Young Ip Man Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		1.5

Young Ip Man Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 12, 2023

Well, we should have known, and some prescient folks (hey, that would be me, in case you were wondering) flat out warned inquiring minds that there was no way in heaven and/or hell that Ip Man 4: The Finale was going to be "the Finale" of anything regarding this particular legend. Now, I admittedly may have mis-prophesied about the next Ip Man enterprise offering the venerable martial arts master battling moon monsters a la Ray Harryhausen, given how far afield of the historical record so many of the Ip Man movies have been, but here we are again. Again. Again. For those who may enjoy a certain rabbit hole version of snark hunting, just type in Ip Man in our title database search box above, and then put aside several hours to amass whatever data you want to on all of these efforts.

It's perhaps salient to note that as completely divorced from the historical record as many of the Ip Man films have been, this one may take the cake for any number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact an opening text card announces it's 1917 and then within about five minutes characters are tooling around in cars obviously from the fifties. I guess that's what the filmmakers consider "timeless". Young Ip Man is essentially a cartoon that has co-opted the name of Ip Man and utilized it for marketing purposes. This particular outing plays like a juvenile (in any number of meanings of that word) take on elements from any number of hostage films, with Ip Man (Zhao Wenhao) attending a Hong Kong academy that is overrun with criminals intent on a nefarious plot. It's all patently ridiculous, with some amateurish performances, but with occasionally relatively exciting fight sequences. The film's occasional stylistic flights of fancy may actually provoke laughter, as in an opening credits sequence that finds Ip training in several inches of water, because - well, how else are you going to get "cool" slow motion splashing effects when punches and kicks are executed? (See screenshot 9.)

Young Ip Man Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Young Ip Man is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.65:1. Unsurprisingly, there's virtually no technical information on this production that I could find, but this is a competent digital capture that I assume had a 2K DI. The palette is suitably robust, if often skewed toward yellows and oranges, and detail levels are also often quite appealing, helped by a surplus of nicely lit material. This is the first Well Go USA release in quite a while that shows some significant banding, however. Since Well Go USA replaced their own masthead, that particular example hasn't been as prevalent, but one of the Hong Kong production mastheads here does have considerable banding, and the anomaly continues throughout the presentation in a number of mist enshrouded scenes.

Young Ip Man Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Young Ip Man follows Well Go USA's tradition of offering both original language (in this case Mandarin) and English dubs in either DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or Dolby Digital 2.0. I'd recommend sticking with the Mandarin track, since even the occasional Caucasian actor in the film is speaking that language (as evidenced by lip movements), but that said, both of the surround tracks are pretty much identical in terms of mixes, other than the language itself. Surround activity tends to ebb and flow, but is decent to very good in some of the action sequences. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Young Ip Man Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 1:39)

Additionally, packaging features a slipcover.

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Young Ip Man Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Okay, okay, I was disastrously wrong about Ip Man and the Moon Monsters. Sorry. But I'm not cowed into not predicting again, so let me just say the next logical choice for this series has to be Fetal Ip Man. I await this epic with bated breath, and may I just suggest the tag line "Mom knows when this baby kicks!" virtually writes itself. The fact that this was originally released as Ip Man: Crisis Time may simply point out the fact that Ip Man films are seemingly a constant now, destined to outlast all of us like the cinematic equivalent of a cockroach. Technical merits are generally solid, with some caveats noted above, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.