A Legend isn't born...

The Legend is Born: Ip Man – Herman Yau

The title of the review reveals most of what you’re going to see, where the hype of it being a great film that levels the same amount of respect that a Bruce Lee film had when it first came out. Unfortunately this film is all hype and no substance, sure the fight sequences are good with no wires and no CGI to put the actors into the actor, and they show their athleticism and skill clearly learned over many years. It is a film that real martial arts champions will enjoy inside of the fans of over-the-top action like Ong Bak which seems to take the limits and pushes it to ridiculous bounds like fighting on elephants for instance. Ip Man is the lead character who is meant to be a big deal in Hong Kong where his legendary status as martial arts king who was one of the first to teach Wing Chun, a famous form of fighting. The story shows his life from when he was born to the moment he succeeds in overthrowing a traitor in his midst, which i won’t ruin, but i’m guessing you’ll probably never see this film ever, and even i’m shocked that i had to watch this, out of all the releases, this is one of the worst I’ve had to look at. It’s not a bad film by any stretch; i’m just not interested in it, at all. Sure i enjoyed Ong Bak for how over-the-top it is, but it was still entertaining, here the slow pacing, the shockingly bad acting and script, it will just bore the face off of you.

It seems to have the feel of a straight-to-TV movie where the budget is low, the setting is bad, and the costumes are even worse. Sure it’s from Hong Kong but the reviews it received hyped it up to receive a UK release where i’m sure the film will land into the bargain bins at Christmas for all those martial arts fans out there that visit the marked section in HMV to buy them. Do they have a section like that in HMV?

3/10

Simon Childs