Rating summary
| Movie |  | 2.0 |
| Video |  | 4.5 |
| Audio |  | 4.0 |
| Extras |  | 0.5 |
| Overall |  | 2.5 |
Ip Man: The Final Fight Blu-ray Movie Review
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 13, 2013
Yip Kai-Man was virtually unknown as recently as a decade ago, consigned to a certain cognoscenti who were up to speed
on the history of martial arts and (especially) the background of Bruce Lee. But all that changed in 2008 with the release
of Ip Man, a film which blended frankly
generic biographical movie tropes with some incredibly exciting martial arts sequences. Ip Man was extraordinarily
successful and soon spawned Ip Man 2.
The first Ip Man had wrapped up with a frankly kind of bizarre overview of decades of its focal character’s life, but
Ip Man 2 sought to fill out Yip’s life after World War II in greater detail (albeit in highly fictionalized form). When
that film, too, met with considerable success, a second sequel called The Legend Is Born: Ip Man detailed Yip’s early
years, since there was ostensibly nothing in his later adult life to cover any more. It’s a little unclear why Ip Man: The
Final Fight was even made, for it revisits some of the same post-WW II material that the first two Ip Man
outings did,
though in a slightly different fashion and with different emphases. But this is easily the least compelling of the Ip
Man films and is a great example of the law of diminishing returns.
By far the best thing about
Ip Man: The Final Fight is the quiet
gravitas of Anthony Wong in the title role.
The film has some structural issues, including flashbacks within flashbacks and a series of unrelated narrators which
contribute to a kind of chaotic feeling, but Wong’s calm assurance in the role helps to smooth out some of the rougher
edges. The film makes a few passing nods to the roiling political unrest of Hong Kong and mainland China in that era, but
the focus is much more on the personal life of Yip. There are some wonderful set pieces throughout the film, including a fun
sequence where Yip challenges a young upstart to try to knock him out of a perimeter defined by a page from a
newspaper. But
Ip Man: The Final Fight is simply a case of one too many times to the same well. This story has
already been told—twice.
Ip Man: The Final Fight Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
Ip Man: The Final Fight's AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1 is nicely sharp and often very well detailed, though
some of the film's CGI (including a long aerial shot supposedly establishing Hong Kong) look pretty lackluster. This digitally
shot feature boasts a typically clear and precise looking image, with good contrast and some very nicely varied and well
saturated colors. Fine detail is excellent aside from the aforementioned CGI elements which often look quite soft.
Ip Man: The Final Fight Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
Ip Man: The Final Fight features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 mixes in both Cantonese and
English. The original Cantonese 5.1 track is nicely immersive, establishing the bustling street scenes of Hong Kong with nice
surround activity. It seems that large portions of the film may have been post looped, as some of the dialogue does not
seem to fit the lip motions perfectly well. That said, the entire mix is very well prioritized and offers excellent fidelity with no
problems of any kind to report.
Ip Man: The Final Fight Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
- Making Of (1080i; 9:24)
- Cast and Crew Interviews (1080i; 21:13)
- U.S. Trailer (1080p; 1:46)
- International Trailer (1080p; 2:07)
Ip Man: The Final Fight Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
There's probably enough here—if just barely at times—to satisfy fans of the previous Ip Man films, but this is a case
of "déjà vu all over again", with little to recommend this outing other than Anthony Wong's admittedly nicely done
performance as Yip. This Blu-ray does offer very nice looking video and great sounding audio.
