First of all, I would like to mention that I am not a big fan of Kung Fu movies. Previous martial arts of the same type have really led me to dislike them. The high flying, tree hoping, water walking, and exaggerated over the top action has left a bad impression. Maybe those films aren’t for me. Anyway, I recently started reading about IP Man and how great it was. Keeping in mind that movies I have seen in past years weren’t to my liking, I decided to approach it with caution. Boy was I completely surprised. I suppose this is the perfect example of not to judge a book by its cover.

Fo Shan is at its peak, booming in economy, socially, and famous for its martial arts schools. Fo Shan not only attracts desirables, but the undesirable as well. Jin, a northern martial artist, arrives in town looking to challenge the masters of each school and seemingly beating each one. But what Jin doesn’t know is that the best of the best is not among those beaten masters, Master IP. After easily dispatching Jin, Master IP appears to have brought peace and restored the honor of the town. Until the invasion of Japan, that leaves despair, hunger, and sorrow. Now Master IP must resort to his ability and skills to overcome the odds and bring unity to the country.

IP Man attempted to portray the bad side of war and its effects on people. It tried to show the viewers the way someone can affect the mind of many and bring unity even in the most difficult times. However, IP Man left it at that, an attempt. Throughout the second part of the movie there are various displays of what a human can do when in tough times. We see those looking to capitalize on the poor, those looking to work on whatever for a living, and those looking to abuse their power. We witness the way someone will sell their own countrymen to save their own skin and put food on the table. Perhaps, this film takes a much liberal stance with its portrayals of war and depictions of a once richly city turned to shambles.

Despite the aforementioned, IP Man’s success does not come from its theme, but from it’s beautiful choreographed action sequences. Sammo Hung as the action director was a great choice, delivering every action sequence with great intensity that will captivate the viewers. Donnie Yen’s 9 month training in the arts of Wing Chun is visible, understanding the material and executing with such elegance that deserves a round of applause. He truly embraced the character and understood what he needed to do in order to deliver a great performance. Sure, the story’s turn of events changes the way the protagonists take on life is and ultimately paves the way for the rest of the movie. Donnie Yen fits the roll of IP Man without a single problem, portraying a gracious and likable Kung Fu master. His ability to display the martial arts techniques is very impressive. The supporting cast turns in excellent performances. The storyline fit nicely and moved along at a good pace. Sure, I may not have liked its shortcomings, but regardless the film is fantastic.

IP Man arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG4-AVC encode framed at 2.35:1. This release of IP Man is a lot less saturated than other versions out there, specially the Hong Kong version. Although, the film looked good the majority of the time there are a few things I noticed. First, it appears that Well Go USA applied the same desaturation to the entire feature; while before the entire second part of the movie (after the Japanese invasion) has a much deeper blue tint. I watched the film in two different screens, on my DLP and on my plasma and the differences between the desaturation was much more apparent in my DLP than my plasma. My plasma showed more color during the pre- Japanese invasion than the post- Japanese Invasion. However, my DLP showed an almost even level during pre- and post-.

Certain colors stand out throughout the film particularly reds, blues, green, and more evidently yellow. During the scene where the workers are eating after a hard day’s work shoving coal, the yellow in the sweet potato is very vibrant, during the mill scene the green on the lamps standout the most, and one more example is when an unsuspected driver has their car stolen with a man wearing a bright blue shirt. Skin tones appear natural throughout the film. Black colors are well reproduced. Fine details suffer a bit from the desaturation process applied, but when visible they bring out the intricate details on Master IP’s clothing, the ornaments around the streets, and the facial texture of some of the actors. At the end, I feel this transfer is trying to stay true to the director’s intentions. There is some edge enhancement found in parts of the movie. However, is not as bad as other films that suffer from heavy EE. Overall, IP Man looks good on Blu-ray.

IP Man arrives on Blu-ray with 3 different 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio lossless tracks in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. The tracks are all identical, but the Chinese track is more dynamic than its English counterpart. The dialogue is clean and clear during non-action sequences where it appears to be overwhelmed. Also, I must note that the dialog has no proper sync, but I’m not fluent in Chinese so it could just me not being able to tell the speech patterns. Special effects sound excellent, specially when a sword is being used. Viewers will experience the loud swoosh going accros the fronts from one side to the other. Music accompanies the action delivering clear and sounds through the speakers. IP Man includes English, Cantonese and Mandarin subtitles for those that can’t stand listening to the English dub.

IP Man: Collector’s Edition comes with a great set of supplements. I had hoped it had enough that would explain a little more about the protagonist character and Well Go USA didn’t let me down. Check below for a breakdown of each supplement.

Interviews with the Director, Cast, and Crew – Collectively there are over an hour of interviews that include Wilson Yip, Donnie Yen, Gordon Lam, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, IP Chun, Sammo Hung, and more.

Shooting Diary – A 5-minute behind the scenes of the movie. We take a quick look into the film’s prep work and stunts.

Behind the Sets – This contains 2 featurettes within that include “Cotton Mill,” “Streets of Fo Shan,” and “IP Man’s Home.” All these 3 featurettes show the transformation each of the locales had to go through in order to be used for the film.

Trailer – Trailer of the movie that runs for 1 minute and 46 seconds.

Original Theatrical Trailer – This trailer runs for 2 minutes and 18 seconds.

Making of – You liked the movie and now you need more? This making of featurette goes behind the scenes and shows you what Donnie Yen had to go through in order to transform into the legendary IP Man. There’s also some talk about the production and research that went on with this project.

Deleted Scenes – There are a total of 3 deleted scenes. There’s some type of framing used to house the scene and it’s rather annoying as it obstruct your view of the scene. Well Go USA could have removed this in order to make it a more pleasant experience.

Look For on DVD – Trailers for other upcoming films.

IP Man features some intense action sequences that will instantly grab and keep you on your seat. It’s was an instant surprise and I’m glad to have been exposed to a great martial arts film once again. Donnie Yen does an excellent job with the character, giving life to the legendary master of Wing Chun. IP Man features an excellent amount of supplements and feature great video and audio transfers. Well Go USA has done a great job with this film and I highly recommended.

The screen captures are only a small representation of what the Blu-ray looks like and are not representative of Blu-ray’s true quality.