Ip Man 4: The Finale; Was the Fight Really Karate vs Wing Chun?

The Ip Man saga finally came to an end over the holidays with the last installment “Ip Man The Finale.” The movie opened to the delight of martial arts fans worldwide on Christmas Day. Martial arts action hero, Donnie Yen returned as Ip Man, the Wing Chun master to defend the martial art in San Francisco, set in the ‘60s. Scott Adkins played the villain “Barton Geddes,” a notorious Karate master serving in the United States military. It was a movie of Wing Chun vs Karate, or was it?

Scott Adkins Claims He Didn’t Perform Strictly Karate in Ip Man 4

In the Ip Man movie finale, Barton Geddes boasts about the superiority of Japanese Karate over Chinese martial arts. But surprisingly, Scott Adkins was not too strict when it came to performing the fight opposite Donnie Yen.

According to Adkins, he didn’t want his performance to be all about Karate but a mix of Karate, western boxing, and American wrestling. “I did not want to be constantly pulling off Karate poses,” he says.

Scott Adkins Had Never Had Any Formal Karate Training Before Ip Man 4

Scott Adkins is an expert in Judo, Krav Maga, kickboxing, and Ninjitsu. Karate was not on that list; however, Adkins was fully prepared to take on any challenge that required the use of Karate moves during the choreography.

Adkins says “I did Tae Kwon Do which bears great similarities with Karate, so it was never a problem. However, when it comes to fighting opposite Donnie Yen with the Wing Chun, it’s all about quick and straight punches. Karate, on the other hand, is precise and very wide.”

Adkins further discloses that to capture the timing accurately, he must be as fast as he could, or he wouldn’t be able to block or parry punches from his opposite number.

Scott Adkins Loves Training Every Day

Adkins, who has shown off his incredible martial arts skills in several movies such as Avengement, The Bourne Ultimatum, Undisputed, Accident Man, and Triple Threat among many others, trains martial arts every day.

According to him, training every day is a must. “If I don’t train, I get depressed, and that is why I need to get it out of my system,” Adkins says.

How true is it that Ip Man fought a Karate Master?

Ip Man was a real teacher of the martial art Wing Chun. He was the master of Bruce Lee, his most famous student who appears in some of the movies. But then, the Ip Man movies have been a somewhat dramatic interpretation of the real-life adventures that the Wing Chun master might have had during his life.

Adkins says “There’s always a solid emotional thread that runs through all the Ip Man movies. The director of the final installment, Wilson Yip, put a lot into this particular story.”

Ip Man: The Finale is not all about kicking and punching, but it is about a personal story that connects with the audience in more ways than one.