The Legend Is Born: Ip Man

Blu-ray (3.5 stars): "The Legend is Born: Ip Man" may not be historically accurate but its a decent popcorn action film
There is no denying that the legend of martial arts teacher Yip Man (also known as the man who taught Wing Chun to Bruce Lee) have been a financial success in Asia.

With the popularity of the first two "Ip Man" films starring Donnie Yen, there have been big questions on how to continue the Ip Man stories, especially with Donnie Yen not wanting to do anymore Ip Man films. The solution, focus on a prequel while Ip Man was young or focus in the future when he is much older.

And in 2010, Director Herman Yau ("All's Well Ends Well 2010', "The Eight Immortals Restaurant: The Untold Story") and screenwriter Erica Lee ("King of Comedy", "Only Fools Fall in Love") decided to do the former with their film "The Legend is Born: Ip Man".

While not an officially related to the first two films, Yau did cast Dennis To who looks like a younger Donnie Yen, while also casting Sammo Hung and Fan Siu-wong who both appeared in the previous Donnie Yen "Ip Man" films. But...

If you are a kung fu nut, go ahead. Otherwise, skp this junk
Riding on the coat tail of the successful Ip Man series, Ip Man 3 is your typical " Slap-Ip-Man-on-the-title-and-we-can-all-make-buckets-of-money" sort of film.

I won't be surprised if the overall plot was hashed together over a nice lunch by some studio heads, script written in 2 days and the whole movie shot in less than 20 days. The movie has no resemblance to its predecessors. You want cliche? This movie got them all.

I love Ip Man 1. I like Ip Man 2. I almost tossed Ip Man 3 into the trash after the first 10 minutes.

If you are a completest or a kung fun nut, go ahead and spend the money. If you actually want something concrete for your hard earned money and precious time, watch Ip Man 1 or 2 again.

TOTAL JUNK!
There's 2 IP Man 3 listings, so I bought both not knowing what to expect. This one is complete JUNK, like they made it in a basement. The menu is screwed up, couldn't even find the english subtitles. The thing stopped and started several times, once it went back to the main menu to start over?? WTF?? Can't believe this crap is even listed on Amazon, save your money and buy the other IP Man 3!

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