6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Dealing with the early years of the martial arts master, this film depicts Yip Man's resistance against invading foreigners, along with his romantic relations while under the tutelage of three Wing Chun masters.
Starring: Yu-Hang To, Louis Fan, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Biao Yuen, Bernice LiuAction | 100% |
Martial arts | 62% |
Foreign | 58% |
Biography | 13% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Cantonese: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The venerable old adage goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” But is there an adage for when success comes right off the bat? Maybe something along the lines of, “If at first you succeed, just keep doing the same thing over and over”? Of course nothing breeds repeated trips to well in the land of moviemaking like box office returns, and the writing was on the silk screen when 2008’s Ip Man, a fictionalized biography of the martial arts master who helped train Bruce Lee, catapulted to the Top 5 hits in Asian markets (it still resides in the Top 15 for films released that year). Ip Man ended up winning Best Film at the Hong Kong Film Awards, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist and/or martial arts expert to figure out a sequel would be in the offing. While Ip Man 2 didn’t receive quite the critical rapturous praise the first Ip Man had, it was largely well regarded and once again raked in copious dough at the box office. (You can read Martin Liebman’s review of the first Ip Man here and my review of Ip Man 2 here). The Legend is Born: Ip Man is ostensibly unrelated to the two Donnie Yen starrers, though it’s interesting to note that the actor playing the young Ip Man in this film, Dennis To, bears more than a slight resemblance to Yen, certainly no mere coincidence. Be that as it may, The Legend is Born: Ip Man takes us back to the early years of Ip Man’s life, with a brief prelude showing Ip Man as a child being introduced to the martial arts technique known as Wing Chun, a technique which he seems to have almost a genetic propensity for mastering. After that introduction, we segue to Ip Man’s life as a young adult as he leaves his home of Foshan to continue his studies in Hong Kong. A somewhat convoluted romantic triangle (perhaps more accurately a romantic rectangle) rears its ugly head as Ip Man continues to learn innovative new martial arts techniques which will ultimately put him at loggerheads with adherents of a more orthodox style of Wing Chun.
The Legend is Born: Ip Man is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This is by and large a very appealing looking transfer if some deliberate filtering is taken into consideration. The first part of the film recounting Ip Man's youth, is intentionally desaturated, presented in a kind of quasi- sepia tinged with amber highlights. Despite the filtering, fine detail remains relatively strong, though some minimal shadow detail is lost. Once the film segues into a more natural looking palette, fine detail is very good to exceptional, and sharpness and clarity are increased substantially. The transfer has a couple of niggling artifacting issues, notably aliasing on such usual suspects as the parallel lines of metal fences and the like. Otherwise, though, this is a strong and solid presentation, with a suitably cinematic look, good contrast and black levels, and excellent clarity.
Two lossless audio options are offered on The Legend is Born: Ip Man, both Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround mixes. The English dub is a fairly useless track, with over the top voice work and dialogue that doesn't always match the subtitles very well. The original Cantonese track on the other hand is very well rendered here, though persnickety audiophiles might wish for more consistent surround activity outside of the action sequences. This particular Ip Man is less dependent on fight sequences for its dramatic purposes and that means that a lot of the film plays out in quieter dialogue scenes with the sound mix resolutely anchored in the front channels. Once we do get an action sequence, though, the surrounds come fully alive and the sound effects can be quite startling at times, especially when one of the nefarious Japanese decides to use a sword to increase their chances. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is similarly very, very good on this expressive track.
Ip Man has become such a legend that it's hard to separate fact from fiction, but I doubt even those much more acquainted with the real life story of Ip Man than I am are going to argue that this film is by far the most fictionalized of the three "biographical" outings that have been released thus far. The Legend is Born: Ip Man also veers fairly often into caricature, especially with regard to those evil Japanese, and the subplot involving Ip Man's adopted brother becomes ludicrous by the film's end. Those caveats aside, this is an interesting, if not overly involving, film that does offer excellent production design and a commanding lead performance from To. Yau is a director with good visual sense, if perhaps too much reliance on gimmicks like unending crane shots. The two Yen Ip Man features are still the go-to offerings for supposed Ip Man biographical films, but this "early" Ip Man outing is an acceptable entertainment that certainly merits an evening's rental if nothing more.
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