I bought my ticket to see Master Z: Ip Man Legacy expecting great fights, but I didn’t expect a solid story. It is rare to get a sequel and a spin off that is as strong if not stronger than its predecessors. I recently watched all three movies in Donnie Yuen’s Ip Man franchise and was completely unsurprised that a character, Cheung Tin-chi, introduced in the third film was taking the baton from Yuen. He was attractive, young and morally flawed in a way that distinguished him from the titular character without making him an enemy or competition in a way that would make audiences completely turn against him. Even though you don’t need to see the franchise to understand this film, it helps you understand the psychological trajectory of the character and the themes revisited with a twist in this movie. I would avoid previews, which give away too much of the story.

I’m an ignorant American so I know very little about the real story behind this franchise. I’m equally clueless whether or not the protagonist in Master Z: Ip Man Legacy is based on a real life historical figure. I don’t even understand why the movie is called Master Z since the protagonist’s name does not have a Z in it, only the actor who plays him. Please tell me if you know. As an outsider looking in, the advantage that this movie has over the Ip Man sequels is that the sequel isn’t handicapped with the requirement of resembling a well-known historical figure. There are no high expectations for the movie or the character because it does not have a reputation or a formula to live up to. It can establish its own formula or borrow elements from its predecessors without being confined by them.

Master Z: Ip Man Legacy capitalizes on exploring similar themes to the Donnie Yuen Ip Man franchise such as national pride, vigilantism and colonialism while flipping the formula in unexpected ways that enhance the story. It retains the minor major villain rubric, but it inverts the behavioral pattern. The minor villain is abhorrent, and the major villain is at least superficially decent and less obviously evil. Like in Ip Man, the major villain is a stand in for the villain to China as a whole, but unless you are coming to the movie with a set of expectations based on typecasting, it is conceivable to be surprised by the major villain’s identity.

Master Z: Ip Man Legacy also departs from the original by embracing the moral ambiguity of each character’s past. No one is as pure as Ip Man so they don’t try to be, which is a wise narrative choice. There are a collection of anti-heroes, people with disreputable pasts trying to do better and constantly making practical moral compromises to work and live within a less than savory system without them being classified as the enemy, including and especially the protagonist. Sure you can be a big man who kicks butt, but how are you going to pay those bills? This concern isn’t easily dismissed and taken seriously. I especially liked that one person’s corruption and seediness was another character’s version of paradise and Eden.

The prime example of this dynamic is the protagonist. He thinks that living a better life means leaving martial arts, but gradually comes to the realization that martial arts is a necessary and beneficial way to live. We don’t end up with a psychologically tortured and haunted vigilante, but a humble man of the people who calls officials to action. Master Z: Ip Man Legacy is even more radical than its predecessors as it gives some behind the scene reenactment of the death of Freddie Gray. The movie speaks to my heart by making the villain waste perfectly good food. I hate people that do that. While the frustration of the Chinese cops with their superiors is still in play, the corruption and malfeasance is even more explicit, and the racism and domination more overt. It stops just short of a riot, but it feels like a tepid attempt at redeeming history. The movie’s heart was in the confrontation between the people and the foreigners.

I’m not familiar enough with visually distinguishing various martial arts styles, but the movie helpfully provides soundtrack clues which reference the earlier movies to signal his return to Wing Chun, which feels like a come to Jesus or religious epiphany moment. Master Z: Ip Man Legacy made me believe that the protagonist was genuinely in jeopardy and was on an emotional and psychological journey to rediscover his identity and a way of life. The fight scenes were amazing, especially an early one slightly above the street, but not on rooftops. From the opening scene, the set up of which is faster, a gun or a fist, is continued throughout the film. The answer is the saber complete with an excellent John Woo standoff.

My favorite supporting character was Michelle Yeoh as the head of a crime family trying to become respectable. I’ve been a fan of Yeoh’s since the 90s, but if you’re unfamiliar with her work outside of Crazy Rich Asians, imagine if Eleanor could whoop your ass. She is so dignified and still. When a roomful of men challenges her, she doesn’t even blink. When she finally decides to get her hands dirty, she is gracefully effective and brutally merciless. Everyone, no matter how bad, in Master Z: Ip Man Legacy is deferential and respectful if they really know whom she is, and Yeoh credibly lives up to that reputation. When I grow up, I want to be like Yeoh. I’m over a decade younger hobbling around like an old woman. Damn. Cue Ip Man’s respect for women and nod to feminism which will be subsequently undercut by not letting a woman avenge her family and easily disarming her.

If you’re expecting a cameo by Donnie Yuen, it only comes in the form of black and white flashbacks of scenes from Ip Man 3. Don’t worry. A preview for Ip Man 4 appeared before the movie. I have no idea how that is going to work with the spinoff, but good or bad, I’ll be there.

Master Z: Ip Man Legacy lagged when it tried to develop the relationship between Julia and Cheung Tin Chi, which I liked, but bugs me because I’m fairly sure that the franchise never revealed what happened to the mother of his kid. I actually liked Julia, but the nightclub singing trope made me roll my eyes. I don’t completely buy that a man like her brother would be cool with his future wife entertaining the foreigners in Coyote Ugly fashion, especially since she clearly wasn’t good at it or into it so unlike his sister, it wasn’t a fulfilling career choice. He is really enlightened, neglectful or a pimp. I also was not a fan when the movie solely focused on the kid. I know that it injects humor, but I saw Little earlier that day. I’m good.

If you’re like me and come to movies like Master Z: Ip Man Legacy primarily for the fight scenes, then you will be delighted to discover that the story does not feel like a tenuous excuse to string together a series of fights and is actually pretty good. It was an entertaining and thrilling time at the movies in spite of the fact that my audience was dreadful and talked throughout the entire movie. One family did it because the characters primarily speak in Cantonese and Mandarin then infrequently English. Only one member probably spoke and read English so he was translating the Engllish subtitles for everyone in the family. He wasn’t the only one just the most annoying.