THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN Blu-ray Review

For many years, the legacy of Bruce Lee has been a gravy train in Hong Kong cinema, to the extent that there was an entire genre, Brucesploitation, created solely to capitalize on his name and image in the '70s and '80s.  The new band wagon on which HK cinema seems to have jumped is Ip Man, who is known to most as Bruce Lee's master.  However, when Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen decided to tell his story in a pair of martial arts bio-pics in the late part of the last decade, it ignited another explosion of films based on this popular hero. The latest film maker to capitalize on Ip Man is the infamous Herman Yau, he of The Untold Story and Ebola Syndrome fame.  Yau's take on Ip Man goes back to his youth, before the Wilson Yip films pick up the story. 

The Legend is Born: Ip Man is as solid of a film as Yip's efforts, even on a smaller budget.  The kung fu on display may not be quite as flashy, but it is certainly good, and the cast is probably better than it should be for such a low budget outing.  FUNimation's Blu-ray/DVD combo pack presents the film well, though with minimal extras.  If you like martial arts films, this is a good one, not quite on the same level of spectacle as something like Shaolin or the previous Ip Man films, but very fun in its take on the story.

For the first time, witness the early years of the revolutionary grandmaster who trained Martial arts superstar and cultural icon, Bruce Lee.

Packed with Kung Fu combat and thick with drama, The Legend is Born follows Ip Man as he grows from a promising young pupil into an unstoppable force. When political corruption threatens his temple, his friends and his honor, Man singlehandedly challenges a swarm of shinobi in an ultimate showdown. Featuring a blind-folded battle between film stars Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, and an appearance by Ip Man's real son, this high-impact masterpiece undoubtedly "deserves to be seen by all Martial arts fans." - flash-bang-movie-reviews.com

The Legend is Born: Ip Man takes us back to the time before Ip Man was a master when he was first learning Wing Chun. From the very beginning of the film, Yau seems to play fast and loose with the history, which is par for the course with any biopic, but in this case, it invents whole subplots and family members of dubious validity.  In any case, I will say that this version of the Ip Man story gives newcomer Dennis To more to work with dramatically than the Yen films.  To's Ip Man is still the righteous, upstanding Ip Man of legend, and I'd imagine that if any effort is made to humanize him it will be in Wong Kar-wai's version, but he is allowed to get angry once in a while, which is more than we can say for the elder Ip Man.

I mentioned in my previous review of Triple Tap the incestuous Hong Kong casting system, and The Legend is Born is a prime example.  Sure, Dennis To (who appears in both Ip Man films) as Ip Man is different because he's supposed to be about 15 years younger that Donnie Yen, but apart from that we see at least a couple of familiar faces.  Sammo Hung appears as Chan Wah-shun, Man's first master who dies fairly quickly in the film, without any real chance to perform at all. Also making a very strange reappearance in Fan Siu-wong (Riki-Oh) as Ip Tin Chi, Ip Man's adopted brother.  Fan also appears in both Ip Man films as first an enemy, and then a compatriot of the elder Ip Man.  Fan Siu-wong looks decades younger in this film, almost as young as he did in Riki-Oh, it is a bit startling.

Much of the heavy lifting in the action department is left to Dennis To as Ip Man.  He proves himself quite capable to handling the action sequences, even when pitted against Fan Siu-wong in a few sequences.  The action in The Legend is Born tends to a bit more reined in than its predecessors, presumably that is the budget holding them back.  However, I was pretty impressed with the action, though it wasn't top flight, it was pretty damned good.

I think that the key to enjoying The Legend is Born is to watch it on its own terms.  In spite of the many rumors stating otherwise, this is not Ip Man 3.  While the stink of Chinese nationalism is still all over this film, it isn't quite as bad as in Wilson Yip's films. The Hong Kong film industry has taken to the bad habit of making films for the mainland market and this nationalism and jingoism is an unfortunately growing trend.  Thankfully, they haven't gotten most of the crime/police films yet. I really liked what Dennis To did with the character, and feel that he has some potential.

The Disc:

FUNimation does great work with their Blu-ray releases, and The Legend Is Born looks better than it probably should.  All of the aspects that you would expect to be outstanding on a Blu-ray are, in fact, outstanding.  There is abundant fine detail, the colors look nice, and the image is stable.  The audio track is equally effective, with dialogue staying firmly centered and clear and action moving into the surrounds in a pleasing way.  There isn't much ambient sound, but the track is very effective at what it does.

In the way of extras, FUNimation has only provided a 15 minute making of featurette and a trailer.  The making of featurette isn't bad, though, taking the time to speak with all of the lead cast, and showing some behind the scenes footage, but it isn't very long.  Rounding out the extras are a pile of FUNimation trailers, including those for upcoming Blu-ray release City Under Siege, which I really enjoyed. Overall, The Legend is Born: Ip Man is probably better than you'd expect it to be, and a worthy addition to the Ip Man film catalog.