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

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1422 in DVD
• Brand: Funimation
• Model: FN-08926
• Released on: 2011-12-13
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Color, Widescreen, Dubbed
• Original language: Cantonese, English
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: English
• Dimensions: .21 pounds
• Running time: 100 minutes

Most helpful customer reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Ip Man: The Legend is Born
By Will Chezem
This film although lacking Donnie Yen, still far exceeds almost every other martial arts film prior. When someone knowledgeable about martial arts can watch a film and see a skilled martial artist, director and very well thought out choreography it's beyond pleasing.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Blu-ray (3.5 stars): "The Legend is Born: Ip Man" may not be historically accurate but its a decent popcorn action film
By Dennis A. Amith (kndy)
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 perhaps the biggest draw was the casting of Ip Chun, the actual son of Ip Man, who plays the role as Leung Bik (the man who would teach Ip Man a new style of Wing Chun).

While the film does take liberties by creating fictional stories around the true story of Ip Man's actual martial arts training when he was younger, the addition of half-brother and also Japanese antagonists continues the trend of foreign invaders vs. Ip Man.

VIDEO:

"The Legend is Born: Ip Man" is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:35:1) and the film is intentionally saturated and warm in the beginning but later becomes fully detailed and colors are vibrant. There is very good clarity and detail on clothing and wooden objects, doors and fences. You can see the detail on the album that Wing-shing is carrying as each line around the album is visible. While closeups do not show skin pores or that much detail, primarily detail is scene on clothing and objects. I didn't notice any banding issues or artifacts. Overall, skintones are natural, black levels are very good and picture quality is great!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

"The Legend is Born: Ip Man" is presented in Cantonese and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and is presented with English subtitles. As all Asian films that I watch, I prefer not to watch the English dub track but for those who prefer it, there is an English dub track included and the fact that FUNimation is well-known for their voice actors that they hire, I would think that fans of these English voice actors should have no problem with them.

I will say that the lossless audio track was not as immersive as I would have liked. But while there are plenty of action sequences in this film, it's not like the previous "Ip Man" films which tend to sound more immersive. The action sequences do sound good and are effective during the action sequences but these moments are not as long as I would have hoped.

But overall, the the lossless audio track features crystal clear dialogue, music and action sequences when it is featured onscreen.

SPECIAL FEATURES

"The Legend is Born: Ip Many" comes with the following special features:

Making of - (13:21) Behind the scenes footage and interviews with the cast.
Theatrical Trailer - (1:58) The original theatrical trailers for "The Legend is Born: Ip Man".

EXTRAS:
"The Legend is Born: Ip Man" comes with a DVD version of the film.

JUDGMENT CALL:

I loved Donnie Yen's first "Ip Man" film, the second was OK and despite this film not being related to the other two and is more about Ip Man's earlier life, I would have to say that this film is primarily a popcorn action film.

There are lot of liberties taken with Ip Man's life and unless you do the research, some people may think he actually had a half-brother and that what they are seeing onscreen is biographical. But the truth is that there are fictional moments that are presented around Ip Man's non-fictional life as a young man learning Wing Chun, that I often wonder how he would feel if he was alive today and see how writers really distorted his life for the sake of entertainment.

Granted, the film does feature Ip Man's son, Ip Chun which was great! And I can only hope that the estate of Ip Man are getting paid well with all these "Ip Man" related stories and I don't think that there will be an end to these stories anytime soon. They make money and people all over the world love the martial arts action that comes along with these films.

But while I did enjoy "The Legend is Born: Ip Man", as a guy who loves to research the lives of these individuals that these movies are based on. I now wonder how much of what is featured in this film is actually truth. We know that Ip Man studied under Chan Wah-shun and when he died, Ng. Chung-sok took over. It is documented that he studied in Hong Kong and learned alternate forms of Wing Chun from Leung Bik.

But other than that, we know that he had a brother but not this half-brother that was featured in the film. Was there a real Mei Wai? Did Ip Man meet his wife at a market? To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what is fiction and what is non-fiction in this film aside from the training from his two masters.

And personally, I just hope there is not a constant number of films that are released and continue to distort the true story of his life. If anything, I hope that people are smart enough to know that "The Legend is Born: Ip Man" is completely accurate.

Outside of that, I will say that the casting of Dennis To is fantastic. I know the director has made it clear that this film is not a prequel to the previous two films but I have to admit, Dennis To looks like a younger version of Donnie Yen. And for anyone watching this film, they will think that this film is an actual prequel to the other two films because of that. Also, casting Sammo Hung and Fan Siu-wong who starred in the Donnie Yen "Ip Man" films also makes things a bit interesting.

As for the Blu-ray release, you get the making of and trailers. Picture quality is very good and the lossless soundtrack is also very good but not too immersive.

Overall, "The Legend is Born: Ip Man" is an entertaining popcorn action, martial arts film but it's also another film that distorts the life of the actual man. Throwing in a fight against Japanese dressed as ninjas is becoming a bit too farfetched and more Shaw Brothers-like than any other "Ip Man" film before it. But I do understand that as long as these "Ip Man" films continue to be made, it does well in the box office.

"The Legend is Born: Ip Man" continues the action but showcases Ip Man during the time of his earlier teenage years. If you are looking for a martial arts film to sit back and enjoy without wanting to learn about the actual history of the man who taught Bruce Lee, then definitely give this film a try!

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Good Film
By matt6123
When I watch movies like this I mainly watch them for the fighting and action. More fights would make me give this 5 stars but it had some slow parts but overall a good film as are all of the IP man movies.