Ip Man: The Legend Begins (2010)

  Let's clear this up right now.  This movie is not affiliated with the Donnie Yen films about Ip Man.  Yes, it has the exact same subject (Ip Man, general badass) and yes, it has several of the same people in it, but it is not a prequel, sequel or reboot.  I have seen a lot of people label this Ip Man 3 and that is wrong.  Ip Man 3 is in production right now, starring Donnie Yen, Mike Tyson, and the CGI ghost of Bruce Lee.  Seriously.

Misuses of technology aside, this film focuses on Ip Man's (Yu-Hang To) youth to young adulthood.  As a boy, he is given over to Master Chan Wah Shun (Sammo Hung) to learn the authentic ways of Wing Chun.  He is then sent to Hong Kong to attend university and studies under another Wing Chun master, Leung Bik (Ip Chun), while his brother, Tin Chi (Siu-Wong Fan), stays behind to be the second-in-command.  When Ip returns, he finds that Japanese business interests are pressing closer and closer, disrupting the lives of the martial arts masters professionally and personally.  Then, a government official (Heman Leung) is murdered and Ip Man is implicated.

The action sequences are still top-notch but several of the plot points seemed misguided to me.  In particular, there is a whole sub-plot about learning English and Ip Man defending the honor of the Chinese against some British students.  I get that the filmmakers were trying to provide some historical context but it felt like too much of a nod to Jet Li's Fearless.  It was also really odd to read the subtitles while my brain was telling me that I could understand the words.  It's not a bad addition to the hagiography of Ip Man but it's definitely a tier lower than the Donnie Yen pair.