Strictly average movie

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Being this is a time based prequel to the first film it sets the tone of how Kung Fu Sifu became the legend he is IP MAN. The plot and story were enticing as it brought the viewer into the life he led prior to becoming a master. It was a action filled film with very well choreographed fight scenes.The strength of the film lies within the story of the political ties to the school and how the Japanese tried to infiltrate to have double agents learn the art. Ip Man would not stand for this and took on the Japanese agents and became a direct link to his mastery. If you have an affinity to the martial arts and how Wing Chun became the style of Ip Man the you will enjoy the format of this film. I give it a solid 8/10

This is actually a prequel to Ip Man and Ip Man 2. A different actor is used but the story is still interesting. Ip is taught Wing Chun by a couple of masters and travels to Hong Kong to further his skills. He is walking one day and is taunted by a Westener with racist slurs and they fight, but afterwords then become friends. He learns to improve by utilizing different styles of kung fu. He marries the mayor's daughter and is arrested and jailed in a politically motivated murder case.More secrets are revealed as the story unfolds and Ip continues to fight after his wife's provides an alibi to free him from prison. The Legend is Born isn't as good as the previous two films and a different actor is used in the lead role, but it is still not bad for a Saturday night viewing.

Based on some of the reviews, I feel this film is misunderstood.It is somewhat harsh to compare Yu-Hang (Dennis) To's to Donnie Yen's portrayal of Ip Man because Donnie has been an actor for a long time. From a martial arts standpoint, Donnie's portrayal of Wing Chun in his two Ip Man films were often not a correct rendition of the form, as he had no Wing Chun background, but took a crash course just prior to filming and his fights in the film were often not Wing Chun. What we saw on Donnie's Ip Man films were more arts than reality of Wing Chun combat techniques.On the other hand, Dennis To is a Wing Chun champion in Hong Kong and is not an actor by background. He might lack acting prowess but he more than makes it up in Wing Chun abilities. Dennis was correctly portraying Wing Chun techniques in the film, especially the lesser known Wing Chun moves, such as the high kicks, use of knives and staff. Dennis is the pupil of the director of this film, who himself is also trained in Wing Chun and is the pupil of Ip Chun and he wanted a true exposition of the real Wing Chun combat techniques in this film through his pupil Dennis To, and which Dennis loyally exhibited the form to his master's delight. The Wing Chun sparring scene between Ip Chun and Dennis is a masterpiece, so was the sparring between Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao (he was one of the doubles for Bruce Lee in Game of Death when he died). Incidentally, both Sammo and Yuen Biao are older pupils from the same master as Donnie Yen, so they are 'colleagues'. One should view The Legend is Born: Ip Man in this context to appreciate what we saw in Donnie Yen's Wing Chun are often fancy moves and not real Wing Chun, while we saw a far more accurate rendition of its techniques here by Dennis To. Hopefully, one can appreciate the finer qualities of this film which it truly deserves.

"The Legend Is Born: Ip Man" is a film which chronicles Ip Man in his teenage years which focuses much on his learning of Wing Chun. The film is a prequel to the previous two Ip Man films which starred Donnie Yen as the titular character of Ip Man. Now, the star has been changed and the film has gotten a different style.First, let me tell you about the cast. The cast choosing here in this movie can be called really bizarre. Dennis To who became a temporary minor antagonist on "Ip Man 2" became the teenage titular character in this prequel. That totally got me shocked. It's so rare to see such happening. Then, we have some of the same cast used in the previous Ip Man films on a different role such as Sammo Hung (plays the teacher of the teenage Ip Man) and Louis Fan (plays the brother of Ip Man). That was really confusing. But, something surprised me. A character named Leung Bik was played by the son of Ip Man no other than Ip Chun. Secondly, there are quite a lot of perspectives. There are around six perspectives here which really got me confused. There's one from Ip Man, then one for his brother, his love, his other jealous love and the enemy. It really got my mind turning around. Next, the special effects were kind of cheesy. There were two scenes that showed a train leaving somewhere to somewhere. You know that those trains produce smoke. The smoke was pretty fake as it didn't suit the background. It was not good.The acting of the characters. Not bad. Dennis To on Ip Man was not bad at all. The others were also normal. Just like a normal movie. The emotions were well acted by the actors.Then we have the action scenes. They were also well directed. But, I still say the previous two films related to Ip Man still had better action scenes than this prequel. The moves were less cooler than the previous two pictures. But, it's not really cheesy. Not a problem.This movie has a different style. It has a different theme. "Ip Man" and "Ip Man 2" had the theme where the people were seeking freedom (although "Ip Man 2" was not totally about seeking freedom). Whereas, this movie has a different theme of love. For me, the freedom theme from the previous two films is only a small percent of the film. The directing and division of the emotional moments are also differently set. There's also another confusing thing. If you've watched "Ip Man" and "Ip Man 2", you might notice that the titular character of Ip Man doesn't know English at all. He didn't even speak any word in English language. But, in this PREQUEL, he is able to speak English quite fluently. He also spoke to an English or American person in this movie. That was strange and that totally made my mind confused too.Well, the movie provided some sad moments too. But, they were not so sad, they were only like 40% sad moments for me. But, if you're easy to cry, you might want to just provide a piece of tissue in case you have tears flowing down your face.The movie is different from the previous two Ip Man related films. I say this is worse than the previous ones. I'm not really satisfied with the result of the film. The previous films were much better than this. But, this movie might just entertain you with its action scenes. I half- heartedly recommend you this movie. It's still entertaining to be watched and not really a waste of time. 6 stars for this movie.