwar Hong Kong, legendary Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man is reluctantly called into action once more, when what begin as simple challenges from rival kung fu styles soon draw him into the dark and dangerous underworld of the Triads. Now, to defend life and honor, he has no choice but to fight one last time...
The Final Fight plays out like a collection of greatest-hits vignettes barely connected to one another.
– Nick Schager,
AV Club,
19 Sep 2013
rotten:
The overall sense is of a rushed, simplistic installment in a well-worn biography franchise.
– Robert Abele,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Sep 2013
rotten:
The naturalism of Wong's performance is undercut ... by Yau's use of phony-looking sets, sterile CGI and flashy aerial shots.
– Mark Jenkins,
Washington Post,
19 Sep 2013
rotten:
Soap opera, set-bound and unexceptionally written and directed.
– Soren Anderson,
Seattle Times,
19 Sep 2013
fresh:
Seriously, if not always elegantly, the film portrays the great Ip Man as someone trying to survive, which is to say just as often a victim as a victor.