Ip Man 3 (Blu-ray) (2015)

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General		Extras
Category	Martial Arts	Featurette-Making Of Featurette-Behind The Scenes Interviews-Cast & Crew Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2015
Running Time	105:02
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Wilson Yip
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Donnie Yen Mike Tyson Lynn Hung Max Zhang Patrick Tam
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Kenji Kawai

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Cantonese DTS HD Master Audio 7.1 English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 French DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 Spanish DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French Spanish	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     This is the third (and possibly last) film in a series of films about the life of Ip Man, a man famous for promoting and popularising the Chinese martial art of Wing Chung in China during the 20th century. Many know him as an early mentor and teacher to Bruce Lee (who appears in this film as a character). My site colleague, RayN reviewed both the previous films here and here. Many other films have been made over the years about this character including The Grandmaster and Ip Man : The Legend is Born which are both worthy films in their own right. This film, Ip Man 3 received a theatrical release in many countries around the world including the USA and Australia, taking over $150 Million at the global box office (although admittedly mostly in China).

     This film (as with the others) features the marvellous Donnie Yen in the title role. This time he is joined by a mostly new supporting cast, other than the actress who has played his wife, Cheung Wing-sing in all three films, Lynn Hung. The action of this film starts in Hong Kong in 1959 and only covers about a year. Ip Man is now a successful martial arts teacher and a pillar of the local community. His son attends a local school and gets in trouble for fighting with another boy. The other boy is the son of rickshaw driver, Cheung Tin-chi (Max Zhang). He is also a talented martial artist in the Wing-Chung discipline and the relationship between him and Ip Man drives a significant portion of the plot of this film. However, the school is soon threatened by a gang of thugs who want the principal to sell the school building to their boss, fight promoter and businessman Frank (Mike Tyson). The thugs are led by younger martial artist, Ma King-sang (Patrick Tam) and are basically in it for the money. Of course, having these three antagonists means that there is lots of opportunity for varying fight scenes plus a bonus one against a Muay Thai style fighter. Having said that, to write this film off as merely a martial arts action film would be unfair as it also contains some quality human drama especially in the relationship between Ip Man and his wife.

     Donnie Yen once again plays Ip Man with aplomb, with great action chops but also quality acting. Mike Tyson is completely believable in his fight scene with Yen but his acting is nothing special. The rest of the cast all do fine jobs (although the English accent put on by the American playing the police chief is very impressive...not in a good way). The action scenes are beautifully shot and wonderfully choreographed by the great Yuen Woo Ping who is new to the franchise with this film. The score by Kenji Kawai is also suitable grand and really adds to the film. The editing won awards in Asia and the film garnered many nominations in the Hong Kong Film Awards. The fight scene with Mike Tyson is certainly a highlight as is the extended sequence at the dockyards and the finale between Ip and Cheung. This is a quality film which offers much more than your standard martial arts film.

     Recommended.

Video

     The video is excellent with only a couple of minor artefacts appearing. There is great detail and the colour is wonderful providing warmth and beauty to the visuals. I noticed one spot of aliasing and one of posterization but these were minor in the grand scheme of things. This wonderful transfer shows off the great cinematography in this film and captures the fast moving fight scenes in stunning clarity. You really couldn't ask for much more in a 1080p transfer than this.

     There are English, Spanish & French subtitles available which are clear and easy to read.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio is also excellent with the main soundtrack being a DTS X encoded Cantonese track. There are also three other lossless DTS HD-MA 5.1 tracks In English, Spanish & French. The English dub is American voices rather than English so the Cantonese is certainly the pick of the bunch. The Cantonese track is very precise with lots of directional effects which are very clearly placed around the room. The fight scenes are awesome from a sound design and reproduction perspective, however, things crop up throughout which catch your ears. The subwoofer is also well used and there is great distinction between dialogue, music and action effects. Basically, this track is a ripper! It is worth noting that the case lists different sound options to those actually on the disc.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     Numerous extras but they are basically just components of an EPK.

Menu

     The menu features music.

Making of - The Story (2:29)

     Short interview snippets with Director and stars about the story.

Making of - Action (2:52)

     Similar to first one but about the action scenes.

Donnie Yen - Interview (6:04)

     EPK style with onscreen text questions followed by Yen answering. Covers his mentors, why he did the role, the series popularity and working with Tyson.

Mike Tyson - Interview (7:27)

     EPK style with onscreen text questions followed by Tyson answering. Covers his mentors, character, being in China and his desire to take the kids to an amusement park.

Donnie Yen & Mike Tyson on Press Day (5:27)

     Standard EPK press day interviews with the two sitting together chatting about very little of substance.

Wilson Yip - Interview (9:05)

     Probably the most interesting of the interviews in Chinese with subtitles. Covers casting, characters, the previous films, new action director and more.

Behind the Scenes (2:19)

     On set footage without context mostly of Tyson and Yen fighting.

Teaser (1:19)

Trailer (2:07)

     US trailer.

International Trailer (1:03)

    This film is available in the US in the same format including audio options. The UK Blu-ray does not contain the DTS X track.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is excellent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall