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

The only reason why I give it no less than 5 stars is because the guy who makes Yip Man is a pleasant actor, and because the movie gives some info about the early years of Yip Man. But the way the story is told, the script and direction, leave much to be desired. Besides a vastly useless and boring first 15 min, the movie keeps boring with huge parts (the 75% of it) of presumed "historical" details. It seems like if the real aim of the director was not making an entertaining movie but a sort of narrative documentary. And I could have lived with that if at least the historical details would be true. Unfortunately most of them are totally made-up. So, what's the purpose of making a boring fictive biography? But what I really could not stand was a horrible ridiculous pathetic shameful ninja scene. Yes, I know, now there is Ip Man 3 coming out and there will be Mike Tyson vs Ip Man. At least ninjas are still an oriental thing, you may think. Maybe. But the scene is really really bad. I also find Tyson vs Yip a bit too much, but at least it is Tyson, and Donnie. And that trilogy does not pretend to be 100% historical.But if you have time and want to prepare yourself to Ip Man 3 with a pseudo historical prequel, this is not a total loss of time.

The fighting is great like all good Hong Kong Kung Fu movies but the actor that plays Ip Man's brother is better than the star. I really don't buy the girl mooning over Ip Man the for years while he's away at school. Not so much high flying tight rope walking fight scenes as many other movies in the Ip Man genre which I appreciate. I would rather just see some really good kung fu action rather than guys who can fly. The fight between Ip man and his brother at the end of the movie is one of the best I've seen in these types of movies. Not so much high flying wire flips, just plain old mixed style martial arts action. Whoever choreographed that fight is awesome.

"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.