Ip Man 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Ip Man 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 10, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of Ip Man: The Complete Collection 4K.

As has been repeatedly documented by a number of reviewers at Blu-ray.com including yours truly, the story of Ip Man seems to be the gift that keeps on giving, cinematically speaking, with an almost insane number of films either overtly or in some cases ostensibly dealing with the famous martial arts master (some of which I've at least tried to list in some previous reviews). Well Go USA is now continuing this apparently "unending story" with new 4K versions of the first three Ip Man films, bundled in this new edition with the previously released 4K UHD version of the fourth film. All four 4K UHD presentations also offer Dolby Atmos audio. As of the writing of this review, it does not look like Well Go USA is offering standalone 4K UHD releases (with or without 1080 versions also included) of the first three films.

For those wanting a plot recap, please read Martin Liebman's Ip Man Blu- ray review of the original 1080 release. Also note that I'm not quite the fan of this film that Marty is, and so my overall score is a bit lower.

Ip Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080 Blu-ray.

Ip Man is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Well Go USA with a 2160p transfer in 2.34:1. This is probably the least appealing looking 4K upgrade in the set, one that can't overcome the harsh digital appearance that Marty mentioned in his review (linked to above) of the 1080 version. This does in fact look a lot more like video than film quite a bit of the time, but there are curiously moments of kind of bizarre looking frozen grain, as in the opening mist strewn credits sequence. There are other pretty noisy looking moments, as in the big showdown sequence that appears at shortly before the one hour mark, where backgrounds are just littered with swarming black specs. Detail levels are nonetheless probably improved over the 1080 presentation, if not hugely, and some elements, like the textures on fabrics, have good specificity and precision. Dolby Vision has added some kind of nice highlights, as in the almost peach colored home scenes. The film is really not very colorful overall, tending to emphasize browns and grays a lot of the time, and so doesn't really present a ton of opportunities for visual pop.

Ip Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ip Man features a nice sounding Atmos track in Cantonese. Marty wasn't especially enthused about the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track on the original 1080 disc (there are Mandarin and English tracks presented that way on this disc), and perhaps along those same lines, this Atmos track is only fitfully engaging in terms of vertical atmospherics. The most noticeable utilization of the Atmos tracks, as tends to be the case in all of the films in this set, is expectedly in some of the action sequences, as well as some of the score placement. That said, "regular" surround activity is often quite appealing, with both well placed ambient environmental effects and occasionally almost comically directional dialogue. Optional subtitles in English and Spanish are available.

Ip Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 4K UHD disc in this set does not offer any supplements and the score above reflects that deficit. The bundled 1080 disc repeats the supplements from the Blu-ray disc detailed in the above linked review by Marty.

Ip Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The first Ip Man is a hugely enjoyable experience that instantly creates a memorable, honorable focal character (as evidenced at least in part by how many sequels this has sparked). This 4K UHD presentation is probably the least pleasing video of the four films in the new Ip Man: The Complete Collection 4K, reflecting some of the same deficits that Marty mentioned in his review of the original 1080 release.