The Legend is Born: Ip Man (2010)

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, (Ip) Man singlehandedly challenges a swarm of shinobi in an ultimate showdown. [Amazon]

Trying to milk the franchise at ludicrous speed, here we have a prequel released the same year as the sequel (2010)! The Legend is Born is not all that connected to Ip Man 1 & 2, developing its own continuity of making stuff up about Mr. Ip’s life. Though it’s an obvious cash grab, this movie isn’t exactly pointless.

It has a decent story to tell as young Ip Man, played by Donnie look-a-like Dennis To, is hardly the master of Wing Chun from the previous movies. He has a plenty to learn about fighting and about talking with women when his wife-to-be shows up early on. The love story isn’t bad and gives the movie something else to do other than fighting and talking about fighting. The villains are once again ‘evil’ Japanese invaders. If you’ve watched any Chinese movie released in the last five years, you probably could have guessed this one. Fortunately, the whole invader arc isn’t as over-the-top as other films. In Ip Man 2, Twister was getting in every Chinese person’s face about how great he was. It’s not so bad here, but there is one brief scene when Ip Man is at college where he teaches an English-speaking wise-guy a lesson. Perhaps this was a nod to Twister.

I liked this film way more than I thought I would. It’s much simpler than Ip Man 2. It’s pleasant and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Most importantly, it has a lot of satisfying action. All I ask is that they stop making Ip Man films while they’re still slightly ahead….oh wait, Grandmasters. Nevermind.

It’s a serious movie, but there are some breaks in the mood here and there. Ip Chun provides some light moments as does the romantic arc.

There are several key match-ups that are worth mentioning. The first is Sammo vs. Yuen Biao. These two haven’t squared off against each other since (I think) 1990 in Shanghai Shanghai. Oh, and they fight blindfolded. Another fun fight is Ip Man vs. Ip Chun, the 86 year-old real life son of Ip Man. Stunt doubling, yes, but it’s still awesome. The finale pits Ip against ninjas! Needless to say, it’s fast and pretty awesome.

What I like about the fights is that you get evenly-matched fast-paced sparring. In Ip Man 2, they throw in the whole East vs West boxing match, but here you get straight-up kung fu practitioners and Karate experts going at it. I thought Donnie Yen was the only man that could punch someone 50 times before they hit the ground, but Dennis To proves good competition. Not as good as Yen, but he is still a lot of fun to watch during the action scenes.

Ip Chun’s performance is notable only because he trains Ip Man. So basically, the real son teaches the fictional portrayal of his father. I think that’s cool. Two actors from the original movies return here, but in different roles. Fan Siu Wong, the gangster-turned-family man from 1 & 2, is an adopted brother to Ip Man here. Also Sammo Hung makes a brief appearance as Ip’s original teacher. Both performances are good, and Fan Siu Wong is particularly effective in his role.

The Funimation DVD release only has one behind the scenes feature, but it’s pretty good. It’s way better than nothing. Also included is the original trailer and a bunch of other trailers.